‘Extreme weather threatens cultivation, and our existence’

By the Climate Centre

This is a transcript of a conversation between Harm Goossens, Netherlands Red Cross Director and Climate Centre board member, and Mark Schraauwen, CEO of Rotterdam-based Verstegen Spices & Sauces BV – a company feeling the impacts of climate change on its global operations. The first of a series, it appeared in Dutch in Het Financieele Dagblad, which puts the questions, and has been translated and slightly edited by the Climate Centre.

Het Financieele Dagblad: When did you become aware of the impact of extreme weather on your work?

Schraauwen: For me that was on Bangka island in Indonesia, from where we import white pepper. There, it is fermented in jute bags and then dried in the sun. If it suddenly rains for three days, part of the white pepper crop can be lost. Less income for the farmer; less product for us. Then I thought: climate change is not an abstract problem. This affects us now, in our chain.

Goossens: For me, the realization came when I was still working at Unilever. There I saw how dependent chains are on stable natural conditions. And now, at the Red Cross, I see that vulnerability every day. Ninety percent of all natural disasters are related to extreme weather. These are no longer just incidents, but structural crises. Without prevention, we will continue to lag behind.

HFD: Verstegen buys a lot of spices in tropical areas. Is it worse there?

Schraauwen: In countries like Indonesia or India, the combination of heat and precipitation extremes has become much more erratic. Pepper plants wither or drown. And new insect pests and plant diseases that thrive on wet or warm weather are emerging. Partly because of such developments, the average yield per acre has been declining for years.

Goossens: Often it is water-related. It’s either too much water, too little water, or dirty water. We can’t always prevent that, but we can limit the impacts. Deforestation, erosion, crop failure – we can really do something about that. The Red Cross helps people to collect water so that the ground stays moist in times of drought. Or we plant trees on hills so that extreme rainfall does not lead to devastating floods.

HFD: Specifically, what does extreme weather mean for your chains?

Schraauwen: Our chain starts with the farmer. But if they have bad harvests three years in a row, they can no longer invest. Their children see that too; then they do not want to follow in their parents’ footsteps but leave the countryside and seek refuge in the city. Thus not only production disappears, but also knowledge and continuity. Such developments can jeopardize the entire production – to the point where certain herbs and spices are unavailable and prices can rise enormously.

‘If it suddenly rains for three days
part of the white pepper crop can be lost.
Less income for the farmer, less product for us’

HFD: You can’t prevent extreme weather. What can you do?

Schraauwen: Of everything. We actively contribute to improving soil health. In Indonesia, we are working with a local party to train farmers in sustainable agriculture so that soil life improves, ecosystems become healthier and more resistant to extreme weather conditions. This is because within healthy ecosystems, the soil can store more water, allowing you to overcome periods of drought and cope with extreme rainfall. We are also actively pursuing regenerative agricultural practices in the Netherlands itself, Costa Rica, India and Guatemala.

Goossens: Wonderful. That’s very similar to how we do it, including at the community level. In India, we plant trees in dry riverbeds to prevent erosion. In Bangladesh, we build mangrove forests with volunteers, which protect houses, farmland and people from flooding. And in Indonesia, we’re installing warning systems with bells that go off in the event of flooding so people can leave their homes in time. It works because we have a local presence with volunteers who know the language and culture.

HFD: When did Verstegen realize that sustainability needed to become a structural part of its strategy?

Schraauwen:That started with our owner, Michel Driessen. He says: “I had a moment in front of the mirror, literally while shaving – then suddenly it came to me.” From that moment on, he explicitly set the goal that with Verstegen he wants to be the most sustainable herb and spice company in the world by 2035, because without a sustainable chain there is no future. And not only that. From 2035, Verstegen wants to compensate for historical CO2emissions. We don’t do that through carbon credits but by investing in biodiversity and restoration in our own chains.

HFD: What role does money play in all this?

Schraauwen: We go for impact maximization not profit maximization. We are a family business; continuity is more important than more profit every year. Just under three years ago we had a sustainable strategy and a commercial strategy. And these existed side by side. One of the first things I did was to make sure there was one strategy. In my mind, you can’t have separate sustainable and commercial strategies. So that has to be intertwined.

Goossens: We have calculated that every euro we invest in prevention saves an average of 16 euros in emergency aid. And more importantly: it prevents human suffering. For companies, prevention simply means a wise investment.​

HFD: You are active in many of the same areas. Have you worked together before?

Goossens: No, but our networks do overlap considerably. The Red Cross helps after a disaster, but also increasingly before. And often in the same communities where your farmers are active. That offers opportunities. I strongly believe in working more with the business community and with NGOs like Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Precisely because we are already in those communities with our volunteers. If we can support locally what Verstegen does at chain level, we strengthen each other.

Schraauwen: I certainly believe in that. And we also actively seek that cooperation with NGOs, governments and local companies in countries of origin. I’m going to Indonesia soon. Then I think it would be very valuable to meet the local Red Cross.

HFD: Great initiatives. Why does the average consumer hear so little about them?

Goossens:Much of our work is preventive and therefore relatively invisible, but no less important for that. If we do our work well, you won’t read in the papers afterwards that people have died as a result of flooding or crops destroyed. We can do this together. But then it is also important that companies and aid organizations join forces.

Schraauwen:I recognize that. We are aware that we are only at the beginning of realizing our sustainable vision. Therefore, in the past we have been reticent in communicating what we have achieved. What we have to do is to be transparent about where we are now, what we have achieved in the past and where we are going in the future. In doing so, we want to provide clarity to our customers and consumers about what they are contributing to by buying our products.

‘Much of our work is preventive and relatively invisible, but no less important for that’

HFD: What does a collaboration look like for you that truly advances not only your own organization but also the broader community?

Schraauwen: We are looking for cooperation, because we believe that if we work together, we can make more impact. I am going to Indonesia in a few days, among other things to talk with suppliers, but also to make a tour of a number of farmers, to also seek that connection, to see, experience and feel it. If we are active there and so are you, we can really find each other.

Goossens: The Red Cross is happy to join forces with companies in order to work together – especially at the local level – and achieve common goals. So that we can better show you: Hey, I can really work together with the Red Cross in India or Indonesia. What we can add to your goals – that inspires me. And then it’s good: good for the people, good for the communities there, and economically good in the long term. We are already looking more and more broadly at cooperation with companies, including in Vietnam and African countries, and at nature-based solutions. Water systems, erosion prevention, forest restoration. These actions work – and companies can connect directly to them. That’s how we help their people, their supply chain and the community around them.

HFD: What inspires you to do this every day?

Goossens: What drives me is the conviction that every little helps. If together we can strengthen a community, even if it is only around one farmer, we have already made a difference. That’s where it starts.

Schraauwen: I believe it has to be done. For the next generations everywhere. As a family business, we fortunately have the luxury of not thinking in quarterly figures. But if we do nothing, soon there will be too little harvest, too little yield, and the farmers will move away. Then they will have no livelihood and we will have no business. Every euro we invest in sustainability will bring back at least two euros in the future. And honestly: When my growing daughter asks me in 20 years’ time what I did at Verstegen to improve the world a little when I had the chance, I want to be able to give a sincerely good answer.

Mark Schraauwen (at right) has been Verstegen CEO since 2024. The company sources produce from nearly 50 countries  and supplies herbs, spices and sauces to consumers, butchers, chefs, caterers and industrial food companies, among others. At Unilever as global head of sustainability, Harm Goossens saw how dependent supply chains for food, herbs, spices and other raw materials are on stable natural conditions and resilient local communities. (Photo: NLRC)