Belgium: {België}

Belgium's Food System

Belgium is known for their delicious chocolates, waffles, and beer, but there is much more to the country than just those 3 things.

With a population of over 11.4 million, only a small percentage of the population engage in agriculture. There are 35,000 farms in Belgium and 23,000 of those are in Flanders. The average size of these farms are 27 hectares.

Farmers who engage with crop farming are responsible for growing major crops within the country such as sugar beets, chicory, flax, cereal grains, and potatoes, whereas livestock farmers are responsible for over 45 million farm animals! Belgium’s livestock is made up from around 1.3 million cattle, 5.7 million pigs and more than 42 million poultry.

Future plans for Belgium's food system include:

1) Develop new farming projects in city areas with an objective of producing 30% of fruit and vegetables locally.

2) Reduce food waste by 30%.

One of EIT Food's main tasks is to bring innovation, especially around food production and agriculture, to the market more quickly with the help of start-ups and thus to make the food system healthier and more sustainable together with SMEs.

National Project: Pot Up - Social and Circular Product Innovation in a Jar

Pot Up

2022

project

The Pot Up project combines circular product innovation with social impact.

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Belgium Produces More Than 172,000 Tons of Chocolate Annually!