SDG 2 Zero hunger

SDG 2 relates to the aim of eliminating hunger and ensuring that everyone has access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. The goal is to achieve this by 2030. In richer countries, where malnutrition and food insecurity are less common, the main focus is on reducing food waste. This is why the focus here is on sustainable food production.

• Agricultural production in the Netherlands is highly efficient, but while efficiency is rising in other EU countries, the trend in the Netherlands remains stable.
• Almost all indicators point to food production becoming more sustainable, but progress in the Netherlands is slower than in other EU countries and there is no sign of improvement on the utilisation of nitrogen in agriculture.
• The amount of food waste is decreasing significantly.

Dashboard and indicators

Colour codes and notes to the dashboards in the Monitor of Well-being

Since malnutrition and food insecurity are uncommon in the Netherlands, this dashboard concentrates more on how we produce food, how future-proof that production is and what impact it has on the living environment. Ensuring optimal soil quality, now and in the future, is also important for SDG 15 Life on land.

Resources and opportunities concern the amount of land and labour available to produce food. Food production resources in the Netherlands are declining. The amount of arable land is shrinking: in 2025, land used for arable farming, horticulture and livestock farming accounted for 43.2 percent of the Netherlands’ total land and water area. The production value of agriculture per thousand labour years is stable. However, the value in 2025 was 2.5 percent higher than in 2024. In the EU-27, only Denmark has a higher production value per unit of labour. However, in a number of other EU countries, the production value has risen in recent years, particularly in Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Use concerns how food is produced. Except for outdoor grazing of dairy cattle, which has remained stable, all indicators show that food production is becoming increasingly sustainable. However, the Netherlands occupies a low position in the EU rankings with regard to the share of organic farming in the total area taken up by agriculture, cultivation of high-protein crops and livestock density.

While organic farming and high-protein crop cultivation are growing as a proportion of the total arable land area, these sectors remain smaller than in most other EU countries. In 2025, certified organic farms and those in transition accounted for 5.2 percent of the total arable land area. This was slightly more than in 2024. With the cultivation of high-protein crops such as legumes, soybeans and alfalfa, more sustainably produced food is becoming available. However, compared to 21 other EU countries, these crops currently make up only a modest share of the total arable land area, at 0.9 percent in 2025.

The Netherlands had the highest livestock density of twenty EU member states in 2023. The number of livestock units per hectare of arable land has been in continuous decline since 2016. After reaching a peak of 3.71 in 2016, livestock density has fallen to 3.08 units per hectare in 2025. Livestock density is calculated by converting the number of farm animals of different species and ages into livestock units. This includes cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and rabbits. High livestock density contributes to food production, but comes at the expense of animal welfare and the environment.

In 2024, 69 percent of dairy cows enjoyed outdoor grazing. This percentage fell by four percentage points between 2023 and 2024. Outdoor grazing contributes to the sustainability of agriculture: outdoor grazing leads to less ammonia volatilisation and improves animal welfare.

In 2024, curative antibiotic use was 0.054 grams per kilogram of live weight. Antibiotics may be used in livestock farming to stimulate animal growth and help cure and prevent bacterial infections. However, the large-scale (or careless) use of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacteria, which can have consequences for both animal and human health. The use of antibiotics in livestock farming is decreasing. The use of antibiotics as growth promoters has been banned across the EU since 2006, leading to a sharp decrease in consumption between 2007 and 2013 (from 0.23 grams to 0.09 grams). Usage has continued to trend downwards in the years since.

In 2024, 262 kilograms of chemical pesticides were sold for every million euros of agricultural production. This was the second-lowest level in the EU (2nd out of 19 countries); only in Ireland were fewer chemical pesticides sold. However, the intensity of agricultural production in the Netherlands means that pesticide usage is associated with significant environmental damage. The picture would be different if this indicator were based on the amount of pesticides used per hectare of arable land. By this metric, usage is relatively high, putting the Netherlands among the worst performers among the EU

Outcomes describe food affordability and the impact of food production on the living environment and animal welfare. Apart from food waste, the outcome indicators are trending neither upward nor downward.

In 2024, the use-efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus on arable land was 57 and 87 percent, respectively. In the previous ten years, the levels fluctuated between 55 and 64 percent for nitrogen and between 77 and 95 percent for phosphorus. Higher uptake of input nutrients (especially livestock manure and mineral fertilisers) indicates lower environmental losses. Nitrogen that is not absorbed by crops evaporates and finds its way into the air or remains in the soil, and is subsequently washed out into ground and surface water. The uptake of phosphorus is close to equilibrium. If phosphorus uptake exceeds 100 percent, it means that phosphorus is being extracted from the soil.

The amount of food waste is declining rapidly. The number of kilograms of wasted food has been decreasing since the start of the time series in 2020. According to the EU’s definition of food waste, the average person in the Netherlands wasted 116 kilograms of food in 2023. That was approximately 10 percent less than in 2022. Since 2016, the share of organic food in total food spending has been stable, at around 3 percent.

Subjective assessment relates to how satisfied people are with food quality and supply, and with the living environment and animal welfare. No suitable indicators are currently available for this category.