De Nieuwe Melkboer encourages Dutch farmers to ‘milk’ their fields

Until recently, all soy milk in Dutch shops was produced abroad. But brothers Tom and Bart Grobben have changed that. Through De Nieuwe Melkboer, they ‘milk’ their own soy field and want to encourage their Dutch colleagues to grow soy and oats for plant-based dairy products on their fields as well.

The two farmers from Twente don’t need marketing lessons. With slogans such as ‘Neder-soja van Twentse bodem’ (‘Dutch soy from Twente soil’), ‘De eerste sojadrink van Nederlandse bodem’ (‘The first soy drink from Dutch soil’) and ‘bouwen aan een nieuwe Melkweg’ (‘building a new Milky Way’), they have effortlessly linked the urgency of a transition in livestock breeding to public sentiment.

Pioneers in Dutch plant-based dairy

They are pioneers in the cultivation and production of plant-based dairy products in the Netherlands. Each year, they sow part of their fields with soy and already sell their own brand: De Nieuwe Melkboer. Through webshops such as Crisp, Gorillas, Boerschappen en Proef de Perfectie, some retail and catering outlets in the east of the Netherlands, as well as wholesalers such as Lindenhoff and Bolscherm. If it were up to Tom and Bart Grobben, they would not stop there – their Dutch soy milk would soon be on all supermarket shelves.

The downside of livestock farming

While studying at Wageningen University (WUR), the Grobben brothers had an important question to consider: are we going to continue the dairy farm that has been in our family for generations? And if so, how? They decided to do things differently. At university, they learned how highly developed and effective the Dutch agricultural sector is, as well as its downside: the production of 1 kilogram of meat requires 15,000 litres of water, and livestock farming is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. “Meat and dairy have a huge impact on the climate, and farmers have to deal with all that. In Wageningen, we were confronted with the facts and our eyes were opened to the opportunities”, says Tom Grobben. “We learned that growing plant-based food is actually much more efficient. Farmers are also entrepreneurs, so they need to look to the future.”

Where does the soy come from?

Many Dutch dairy farmers are having a hard time. They sell their dairy to cooperatives such as FrieslandCampina, meaning they are tied to the prices offered. Therefore, it is logical to grow in size in order to milk more cost efficiently. Tom and Bart Grobben also have 75 dairy cows at their farm, making it too small for a dairy farm to offer sufficient future prospects. “With the developments to increase the efficiency and scale of milk production, we identified the danger of milking the cow more and more and we did not want to go along with that”, says Tom. “That’s why we didn’t want to invest money in doubling our number of cows. That’s when we came up with the idea of Twente soy milk. We see a market fo rplantaardig groeien and believe it’s the future.”

Nowadays, almost all plant-based dairy products are produced abroad, with soy in particular grown in North America. It is not always grown sustainably, and transport is not sustainable either. It is quite funny that people start eating plant-based food for sustainability reasons without knowing where it comes from. Also, the polarisation in the debate between vegans and meat-eaters has become a bit of an issue. Currently, 60% of proteins in our diet come from animals. If we can reduce that to 40% in the Netherlands, that will already be a huge step.”

15,000 litres of soy milk per hectare

That is why they started growing soy in 2016, and their soy milk has been on sale since November 2020. They call it ‘soy drink’, as they are not allowed to call it milk. De Nieuwe Melkboer’s soy field yields approximately 3,000kg of soy beans per hectare, which is used to create 15,000 litres of soy milk. Last year, the brothers grew soy on 2 hectares, which yielded 30,000 litres. They will sow 3 hectares this year, which will be harvested in October. They are not the only ones doing this, but they are the only farmers who process their soy into their own dairy rather than using it for cattle feed. In order to increase production, the brothers also want to buy soy from other farmers. That is why the two brothers also want to encourage colleagues to cultivate it. Since 2013, cattle feed company Agrifirm has been working to raise soy cultivation in the Netherlands to a higher level. However, although there were 91 growers already growing soy on 475 hectares of land in 2018, the initiative never really took off. “We want to breathe new life into soy cultivation together with Agrifirm and Dutch farmers. Our brand can take care of the sales”, says Tom Grobben. “It would be a real shame if our agricultural sector were to miss out on plant-based dairy products.”

Oat milk: the next step

The brothers focus not just on soy, but also on oats. Currently,havermelk mainly comes from abroad. “That’s the next step. We have already sown a small trial field”, says Tom Grobben. “Dutch farmers would find it very easy to grow. If large groups of us were to start doing it, we could produce and sell the oat milk.”

Guidance from Invest-NL

De Nieuwe Melkboer’s turnover is growing. In fact, demand even outstrips supply. The last harvest has already been completely used for soy drinks and other dairy products. In order to increase production, greater supply is needed from other farmers. After that, more buyers are needed – such as supermarkets. In order to make that step, De Nieuwe Melkboer participated in The Fastlane Program run by Invest-NL and Foodvalley NL, which assists companies through customised plans covering the financial, legal and technical aspects.

Grobben: “We see a lot of demand in the Dutch market, and we want to meet that demand. But if you want to do business with the Dutch retail sector, you need to be able to produce and deliver on a large scale. We are scaling up in order to take that professional step, and the Fastlane Program has helped us with that. It makes you reflect on questions such as: how are you going to organise your business? What aspects do you need to consider? How are you going to attract new clients? Fastlane taught us how to address those issues.”