Boeregoed: Building Short Food Chains with Social Impact

In the Netherlands, Boeregoed, founded by Gert Kögeler, is showing how short food supply chains can connect local farmers, consumers, and social organisations. Through its Community Greenhouse (BuurtKas) and regional farm shops, Boeregoed combines food production with social care, making fresh local products accessible while creating community value.

Farmers today face many challenges (low margins, complex regulations, and limited digital tools). Boeregoed tackles these by collaborating with nearby farm shops, sharing logistics, IT solutions, and purchasing power, while still preserving each shop’s identity.

According to Kögeler, the sector urgently needs practical IT support, training in marketing and business skills, and more flexible policies that recognise the value of local initiatives. EU projects, such as EU4Advice and its Dutch Living Lab, can help by offering knowledge exchange, pilot projects, and affordable digital tools tailored to small-scale producers.

Could you describe your role and how it connects to short food supply chains?

I am the initiator of BoereGoed, a social and regional food initiative. My role is to connect local farmers, consumers, and social organizations. We build short food supply chains by working directly from farmer to consumer, without unnecessary intermediaries, while also creating social value in our Community Greenhouse (BuurtKas) and Farmshops.

What are the main challenges you see for local farmers and suppliers today?

The main challenges are:

• Low margins and price pressure from conventional trade.
• Limited access to consumer markets without expensive distribution channels.
• No simple or affordable ERP solution for farm shops; current systems are often costly and require many separate integrations.
• Administrative burdens and regulations that are not adapted to small-scale, local initiatives.
• Finding enough labor and successors in the sector.

How do you currently collaborate with local producers or networks such as De Lokalist and Boerschappen?

We do not collaborate with De Lokalist or Boerschappen. However, we currently work closely with two similar farm shops. Our cooperation focuses on logistics, purchasing, ERP and checkout systems, and price agreements. This way we gain scale and professionalism, without losing our individual identity.

In your view, what kinds of training or advisory support would most benefit local suppliers?

The most important is support with IT solutions. In addition, suppliers would benefit from:

Marketing & storytelling – how to present their unique products to consumers.

Digital tools – webshop management, social media, data analysis.

Business management – cost price calculation, scalable logistics, and collaboration with others.

What role should policymakers play in strengthening short food supply chains?

In theory, policymakers should recognize and support short food supply chains. In practice, however, we often experience resistance rather than support. Rules are usually designed for large-scale trade and leave little room for small-scale initiatives. More space is needed for experimentation, public procurement that includes short chains, and support for shared infrastructure.

How do you see EU initiatives like EU4Advice Living Labs supporting your work or the sector?

Primarily by helping to develop a simple ERP solution that can be applied across multiple businesses. In addition, Living Labs can be useful by sharing knowledge and best practices between regions, and by supporting concrete pilots: for example, test projects around food forests, circular processing, or logistics. What matters most is that they remain practical and accessible.

What barriers do farmers and suppliers face in adopting digital tools or new practices?

• Lack of time and knowledge.
• Fear that systems are too expensive or complex.
• Limited economies of scale for small businesses.
• Distrust of abstract digital solutions that do not fit daily practice.

Which forms of collaboration (public-private, farmer-to-farmer, cross-country) are most needed?

Farmer-to-farmer collaboration is crucial to bundle volumes. Public-private cooperation is also needed to organize logistics hubs, storage, and training. Cross-country collaboration is useful for knowledge exchange, but local bundling remains the most important.

How can short food supply chains contribute to broader goals such as sustainability and rural development?

Short food supply chains contribute by:

• Reducing transport miles and CO₂ emissions.
• Providing fairer prices for farmers, ensuring the survival of their businesses.
• Strengthening social cohesion by connecting consumers directly with producers.
• Keeping rural areas vital: offering jobs, volunteer opportunities, and education.

Looking ahead, what would an ideal future for short food supply chains look like in your country or region?

An environment where short supply chains are the norm, not a niche. Consumers buy locally, institutions and companies deliberately source from regional producers, and government policy actively supports this. Logistics and digital systems are shared, so that small producers can grow stronger together.

Can you describe the main business models used by farmers or food producers you advise (e.g., direct-to-consumer, farmers’ markets, CSA/box schemes, online shops, collective distribution, partnerships with restaurants/retailers)?

• Farm shops & on-farm sales – direct to consumers.
• Webshops / box schemes – fruit and vegetable packages.
• Collective shops or markets – collaboration between multiple producers.
• Supplying restaurants and companies (e.g., workplace fruit) – B2B models.
• Retail partnerships – limited, often difficult due to margins.

For each business model you mentioned:

 How does it typically generate income?

Through direct sales, often with better margins than wholesale channels.

What makes it succeed (or fail) in practice?

• Success factors: strong local connection, high product quality, reliability.
• Indirect benefits: social impact (inclusion, collaboration) and positive effects on biodiversity.
• Failures often occur due to high logistics and marketing costs, or lack of scale.

Does it usually require subsidies or grants to be viable?

Often yes, especially in the start-up phase, for investments in infrastructure or digital systems.

If yes: which types of subsidies are most important (e.g., EU CAP, local government support, innovation funds)?

To be honest, I really don’t know