Potatoes from Dutch supermarket chain PLUS standard organic

PLUS's Dutch range of unprocessed potatoes will become completely organic. As of today, the unprocessed potatoes in 1 kilo bags are standard organic. And again without increasing the price. The customer continues to pay the same price and the growers receive the additional price that is appropriate for organic.

PLUS will make up the difference itself. PLUS is the first Dutch supermarket to offer all unprocessed potatoes completely organic. The supermarket announced this today at PLUS Jaap Schimmel in IJsselstein.

With this step, PLUS is gradually making its entire range of unprocessed potatoes completely organic. All unprocessed potatoes in 1 kilo bags – waxy, crumbly and baby potatoes – are the first step. The rest of the range of unprocessed potatoes in 3 and 5 kilo bags will follow in phases.

More positive impact on the environment

Organic growers take good care of the soil, contribute to better biodiversity and work without chemical-synthetic crop protection products and without artificial fertilizers.

Eric Leebeek, commercial director at PLUS:
 

"In 2021 we are already taking a big step towards becoming more organic by converting our entire daily fresh dairy range to standard organic dairy. A first big step towards organic dairy from Dutch cows. A unique switch in the market. Now we are taking the next step within the potato industry together with growers."

"The fact that we are gradually converting the potato shelf to organic is a conscious choice. Because this gives our growers the time they need to expand their volume of organic potatoes. More organic products means more customers that we reach with organic without increasing the price. With this, PLUS supports a large group of organic growers, so that together we contribute to a more positive impact on the environment."

Organic potatoes from Dutch soil

The entire range of unprocessed potatoes from PLUS comes from the Netherlands all year round.

Michaël Wilde, director of Bionext, chain organization for organic agriculture and food:
 

"The transition of Dutch agriculture cannot be left to farmers and policy makers alone. It is crucial that market parties actively commit to this and offer a clear market perspective for new and current organic farmers. By choosing to make organic potatoes the standard, PLUS once again shows how you as a retailer take responsibility. We hope and expect that others will follow this beautiful and important example."

Expansion of organic range

Making the range of unprocessed potatoes completely organic is another important step towards an increasingly sustainable range. It fits within PLUS's ambition to make an important contribution to the goal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality with more and more organic products: at least 15% organic agricultural area in 2030. PLUS's range of organic products continues to grow.

From coffee and tea to rice. And from meat and fish to vegetables and fruit. PLUS continues to expand the range and in a number of cases pays the additional costs itself. The organic potatoes are included in the Laagblijvers range. These are everyday products (including fruit and vegetables) for a permanently low price. This makes organic food accessible to everyone.

PLUS opts for a replacement strategy

PLUS's sustainability approach is characterized by the replacement strategy, in which a product (group) is converted to a more sustainable variant in one go. In this way, the supermarket also makes the sustainable choice an easy and affordable choice for the consumer.

Examples are the standard Fairtrade bananas, the sale of at least free-range eggs, Fairtrade cocoa in all private label products and more recently, all fresh daily private label dairy is organic as standard. Organic potatoes are a worthy successor in this list. The Dutch organic potatoes in 1 kilo bag (waxy, crumbly and baby potatoes) are now in stores. The 1 kilo bags cost EUR 1,69 (USD 1,80).