Cheese that supports meadow birds. Yoghurt that makes ditch banks bloom. At Boeren van Amstel, sustainability is not a side note — it is the business model. Michel Penterman, director and driving force behind the brand, wanted to prove that as an entrepreneur you can genuinely make a difference for nature and build a healthy business at the same time.
From polder to city
Boeren van Amstel produces local nature dairy: full-fat and semi-skimmed milk, cream yoghurt, farm yoghurt and Amsterdammer Kaas. Behind every product lies a concrete story. For every litre of milk sold, two cents go to the Meadow Bird Fund, in collaboration with Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Netherlands). And for every kilo of cheese sold, one square metre of biodiversity is sown along ditch banks. The ambition: to create 100,000 m² of additional nature in Amsterdam’s backyard within two years.
Every week, around 20,000 cartons of nature dairy make their way into the city. Eighteen farmers, with a passion for their craft and for nature, work closely together with a commercial team that handles sales, marketing and distribution.
Entrepreneurship with a mission
Michel describes the biggest challenge as: “Fighting your way as a small brand against the established players.” That battle, Boeren van Amstel has won. “We are a healthy company in a scale-up phase and we can develop new initiatives from within our mission.” That mission has three pillars: making nature restoration edible, measurable and experiential. Edible: achieved. Measurable: in progress, in collaboration with partners including VU Amsterdam. And experiential? For that, Boeren van Amstel is developing a new platform — built entirely with AI — where all those stories come together.
Thirty years of entrepreneurship, still learning
Michel has been an entrepreneur for three decades, yet his curiosity has never faded. “The principle of entrepreneurship stays the same for me, but you keep learning more about the subject.” His focus is on innovation, commerce and building for the long term without becoming dependent on subsidies. “Dairy is the vehicle for our message, and fortunately I have colleagues who know everything about it.”
What gives Michel the most energy? “The freedom to do things the way my instinct tells me they can be done. And collaborating with very different parties: from Albert Heijn to companies on the Zuidas, and from ecologists to farmers in the polder.”
Tips from the maker
Michel closes with three lessons from practice:
- “Intrinsic motivation is everything. Listen to your intuition, but keep calculating whether it can work.”
- “Do what you are good at, but collaborate with people who complement you.”
- “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You learn from them. You can even come back stronger from a bankruptcy, as we have done.”
Want to know more about Boeren van Amstel? Visit their website.
