Queen Máxima supports true-cost accounting movement

Volkert Engelsman, Managing Director of the Dutch importer of organic vegetables and fruits, Eosta BV, has found a new ally of the true-cost accounting movement in Queen Máxima. According to a press release from Eosta, Queen Máxima supports Engelsmann's appeal at the Dutch organic trade fair BioBeurs: "As long as the costs of the negative impact of industrial agriculture on the natural and social environment are not included in the prices, the food and agriculture sector will remain unnecessarily financially threatened. Soil erosion, groundwater pollution, climate change and pesticide contamination of food endanger our existence. Therefore, it is finally time to adjust the general definitions of 'profit' and 'profit'. How can farmers be expected to protect the environment if their products are not paid well?

Picture: The True Cost of Food campaign by Eosta

We demand a more balanced 'playing field', he emphasized: these who cause environmental and health damage must pay for this! And those who do not cause damage must receive rewards. The sustainability discussion has been fueled by ethical arguments so now is the time to focus on the financial aspect"s, Engelsman said.

Queen Máxima at the BioBeurs trade fair talks to Bas Rüter, Sustainability Director at Rabobank, the Netherlands, and Sustainability Chairman of the Dutch Banking Association, and Volkert Engelsman, CEO of Eosta BV, (right). Photo © Jan Peter Fiering

Eosta teamed with auditors from EY (formerly Ernst & Young), Triodos Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, IFOAM and others developed a model to calculate the "true cost" of food production. According to Engelsmann, this calculation model applies to all entrepreneurial activities. The financial sector can therefore no longer escape the consideration of social and environmental costs in the balance sheets.