Herman Insinger of Farm Brothers: “Knowing that I am the part of the last generation that can reverse climate change is my biggest motivator”
Knowing that I am the part of the last generation that can reverse climate change is my biggest motivator. I think for future generations it’ll be too late and because of that I want to dedicate my life to helping in that effort.”
I had the pleasure of speaking to Herman Insinger, one of the founders of Farm Brothers, a social enterprise, which he co-founded with his best friend Teyler. Together, they are on a mission to sell organic cookies and restore abandoned farmland. Herman has always had a passion for sustainability and thanks to the incubator programme at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands,his dream has become a reality.
Thank you for speaking with me today! Can you tell us about your background and your career up until now?
I am from an agricultural background, with both of my parents owning farms.
I studied Economics and worked as commodity trader for five years after graduation. But I didn’t like that line of business anymore, as I wasn’t trading organic products or helping the planet heal in anyway.
I asked my father if I could take over the family farm but he said I was too young to do it. So six years ago I started my own organic food business, after successful selling crackers in supermarkets in the Netherlands we were to raise enough money to develop our own organic cookie line.
What is your mission as a social entrepreneur?
My mission is to give back to society and the planet. We give 1% of our turnover back to charity. This allows farmers to buy polluted farm land that has been sprayed with lots of chemical and is depleted of nutrients. We use regenerative agricultural practices to make the land safe again. For example, we pluck weeds rather than spray them, this process can take three to five years and it means the farmer has no income during this time. Farm Brothers help the farmers out financially during this period of down time when the land can’t be used.
I also want to educate consumers on why biodiversity is so important and what role agriculture plays in the food chain.
Can you tell us what empowers and motivates you?
Knowing that I am the part of the last generation that can reverse climate change is my biggest motivator. I think for future generations it’ll be too late and because of that I want to dedicate my life to helping in that effort.
I think everyone is born with a certain skill set and can deploy that skill set to contribute to improving the health of our planet and the environment of her inhabitants.
What have you learnt so far about entrepreneurship?
You just have to keep going. You can’t give up. If you’re going through hell, you keep going until you’re out it. Keep pushing and keep giving input which is perhaps easier said than done, but if you keep going it will lead to something good.
This work isn't easy. What has helped get your business off the ground?
Nyenrode Business University has done many things to support us. We are part of their business incubator programme. This means they provided us with free office space for a while and now we only pay very cheap rent. We have also been given interns to help us. We also have the advice and knowledge from some of the best marketing professors in the world to help us with our marketing strategy. We also have access to the brilliant alumni community.
What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome this?
Our biggest challenge is keeping our products on the shelf and making sure consumers pick our cookies up. Its easy to get your products on the shelf but keeping them there is the hard part.
The way to overcome this is marketing, being on a small budget we have to be very creative in this department. For instance we currently have a deal with the Dutch Lottery which means we give them products at a discounted rate in exchange to be small a “small” price for the lottery players. Exposure like this allows us to build up our brand.
We believe that everyone can copy a cookie but not our story, our mission is very unique, and we need to get that across.
In your opinion, what impact has Farm Brothers had on agriculture and the environment?
Did you know that in the last 100 years we have lost 50% of our fertile earth worldwide due to chemicals and pesticides? The next 60 years we stand to lose the rest, this would very seriously impact the ability to produce food on land what can image would lead to great social turmoil. Luckily there are farming practices that preserve, improve and regenerate soil health. Plants eat CO2 to grow, the soil consist of many tiny living organism that have the capacity to eat or store C02. A healthy soil can thus extract CO2 from the air and contribute to reversing or halting climate change.
Healthy soil can only be obtained when farming organic. It is important for people to know that organic food is maybe only a bit more healthy for you but much more healthy for the planet.
Not only do we have the science to back this up, the ‘The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) acknowledges healthy soil as huge contributor to reversing climate change.
Do you think future leaders need to have a greater focus on society, sustainability and the environment?
Yes, I think that is inevitable. I have lot of faith in our generation and the generation after us. It is now ‘cool’ to care about the environment; people desire Tesla’s not Porsche's, prefer to shop at whole foods and drink organic coffee’s. I do think that a big difference compared to the past. That change is coming from the bottom up, consumers have to be the ones to make sensible choices. I’m all for ‘grass roots change’ which means consumers have the power to make the difference, like not buying cheap products that damage the environment.
I also think social media has made it very easy to track a bad company. However, in order to have a better focus on sustainability we must continue to push from the bottom up. There’s a lot of people that benefit and make money from the current system and change won’t come overnight unless their customer base changes.
Can you give us a piece of advice for young people wanting to work in or set up a social enterprise?
If you start your enterprise with little money, start in a niche or find a niche, then you can expand your business from there. Find something that no one else does or wants to do and be creative. If you find your own way, you’re more likely to succeed.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see Farm Brothers becoming the biggest organic food company in Europe. The aim is to switch thousands of hectares in Europe to organic farming, so that we can give the next generation healthy soil.
And from a personal perspective I see myself in a role where I can add the most value to other people’s lives.
