At the same time, EU and regional policies are furthering the transitioning toward forms of nature-inclusive farming. This is making fruit growers feel trapped, as they have neither the mental nor the financial room for this very necessary change.

The Food Station strives to be part of a solution to create an attractive future for young talents with an interest in fruit growing and food more generally.

The Food Station contributes to transitioning to sustainable food systems and business models by offering living labs and courses that further entrepreneurship, the development of sustainable business models and collaboration between young food makers, fruit growers, and farmers as part of the transition towards nature-based farming.

The aim of the project is to retain young talents in the region with an interest in becoming sustainable farmers, fruit growers or food makers, via its two courses and living labs.

The project also looks to provide an opportunity for young talent, farmers and entrepreneurs to start their own food company or collaborate with food makers within the Food Station. This can be done in the cooperative production facility, where products made of fruit and vegetables can be processed into drinks (e.g. squashes, ciders, fruit wines and liqueurs) or solid food (e.g. tempeh made from Dutch beans, which simultaneously restores fertility and biodiversity to the soil). There is also a shared office (where ideas and collaborations start with coffee and chats between young entrepreneurs) and on the land outside where farmers, food makers, neighbours and other stakeholders meet for events such as markets and pop-up dinners.

CAP funds were used to develop and conduct the courses and living labs.

The first was 'The future fruit entrepreneur'. Predominantly, fruit growers were involved in a learning journey of five to six days to develop their own sustainable business model (in the context of a transition towards nature-inclusive agriculture). There were 22 participants in total in June/July 2023 and September/October 2024.

Many of the activities carried out within the scope of the project were individual. Betuwe’s Bakkie was created when a coffee maker in the Food Station realised that obtaining fair raw coffee beans was difficult due to a lack of transparency and fairness in the coffee chain, which often meant that coffee farmers received prices that were too low. They resolved to pay farmers a fair price, use responsibly grown beans, roast traditionally and donate 5% of the profit to social causes.

DeGrow Lab produces artisanal kombucha with a positive sustainable impact, raising awareness about short chains and with a commitment to circular practices, such as sourcing orange peels without having to use fresh oranges.

Roze Bunker uses surplus fruit and fresh herbs to make squashes. By not adding water before transport, they reduce transport volume and plastic use in the soft drink industry. They are actively promoting biodiversity, reducing food waste and shortening the food chain by seeing soft drinks as a solution for sustainability.

Both courses/training sessions/living labs have broadened the horizons of over 100 young people (most of them under 35–40) with regard to their mindset and skillset to create sustainable business models aimed at restoring food systems, biodiversity and the planet, and making agriculture more regenerative. The business models typically have a triple orientation of people, planet and profit.

Visits to the Food Station have increased, including from the mayor and aldermen of Culemborg, who welcomed the livelihood and attraction for young people that the project brings in and also announced that a new neighbourhood around the Food Station would be developed.

Entrepreneurial food networks with similar missions are interested in collaborating to understand the Food Station model, while the municipality of West Betuwe (a major fruit-cultivation area in the Netherlands) has invited the Fruitmotor to embed the 'Future Fruit Entrepreneur' course in the municipality’s policies to support fruit farmers to make the transition to sustainable nature-inclusive business models. At the end of 2024, Fruitmotor will help 20 fruit farmers to develop and validate their future business model in the context of creating supporting policies and infrastructures at municipal and regional level. It is the intention that the course, training sessions, and living lab become a permanent part of the municipality's supporting policies for farmers.

Food Station also has a natural appeal to young people, and thus far, there has been no problem finding driven new talent who want to join the mission.

By creating and being a meeting place, the Food Station makes complex topics (such as transitions of food systems) approachable and invites different stakeholders to work together. Food Station members walk the talk and lead by example.

The Food Station's influence varies from small actions, products, and events to impact at the system level on biodiversity, the landscape, agriculture, and food. Over time, those involved are learning better how to connect the dots, tell the story and make more impact.

If a project is innovative – and successful – members will be invited to talk about it, and the initiative will be seen as an example. This is the case with the Food Station and the hope is that it will result in more people undertaking similar activities.