Food Initiatives: Why the CBA Underlines the Need

Daily food insecurity, close to home and nationwide

Poverty and food insecurity are not far-fetched issues: in the Netherlands more than 500,000 households in poverty, and an unhealthy diet contributes 8,1% contributes to the total disease burden, of 12,900 deaths per year. When people are forced to eat unhealthy food or skip meals, this has major consequences for their health and for society as a whole. The healthcare costs associated with unhealthy diets amount to approximately €6 billion per year, while stress and depression due to food insecurity are further €340 million costs.

Presentation of the CBA to Alderman Zita Pels (photo credits: Jean-Pierre Jans)

Councillor Zita Pels (Food & Sustainability): “These food initiatives demonstrate how things can be done—concrete solutions for a pressing problem. Access to healthy and affordable food is far from a given in our city. At the same time, these initiatives support thousands of struggling families: that's solidarity in practice. The research findings show that these aren't temporary fixes, but sustainable networks that strengthen our city. We will now investigate how we can structurally support and scale up this approach, because this research once again demonstrates: helping people pays off.”

Food initiatives want to alleviate this need and are also making a big difference with their actions. Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA) maps out the social value these initiatives deliver and why they are indispensable – in Amsterdam-Noord and beyond.

Download the Food Initiatives
Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA)

What can you do?
Join a food initiative in your area. Become a volunteer, help with cooking or distribution and get to know your neighbors.
Waste less food. Buy consciously, share surpluses through a local fridge or food hub, and compost.

What is a food initiative?
The CBA examined 32 initiatives in Amsterdam North, ranging from food distribution points and social restaurantsto food connection places, urban agriculture projects and one food hub. Volunteers and residents work together to save food surpluses, cook healthy meals, and build social networks. The network reaches approximately 1,900 low-income households and is estimated to realize €15 million social value per year, while the annual direct resources are only €1.7 million amounts. Without the food initiatives, the costs of poverty, health problems and environmental damage would rise to approximately €45–55 million per year.

Key points from the CBA

The CBA convincingly demonstrates that food initiatives are a necessary part of our social infrastructure. At the same time, the food initiatives themselves are vulnerable. Some facts and figures:

• Big impact with few resources. The 32 food initiatives in Amsterdam North reach 1,900 low-income households and deliver €15 million social value per year with a budget of only €1.7 million. This means that every euro invested yields several euros in return.
• High benefit-cost ratios. For the various types of initiatives, the benefit-cost ratios range from approximately 5 and 22; social restaurants even achieve a ratio of 22,3. Even when volunteer hours are valued, the ratios are still far above the 5.
• Prevention is cheaper than cure. In a scenario without these initiatives, the social costs of poverty, health and environmental damage will rise to €45–55 million per year. When years of life lost (QALYs) are also taken into account, the damage can amount to €81–162 million for all low-income households.
• National relevance. Poverty and food insecurity affect more than 500,000 households. An unhealthy diet causes 12,900 deaths per year and leads to €6 billion in healthcare costs, while food waste affects society €4.5 billion costs. Experiences from Amsterdam-Noord demonstrate how effective local projects can be in mitigating these costs.

Why are food initiatives so important?

• Security of existence and health: Initiatives ensure access to healthy food and prevent people from having to use expensive healthcare and social safety nets.
• Personal development and social cohesion: Volunteers and participants gain new skills, strengthen their network, and find a place to be together. Some act as safety net: they identify problems and refer people to formal agencies.
• Food waste and the environment: By processing surpluses into meals or distributing them through neighbourhood refrigerators, the network saves tons of food and prevents CO₂ emissions.
• Cost savings: The benefit/cost ratios of many initiatives are exceptionally high – a euro investment sometimes yields more than ten euros of social value.

Recommendations from the CBA

The CBA makes four core suggestions to safeguard the value of food initiatives:
1. Recognition and structural anchoring: View food initiatives as a collective infrastructure and offer structural financing, housing and logistical support.
2. Coordinated investments: Combine interventions such as shared kitchen space, electric logistics, and a facility umbrella cooperative with scaling-up measures such as a city fund or mandatory donations.
3. Direction and collaboration: Set a food coordinator and network coordinator to counter fragmentation and better reach the target group.
4. Monitoring and participation: Use tools such as the Food Insecurity Experience Scale and actively involve residents to break down cultural and language barriers.

The baseline situation The report looks not only at Amsterdam North but also at the national context. An unhealthy diet contributes 8.1 % contributes to the total disease burden in the Netherlands and causes approximately 12,900 deaths per year; the associated healthcare costs amount to approximately €6 billion. In addition, more than half a million adults suffer from depression, which causes employers to lose €1.8 billion to absenteeism, and depression care costs again €1.6 billion per year. Food insecurity increases stress and depression; a conservative estimate suggests €340 million to costs attributable to this.

Promising interventions: 14 compared

In addition to the existing 32 initiatives, the CBA examined fourteen possible interventions that can strengthen the food landscape. The spectrum ranges from digital food stamps and a professional HACCP kitchen space to electric logistics (volunteers who collect surplus food with electric buses) and street or neighborhood refrigerators. Other options are urban agriculture projects, An incubator for food connection places, universal school meals, An City Pass Veggiebox, An subsidy for a central food hub, the appointment of a food coordinator and a network coordinator, An donation obligation for supermarkets and wholesalers, An urban co-financing fund and a facility umbrella cooperative. For each of these interventions, the CBA calculated the costs, the social benefits and the benefit-cost ratio.

The analysis shows that some measures have a particularly high benefit-cost ratio have. Especially electric logistics (where volunteers collect surplus food in electric vans), a central food hub for redistribution, the donation obligation for supermarkets and wholesalers and the appointment of a (network) coordinator deliver many times the social value for every euro of public funding. The shared kitchen space and the incubator for food connection places also score highly. Interventions such as school meals and city pass promotions have a lower financial ratio, but they are essential for health and equal opportunities. The CBA emphasizes that a combination of measures often has the greatest impact: logistics solutions and infrastructure deliver high returns, while social programs ensure prevention and inclusion.

Current Affairs: Poverty and debt are increasing

Although there is increasing attention to subsistence security, recent figures show that poverty does not disappear from view. According to CBS, the share of people with debts increased in all income groups between 2021 and 2023; People below the poverty line are three times more likely to be in debt and people just above the poverty line twice as often. This means that poverty is accompanied by stress, health problems, and limited future prospects.

What can you do?

Finally: the CBA as a wake-up call

The conclusions of the CBA leave nothing to the imagination: food initiatives are not a luxury, but a necessity. They generate far more than they cost and contribute to the health, well-being, and social cohesion of our society. While the media regularly report on poverty and rising debt, this analysis shows that neighborhood projects work – provided we give them the space and resources.

What's happening in Amsterdam-Noord can and should be replicated more widely. Urban gardens, neighborhood restaurants, and food hubs can make just as big a difference in your own village or neighborhood. To achieve this impact, we need structural support from governments, businesses, and citizens. By investing together in food initiatives, we make the Netherlands more resilient, healthier, and more sustainable.  Every meal counts.
Download the Food Initiatives
Social Cost-Benefit Analysis (SCBA)