Sustainability is the foundation of Farmhouse. We want everyone to enjoy our amazing fruit and vegetables and we want to have a positive impact on people, the environment and society. All links in the chain are part of that mission and sustainability is always an important factor. This helps us in getting one step closer to our goal each day: “Happy people, healthy planet”.
Sustainability is integrated in all links of our chain. These are each linked to one or more of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations.
Working together
Everything starts with our farmers. Our farmers ensure that our beautiful exotics grow in healthy conditions and are cultivated in places all around the world. In order to continue to grow together, we build long-term relationships with our farmers. We like working closely with our farmers, from large to small, to make a positive economic, social and environmental impact. We also take care of people and the environment through careful farmer selection.
Farms
Nature allows us to grow and supply our beautiful products to anyone who wants to try them for themselves. That is why we work together with nature. Our mission is to minimise our impact on the environment, to ensure a sustainable future for people and the planet. As part of our environmental strategy, we are working to use freshwater resources more efficiently and reduce our ecological impact. We also focus on systematically improving biodiversity on our farms and promoting soil quality. This way, we ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy our delicious products and a healthy living environment.
Social impact
Farmhouse International wants to provide customers with healthy products that we fully support with our hearts as well as with our common sense. Our products are grown in conditions that are good for people and the environment, so that everyone in our value chain is and remains happy. We can only create long-term impact if we work together and work to create a chain that benefits everyone. We do this by integrating social goals into our procurement policy, by establishing long-term partnerships and joint ventures.
We work to reduce our environmental impact every day. For instance, on our avocado farm, where we have managed to reduce water use by approximately 70%.
26% of global CO₂ emissions are caused by food. Nearly one third of these emissions result from the production of food for human consumption. We aim to make improvements in this area and support the Paris Agreement. In 2025, we made a commitment through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), in which we pledge to develop a reduction plan and to reduce emissions across our value chain as effectively as possible.
In order to effect the greatest possible impact in the field of social working conditions, we are affiliated with the Sustainability Initiative Fruit and Vegetables (SIFAV). We work together with other parties active in the fruit and vegetable industry, on a transition to a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food chain.
Click here for more information about SIFAV and our shared sustainability goals.
Packaging. Don’t waste it.
We aim to protect our products as effectively as possible while packaging them sustainably. At Farmhouse International, this means finding the right balance between product quality and packaging, as packaging must always be functional. Properly packaged food helps prevent significant food waste. We avoid unnecessary use of packaging materials, choose recycled materials, and opt for local production whenever possible.
Our goals:
Over the past year, we have worked hard to remove black plastic from our supply chain. We promised we would no longer use black plastic when packaging our products after 2020. But we still had a small supply of black plastic left. We melted down the plastic into two benches. We kept one bench for ourselves and the other we donated to charity. We always try to find sustainable solutions because throwing away unused packaging would be a shame!
Our banderole packaging is a handy sustainable packaging made of 100% recyclable paper. The 2-packs are available for the Ready to Eat Mangoes and Avocados from the Discovered range.
The banderole packaging is made of 100% paper and most components contain FSC certified paper. Because the packaging is plastic-free, the entire wrapper can be discarded with the recycled paper.
Transport
The transportation of our products represents a significant part of our environmental footprint. When our products are transported under the right conditions, this helps maintain their quality and shelf life. In doing so, we prevent food waste and preserve the value created by growers.
Within Europe, products are almost always transported by road. When products are purchased from or sold to distant destinations, they are usually transported by cargo ship. Only when this is not possible are products transported by air, in order to maintain product quality and shelf life. We continuously seek improvements to transport our products as efficiently as possible or to produce them closer to home.
We work closely with logistics partners who ensure efficient planning and optimal load capacity. Through our collaboration with our sister company, ABC Logistics, we have ample opportunities for responsible transportation. All trucks operated by ABC Logistics are equipped with Euro 6 engines. In addition, transport planners ensure efficient routing, minimizing empty miles. Furthermore, drivers use an app that monitors driving behavior and provides guidance on adopting a more sustainable driving style.
Reduction of food waste
With an estimated world population of 10 billion people in 2050, it is important to use all resources to feed all these mouths. That is why we are committed to giving 2nd class products a second life. We aim to reduce our food waste by half by 2030. In addition, we want to give 50% of the unavoidable food waste a suitable destination. Through these efforts, we are not only reducing food waste but also greenhouse gas emissions.
Making our business operations more sustainable
We also try to make our business operations as efficient as possible. We make our business operations more sustainable through efficiency and innovation: using sustainable energy sources, such as solar energy and geothermal energy. We also remind employees to handle materials and resources with care and we promote a paperless office.
Happy employees & social engagement
The mission of Farmhouse International is: ‘Connecting smiles’. We want to create a smile on everyone’s faces in all links of the chain.
And it all starts with happy employees. With job satisfaction being one of our KPIs, we conduct an annual employee satisfaction survey and regularly organise sessions in which topics related to employee satisfaction are discussed. We draw up an action plan for points arising from this. In this way we ensure that our employees can continue to develop and thus are and remain Happy, Involved and Proud.
If you are interested in working at Farmhouse, please take a look at our vacancies.
Across the entire ABC Westland Agri & Food site, we have installed 23,000 solar panels, which account for approximately 55% of our total energy consumption. As a result, CO₂ emissions are reduced by more than 2,000 tonnes per year!
Class-II sweet potatoes are given a second life by using them for the patato chips industry or by donating them to food banks. This gives our products a beautiful and useful destination.
Healthy seduction!
Our ultimate goal is to offer consumers the healthiest, most exciting and attractive choice of fruit and vegetables possible. And a varied, healthy and mainly plant-based diet is not only in the consumer’s interest, it is also of great benefit to the earth.
Discovered
At Farmhouse International we inspire consumers to eat tasty, plant-based and healthier food. We do this by sharing delicious recipes on the website of our ‘Discovered’ brand. Here, we provide tips about different preparation methods and inform consumers about how products can best be stored for the longest possible shelf life. The packaging of our Discovered products contains information about the packaging material and the correct recycling method.
Thousands of visitors find inspiration to eat healthier, more varied and/or plant-based on our own website: discovered.nl. This website is full of useful product information, cutting techniques and more than 200 exotic recipes. From main course to breakfast, there is a lot of inspiration for everyone, in various languages. We also reach many people through our social media channels who are looking for tasty and healthy tips and recipes.
Our packaging contains recycle logos indicating how our packaging should be recycled. Together we can ensure that the packaging is reused. By properly disposing of the packaging, our consumers can complete the circle.
Do you have any questions or ideas regarding our sustainability approach?
Please contact us via: sustainability@farmhouse-international.com
