More Belgian fruit and vegetables
We will continue to invest in more Belgian potatoes, vegetables, fruit and fresh herbs on our store shelves in the coming years. We want to support our Belgian farmers even more and limit the impact of transports from abroad.
Objective: as Belgian as possible
Consumers can find a wide range of fresh potatoes, vegetables, herbs and fruit of Belgian origin in our stores. Products such as pears, chicory, leeks, tomatoes, mushrooms, strawberries and carrots are almost all Belgian when in season. This is also the case for fresh meat, dairy and eggs, almost 100% of which is sourced in Belgium all year round.
By choosing Belgian products, we guarantee our farmers a more stable sales market, which makes them less dependent on exports. We also achieve environmental gains, thanks to fewer transports from abroad and the relatively high efficiency of Belgian agriculture.
Seeking bigger volumes
We seek a larger Belgian share in potatoes, vegetables and fruit, conventionally and/or organically grown. To this end, we are setting up projects with Belgian growers to grow products for the first time (e.g. ginger), again (e.g. sweet potato) or in larger volumes (e.g. organic wheat).
We also try to extend the Belgian season where possible (e.g. potatoes). We choose varieties that do well here and provide longer high-quality harvests. This reduces the need to switch to foreign imports.
From foreign to domestic
We switch from a foreign to a Belgian supply as soon as:
- the Belgian products match the quality of foreign alternatives
- qualitative Belgian products are available even if we cannot (immediately) supply all shops
- we find a Belgian supplier who is open to a long-term, sustainable collaboration, with guarantees for quality, price, service and availability
Towards a 100% Belgian offer?
As much as we would like to, sourcing all our fresh fruit and vegetables from Belgium is not feasible.
- Exotic fruit such as bananas, citrus or mangoes cannot be grown here on a large scale.
- In certain seasons many products are only available abroad.
- The Belgian agricultural area is too small to grow all potatoes, vegetables and fruit for the Belgian market.
- To spread the risk, we buy some products abroad. We also want to be able to supply our customers in years with smaller Belgian harvests.
- Switching takes time. If, for example, we plant extra fruit trees in Belgium, it will be several years before we get the first harvest.
