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Saturday, 5 September 2026 in
BC1 Business Channel One
The memory of the futureSharing innovation knowledge through authentic stories
Agriculture

At the kitchen table in conversation with Willem Lageweg

🎬 Multilingual subtitles
✍️ By: Team BC1.NL

Transition Coalition Food: working towards a healthy and fair food system

The way we currently produce and consume food isn't sustainable. Climate, biodiversity, and public health are all under strain, and the need for a fundamental overhaul of our agriculture and food system has never been greater. The Transitie Coalitie Voedsel (TCV) plays a vital role here. This broad coalition, made up of 200 members, including farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and policymakers, works towards a healthy life on a healthy planet.

A movement with a mission

Willem Lageweg, one of its founders, explains how TCV grew out of a desire to bring agriculture, health, and nature closer together. The coalition operates according to ten guiding principles for sustainable, fair, and transparent food production. He highlights three of them:

Three guiding principles for change

  1. True cost accounting, revealing the real cost of food production to society.
  2. The protein transition, shifting from animal to plant-based sources for a healthier and more sustainable diet.
  3. The connection between farmer and citizen, built on mutual understanding and direct sales through short supply chains.

From thinking to doing

TCV is more than a think tank; it's also a network of people who take action. Among other things, the coalition set up the Short Chains Taskforce, where small-scale initiatives join forces on logistics and marketing. It was here that the Support Your Locals initiative was born, going on to flourish during the Covid crisis.

Innovation and collaboration in practice

TCV also backs the Boerenraad, a platform for innovative farmers committed to nature-friendly, healthy agriculture. Together with Questionmark, it developed a supermarket benchmark as well, making it possible to compare which chains genuinely support healthier choices.

The road to a future-proof food system

As both a movement and a challenger of the status quo, TCV brings vision and energy to the pursuit of a resilient, future-proof food system, in the Netherlands and beyond. The road ahead is long, but the direction is clear.

See also:
At the kitchen table in conversation with Ronald Rovers Learning from corona
At the kitchen table in conversation with Roos Janssen National crowdsourcing

Frequently asked questions

This is a short summary of the film. Watch the video above for the full story.

What is the Transition Coalition Food?
The Transition Coalition Food is a broad coalition that brings together pioneers who show that agriculture, health and nature can be linked far better than often happens now.
Who is working together on a different food system?
The Transition Coalition Food includes enterprising farmers, companies, scientists, researchers and policy people. The coalition now has 200 members.
What does true cost accounting mean in agriculture?
True cost accounting means making visible the fair, real costs that are connected with agriculture and food. According to Willem Lageweg, current agricultural production costs society more than it yields, and making those costs fairer means that we pay more honestly for food instead of passing the bill on to the taxpayer or to care providers who have to absorb the health costs.
What does the protein transition involve?
The protein transition is about reversing our protein consumption. At present people eat too much animal protein and too little plant protein, roughly 65 per cent animal and 35 per cent plant, while the coalition wants to turn that ratio around. That is good for people's health and puts far less strain on the earth.
Which projects help short chains in the food sector?
The coalition set up the Short Chains Taskforce, out of which Support your Locals came among other things, to let small initiatives share knowledge and work together on logistics and marketing. It also brought innovative farmers together in the Boerenraad and, together with Questionmark, made a supermarket benchmark that shows which supermarket sells healthy products and how their marketing is aimed at healthy or unhealthy choices.
Where can I watch the full film?
These questions and answers are a short summary. Watch the full film "At the kitchen table in conversation with Willem Lageweg" with all insights, examples and background at https://www.bc1.eu/at-the-kitchen-table-in-conversation-with-willem-lageweg/
Tags:policymakersbiodiversitybiodiversity and foodfarmersFarmers Councilsustainable food systemfair incomesfair food pricesprotein transitionhealthy livinghealthy foodhealthshort chainsagriculturenature

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