Our Mission
Our mission: a healthy soil for all generations to come.
In three powerful words: #SaveTheSoil. But why on earth would we want to save the soil?
1.
A healthy soil can combat climate change!
Soil is the second largest buffer for carbon after the oceans. In fact, did you know that the soil stores three times the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and twice the amount contained in all plants and trees?! CRAZY.
However, damaged soil releases CO2 back into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.
2.
BUT! The amount of fertile soil on our planet is declining dramatically.
Did you know that about one football field of fertile farmland disappears every five seconds due to soil erosion?
As much as 40% of the world’s fertile soil is already depleted. If we continue like that, we’ll lose the rest within 60 years. Say what?!
3.
We urgently need to do something, and sustainable farming practices can help us in the battle!
Sustainable agricultural practices can be applied in different forms of agriculture, such as conventional, organic and regenerative farming methods!
Some examples of such methods:
- Wide crop rotation: growing different types of crops on the same piece of land, each at a time. This helps keep the soil healthy and prevents diseases or pests that could build up when growing the same crop over and over again.
- Green cover crops: crops (such as clover, vetch) that you plant between your main crops. These green cover crops improve soil quality and ensure more biodiversity in the soil.
- Non-tillage agriculture: the land is not plowed. This keeps the soil structure intact, which helps maintain soil life and reduce erosion.
- Cultivating natural enemies: attracting animals, such as ladybugs, that eat harmful insects (such as caterpillars or aphids) from your crops.
- And so much more!
Soils cultivated through sustainable agricultural practices contain more organic matter. This means they store more carbon, which is crucial for slowing down climate change.
4.
What exactly are we doing?
Farm Brothers COOKIE ACTION!
Farm Brothers supports sustainable farming practices in three ways:
- We make cookies from organic ingredients. Because organic agriculture already lays a good foundation for healthy soil.
- With every pack of cookies sold, we buy a piece of degraded farmland and turn it into healthy farmland forever! In order to do this, we collaborate with Bodemfonds BD Grondbeheer from The Netherlands.
- We make farmers aware of the importance of healthy soil. More information about this will follow soon!
Teamwork makes the dream work: meet our partner!
Unfortunately, merely baking delicious cookies won’t get us very far. We therefore work together with the soil foundation BD Grondbeheer from the Netherlands.
We donate part of our turnover to them and they use it to purchase impoverished agricultural land and lease that land to nature-inclusive farmers. Without profit, of course!
This is how we support sustainable farming practices. The result? A healthy soil that produces healthy crops, allowing farmers to offer us the very best ingredients for our cookies.
Want to learn more about soil health?
Then discover some interesting articles here
Why soil is important to life on Earth
FAO warns 90% of Earth’s topsoil a risk by 2050
UN says up to 40% of world’s land now degraded | Environment | The Guardian
