Han Kolff: ‘We are becoming sustainable too slowly with market forces alone’

You have a background at companies including Heineken and Danone but subsequently worked for a long time in business services at firms such as Randstad and HeadFirst. What struck you most upon your return to the food sector?
‘When I started out, fast-moving consumer goods were leading the way in speed and innovation. On my return, I was disappointed by how little had changed and improved since then in terms of digitization and sustainability. I wondered if, with all the knowledge available, we could not only make the food chain more efficient and effective, but also accelerate the transition to a model that operates within planetary boundaries: from volume to quality. You soon realize that the will is there, but everyone is pointing fingers at each other. The farmer has to do it, or the consumer, or the government, or the supermarket. In the Food Transformation Forum, I wanted to bring all those parties together so that we could talk to each other instead of pointing fingers. Now, for example, competing supermarkets feel unable to consult with each other because price-fixing is prohibited. I actively seek out such consultation. And it turns out that in some cases, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets – which is part of that Forum – allows you to make agreements on how to work together toward sustainability. Helping to solve a complex problem by building bridges and working together toward a goal  is something I really enjoy.’

You are also a supervisory oard member at Agrifirm and Plus. Do the ambitions of the Food Transformation Forum not clash with the reality of such profit-driven companies?
‘Not for me. It actually helps me to keep both feet firmly on the ground and look at the problems and dilemmas from different perspectives. The press often writes that companies like Agrifirm, as power blocs at the beginning of the chain, are holding back sustainability efforts, but I do not see that in practice. At Agrifirm, they know perfectly well that the livestock population in the Netherlands must and will shrink, and so they are also, for example, developing all kinds of products and services to help farmers with the transition to more regenerative agriculture. Moreover, as a cooperative, they genuinely have the ambition to leave the company in better shape for future generations. So, there is actually quite a bit of sustainability philosophy in their DNA.
In my role as a supervisory board member, I enjoy encouraging the board to take more steps than the law requires and to serve as a role model in doing so, but I do not only wear a sustainability hat. At Plus, I chair the audit committee, and at Agrifirm, the remuneration committee. It is precisely the combination of these roles that reinforces each other.’

The sustainability transition is often discussed in terms of obstacles and delays. Can you give an example of a successful transition?
‘The shelf space and the variety of vegetable-based meal kits in the supermarket have grown enormously over the last two or three years. It is truly a winning formula because it helps consumers break out of ingrained habits without any effort. You do not have to hunt down the ingredients yourself, the recipes have been simplified to three easy steps, and vegetables are the flavor carrier. You can add meat, but you do not have to. And then, for example, with a meat variant with a lower footprint, such as chicken instead of beef. It may seem like a small example, but if the consumer makes better choices at the end of the chain and the assortment in the supermarket becomes more sustainable as a result, that really has a significant impact.’

And what do you see as the biggest challenge when it comes to the transition to sustainability?
‘For the food sector, that is the way the chain is currently organized. While businesses need to work toward the future, they also have to perform today. Everyone in the sector is struggling. Everyone has to keep a close eye on costs and work incredibly hard just to stay profitable. On top of that, the sector is highly fragmented. It involves thousands of farmers and companies, each with their own ecosystem. On the one hand, that makes it less vulnerable – because if a few companies relocate elsewhere, the Netherlands does not face a problem immediately – but it also makes it difficult to manage. Right now, we are holding each other back a bit and just cannot seem to get over the hurdles. Take Jumbo, which stopped promoting fresh meat two years ago. Ton van Veen, who was CEO at the time, had hoped other supermarkets would follow suit. That did not happen, and recently Jumbo decided to offer discount promotions again after all, because they lost tens of millions of euros in revenue as customers started buying meat from competitors. Everyone in the sector has an example of something where they stuck their necks out without it really setting anything in motion. I am now convinced that the sector is becoming sustainable too slowly through market forces alone. We need more central coordination and regulation.’

Who should take on that role?
‘That could be the government, or even better: a public-private body. It is important that measures are not devised in an ivory tower and that the sector is involved. We could start with a few price interventions, such as reducing the VAT on fruit and vegetables to zero, stopping meat promotions after all, or agreeing on a maximum discount percentage, because pricing is a very powerful tool. I do not have all the solutions or ideas. What matters is that we agree on goals together and then discuss what is required of everyone to get there. When the previous cabinet fell, we worked with a broad coalition from the Agrifood cluster, including the Next Food Collective, to draft a plan for a long-term food policy that included a role for such a coordinating body. That has become part of the current coalition agreement, but it remains to be seen whether the minister and state secretary will actually implement it. Everyone is so preoccupied with the short-term nitrogen problem that the long-term transition threatens to be lost from view.’

Is there, at all, a shared sense within the sector that things need to change and improve?
‘I think so. In the companies I work with, for example, CSRD is really being embraced. Discussions between supermarkets and suppliers are now much more data-driven and structured, and together they can better identify which measures have the greatest impact. I see supermarkets really making strides in that area. In the beginning, reports at Plus focused on how many solar panels were installed at the distribution center. That is extremely important, but the core of the business is, of course, the product range in the supermarket. And the largest carbon footprint lies very early in the chain, in the production of animal feed and agricultural production. If you focus on more regenerative and organic farming there, you change the entire chain. To achieve fundamental increase in the transition, every sector must get to work where it has the greatest impact.’

Will this period of economic stagnation and geopolitical tensions slow down the transition to sustainability?
‘Things are becoming more volatile, and prices are fluctuating wildly. You could take a very negative view of this and, for example, claim that developments in the US will never allow for a level playing field. Nevertheless, I believe that we in Europe must uphold our values ​​and not allow the open market to drag us down to the lowest level. As a leader in the sustainable transformation, we have to stay positive. Now, for example, with the price of chemical fertilizers due rising energy costs, alternatives automatically become interesting again. That will stimulate innovation. I am convinced that we will start pricing pollution and that, as a result, the economy and ecology will eventually converge. So, we must not let go of our ambitions, but at the same time, we must not be too polarizing about the pace and the way in which we proceed. It is, after all, complex, and you need time to organize things properly. When you consider that sustainability has only really been on the table as a business issue for maybe ten or twenty years, a lot has already improved. That gives me hope, even though it is never enough and we have to keep going.’

The sustainable transition is affecting all sectors. Do directors and supervisory board members now need different competencies than they did in a stable market?
‘It is about how the entire team is composed. It helps if you have people on the supervisory board who have worked in different sectors or disciplines. In any case, the entire supervisory board must oversee sustainability objectives. I have noticed, also, that the term ‘future-proof’ works better these days than ‘sustainable,’ because it encompasses much more. Besides sustainability, there is also resilience, safety, and the importance of profitability in the here and now. As a result, it is less polarizing.’

This interview was published in Management Scope 04 2026.