RegenAg’s Dare to Ask: What Happens When the Whole Value Chain Speaks Up?

How partners from soil to shelf came together to explore their role in the regenerative agriculture value chain and co-create solutions for the future.  

What happens when you put the entire regenerative agriculture value chain in one room—and ask everyone to be radically honest about their challenges? 

On 11 December during the Foodvalley Partner Event, that’s exactly what we did within the Regenerative Agriculture Community. During a ‘Dare to Ask’ session, partners from across the chain— from protein-crop farmers and circular cooperatives (Protein Farmers of the Netherlands, Agricycling), through food processing (Aviko), to retail (Lidl) and soil-data innovation (Soilytix) —literally took their place in the value chain and asked the questions they usually don’t get to ask out loud.

The result? A highly tangible conversation that made one thing unmistakably clear: regenerative agriculture only works if every link is involved—and if we dare to look beyond our own silo. 

Rather than presentations, the session revolved around real, pressing questions from practice. Each “ask” revealed not just a challenge, but also opportunities where collaboration, new business models and shared responsibility could unlock progress.

From Soil to Shelf: Five Perspectives, One Shared Challenge

Farmers put the system on the table 
The Protein farmers of the Netherlands, a producer organisation formed by Dutch farmers, highlighted a fundamental tension: legumes are essential for regenerative crop rotations and soil health, yet structurally undervalued in today’s market. Their question sparked a broader discussion about moving beyond crop-by-crop thinking towards system-based valuation—where ecosystem services, longer rotations and cross-crop collaboration are recognised, rewarded and made measurable.

Circularity as a shared responsibility 
Agricycling, a farmer-driven circular agriculture initiative organised through local cooperatives, brought the conversation beyond the farm gate, asking how farmers, citizens and value chain partners can jointly take ownership of soil health through their circular approach. The discussion quickly showed that circularity resonates far beyond agriculture alone—it connects to overarching challenges such as climate, waste reduction, and emissions—but only works if data, incentives, and engagement flow across the entire chain.

Making soil health tangible 
Soilytix, a biotech soil intelligence company, zoomed in on a deceptively simple question: what is soil health, and how do you explain it meaningfully to different stakeholders? A key insight was the importance of starting with farmers themselves: understanding how they define soil health and what would genuinely motivate them. The session also reinforced that soil health cannot be defined in isolation. Its meaning shifts depending on who you ask—farmer, processor, retailer or consumer. Bringing these perspectives together is essential, and the Dare to Ask session made clear that this was only a starting point. Participants also saw a clear opportunity for Soilytix to take a leading role in co-defining soil health together with value chain partners—turning data into a shared language that supports the regenerative transition.

Scaling regenerative sourcing in practice 
Aviko, Dutch food company and one of the world’s leading potato processors, shared insights from its Future Proof Farming programme, which is already engaging a growing group of farmers. The key question was not why regenerative agriculture matters, but how to scale it in a financially sustainable way. Taste, shared investment models, neutral conveners and collaboration with other crop sourcers for shared valorisation in the different value chains emerged as promising pieces of the puzzle—alongside the recognition that the rest of the chain needs to move with the frontrunners.

Retail without a label? 
Lidl, international discount supermarket chain, challenged the group with a dilemma many retailers face: how do you commit to regenerative agriculture without introducing yet another label—while staying affordable, measurable, and fair to farmers? The conversation opened unexpected angles, from longer-term partnerships and cost-sharing to links between health outcomes and avoided societal costs.

Cross-chain Insights: What Kept Coming Back

Although each “Dare to Ask” started from a different position in the value chain, several shared themes kept resurfacing across the conversations: 

• From silos to systems: Whether discussing legumes, potatoes, soil data or retail strategies, participants repeatedly challenged crop-by-crop and actor-by-actor thinking. Regenerative agriculture demands a system view—one that accounts for crop rotations, ecosystem services and long-term impacts beyond a single season or product. 

• Incentives matter—and they must be shared: Everyone agreed on the direction of travel, but the question of who pays, when, and for what remained central. Many discussions pointed towards shared investment models, longer-term partnerships, and new (fairer) ways of distributing costs and benefits across the chain. 

• Making the invisible visible: Soil health, ecosystem services and long-term resilience are foundational to regeneration, yet often remain abstract or invisible. Data, measurement, and storytelling emerged as critical tools—especially when they are connected across the chain and translated for different audiences, from farmers to consumers. 

• The consumer as part of the system: Several conversations circled back to the role of the end user. Without consumer understanding and engagement—whether through taste, health, or societal value—scaling regenerative agriculture will remain difficult. The challenge lies in making regeneration relevant without oversimplifying it. 

Illustrator Hanne Maas captured the session in this drawing

Moving Forward as a Value Chain

The Dare to Ask session was not about delivering ready-made answers. It was about creating a safe space for value chain partners where real questions could surface—and where the value chain could start responding together respecting that each party has a role to play. 

What became clear is that regenerative agriculture is not a solo transition. It requires trust, transparency, and collaboration across traditional boundaries. Farmers, processors, retailers, technology providers, and consumers all shape the outcome—and all have something to gain. 

This session marked a starting point: a shared understanding that the next steps will only work if we move forward as a value chain, not as individual links. The conversations sparked on 11 December will continue—in new collaborations, follow-up sessions, and concrete actions across the community. 

Join the Movement

Want to help drive the regenerative agriculture transition? 
Not part of the Regen Ag Community yet? Become part of our Regenerative Agriculture Community where everyone has a role to play—whether you’re innovating, connecting, or scaling impact.

The community is part of The Regenerative Innovation Portfolio, a collaboration platform that brings together a wide array of actors within Europe to action the critical systemic shift we need to fix our broken food system. The Regenerative Innovation Portfolio is an ecosystem collaboration, established as a Food Innovation Hub Europe Initiative of the World Economic Forum, and delivered by EIT Food in collaboration with Foodvalley.
Read more here and reach out to us if you want to be part of our community.