“We didn’t add sustainability. We embedded it.”
A conversation with Joachim Hollevoet on how Crop’s translates its Do Food Good purpose into structural impact
Ooigem, 2 July 2026 - Anyone speaking with Sustainability Manager Joachim Hollevoet quickly notices that he rarely uses the word sustainability without immediately linking it to strategy, choices, and the long term. For him, sustainability is not a separate track alongside the business. It is the way the business is built.
Sustainability as a foundation, not a department
“At Crop’s, sustainability never started as a reporting requirement,” he says. “It grew from who we are.” And that “who we are” begins with the purpose that connects the entire company: Do Food Good: making healthy eating more tasty, easy and affordable.
When Joachim talks about sustainability strategy, he avoids terms like “project” or “programme.” Instead, he speaks about embedding.
“Many companies build a sustainability strategy alongside their commercial strategy,” he explains. “We made a different choice. We deliberately integrated sustainability into our four strategic pillars: Grow Better, Preserve Better, Innovate Better and Advise Better.”
This may sound like a semantic difference on paper, but in practice, it is fundamental.
“At Crop’s, sustainability only truly gains meaning when it becomes tangible in how we operate: in the field, at our sites, and in our relationships with customers,” Joachim explains.
“Within the Grow Better pillar, this translates into a clear choice for future-proof agriculture. We invest in more sustainable farming practices, focus on smart water management, and actively build biodiversity in and around our fields. At the same time, we strengthen our long-term relationships with growers, because real progress is only possible when you learn, invest, and share responsibility together. This way, not only the crop grows, but the partnership as well.”
Joachim continues: “With Preserve Better, we look at our own footprint. In our production environments, we systematically work on reducing our impact by using energy and water more efficiently, limiting waste streams – such as ‘food waste’ -, and continuously optimizing processes. It is a constant search for improvement across every link in our operations: consuming less, organising smarter, and using resources more consciously. Because for us, preserving is not only about protecting food, but also about respecting resources.”
“Finally, through Advise Better, we extend our responsibility further along the chain. We encourage healthier and more plant based food choices by inspiring and supporting customers with knowledge, insights, and innovative solutions. That same awareness is fostered internally: by engaging and informing employees, we build a shared conviction that healthy food and sustainable choices go hand in hand. In this way, sustainability becomes not an individual effort, but a collective movement.”
“By embedding sustainability within our existing pillars, we make it clear that it is not an additional layer. It is present in every decision. That makes our story stronger and more credible.”
A moment of focus: the Double Materiality Assessment
In 2024, Crop’s took an important step to structure this integration: a comprehensive Double Materiality Assessment (DMA).
“That was not a theoretical exercise,” Joachim recalls. “It was a moment of focus.”
Double materiality looks from two perspectives: How do we as Crop’s impact the environment and society? And how do environmental and social factors impact our financial and operational future?
“That dual perspective is essential,” he says. “Because sustainability is not only about the impact you create, but also about the risks and opportunities that shape your future.”
This exercise identified several key ESG (= Environmental, Social & Governance) topics that clearly define Crop’s priorities. Notably, topics such as food safety and quality were not selected as “material.” Joachim smiles when explaining this.
“Not because they are less important, quite the opposite. They are so fundamental that they are already fully embedded in our daily operations. They are non-negotiable. But our sustainability strategy focuses on those areas where we can create additional acceleration.”
When the conversation turns to reporting, it becomes clear how closely strategy and governance are intertwined.
“The Double Materiality Assessment was not just a content exercise,” Joachim explains. “It also defined how we need to approach reporting.”
Preparing for the future of reporting
Based on the outcomes, Crop’s will report according to the ‘Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive’, a European legislation, following the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). These are European guidelines that define which social and environmental datapoints & information companies must disclose in a standardised way.
“These standards make sustainability tangible,” he says. “They determine what data you need to collect, how to structure it, and how transparent you must be about your impact.”
This also had internal implications. To meet these requirements, Crop’s has rolled out a group-wide ESG data tracking and data collection framework, which has been implemented across all entities from the 2025–2026 financial year onwards.
“What we measure, we can improve,” Joachim emphasises. “By collecting ESG data in a structured and uniform way, we create not only external transparency, but also internal steering information. It helps us to critically review our ESG key topics and to make better decisions.”
The next step is preparing for CSRD reporting, for which Crop’s will report in calendar year 2028, covering the 2027–2028 financial year. Joachim does not see this as an administrative obligation, but as a step in maturity.
“CSRD pushes companies to treat sustainability with the same level of professionalism as financial reporting. For us, that is not a burden, but an opportunity. It helps us further strengthen our governance and embed sustainability even deeper into our organisation.”
He summarizes it simply: “Transparency is not an endpoint. It is a lever. And for Crop’s, it is a natural continuation of what we already do within Do Food Good.”
From analysis to organisation-wide action
Strategy only gains meaning when it is embraced across the organisation. That is why Crop’s has implemented a clear governance structure.
“Today, we work with 15 active sustainability workstreams,” Joachim says. “Each workstream has a lead, a sponsor, and clearly defined responsibilities.”
This model ensures that sustainability does not become a silo.
“It would be a mistake to think sustainability belongs to a single department. It touches agronomy, sourcing/procurement, operations, finance, R&D, HR. That is why responsibility must be broadly shared.”
In addition, Crop’s is taking steps toward external benchmarking and transparency. In 2025, the group conducted its first group-wide EcoVadis assessment, evaluating performance on environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement.
“Such an assessment forces you to look critically at yourself. It is not an endpoint, but a mirror.”
Sustainability as a strength, not an obligation
As the conversation turns to the future, it becomes clear what truly energizes Joachim.
“We do not see sustainability as a risk to be managed. We see it as an opportunity to become stronger.”
Crop’s frozen activity in itself is already an answer to food waste. But according to Joachim, the real impact lies in the integration of all links in the chain: from field to production, from sourcing to advisory.
“Our strength lies in the fact that we operate as a vertically integrated company. This allows us to approach sustainability not in fragments, but systemically.”
He pauses for a moment, then concludes: “At Crop’s, sustainability is not a chapter at the end of the report. It sits at the heart of Do Food Good. It defines how we grow, how we invest, and how we collaborate.”
Read the full sustainability report and follow our Do Food Good journey.
Korneel Warlop