Nowadays I mainly focus on two different activities. Firstly, my role as chairman of the Supervisory Board, but I also have time to find new ways for sustainable food production. Let me update you about both of these activities.

Dear Colleagues,

One year of the Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board is in place for over a year now. Unfortunately, it also applies to us that we still have to work remotely. This means that Dirk de Groot, John Quist and Lisbet Thyge Frandsen have not yet had a chance to visit the business and meet employees.

However, we have found a good rhythm to interact with each other. We meet four times a year and on top of that four more times together with the Executive Board. In between there is also individual contact between Supervisory Board members and Executive Board members. For example, I speak to André every two weeks.

Voice of the employees

It is nice to report that we are in good contact with the Joint Works Council (GOR). This allows us to share the strategy with the GOR, but it is also an opportunity for us to hear the voices of the employees and to know what is going on.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that we as the Supervisory Board are very impressed about Lely’s performance in the past year. Thanks to your passion and your efforts, this result was possible. It was (and still is) a difficult time. Many thanks again for your dedication!

Investing in the future  

Did you know that we have been actively working with startups since 2013? In that year the investment fund Navus Ventures was founded. This investment fund focuses on high-tech and sustainable start-ups and scale-ups. The director of Navus Ventures is Eduard Meijer. After working for Lely for several years, Eduard is now mainly involved in guiding startups and growing the Navus portfolio.

Food and energy  

Navus will be focusing on two areas: food and energy. Themes where we see major changes and breakthroughs for the future. These investments are completely separate from Lely and the dairy industry.

An interesting investment is, for example, Lvlogics. This startup has come up with an innovative sensor cleaning technology which can accurately monitor silo levels - often dusty environments. As a result, the available data provides optimal information for the right amounts of feed delivery, which not only saves costs but also reduces the ecological footprint. We also participate in Rodenburg Biopolymers. They produce bioplastic from potato waste flows, namely starch. Another participation is in Felan Innovations, where Emo Halsema is inventing an instrument to speed up the development of food.

Are we no longer looking at innovations for the dairy industry? This certainly happens within Lely. Specifically for this purpose, Lely has set up the 'Feed the Future Challenge' two years ago. In this programme we actively look for startups that develop new techniques and developments for the dairy industry. A new edition of this challenge will follow this autumn; startups can now register: https://feedthefuture.io. Do you want to get involved as an employee? Get in touch with Jannet de Jong, who is heading up the startup innovations.

To summarize all of this, I strongly believe that innovation will remain at the core of our business!

Feed the Future 

Navus Ventures 

I also take this opportunity to update you about one of my passions: finding new ways in sustainable food production. I'm working on this assignment together with Karel van den Berg, Eduard Meijer, Aart van’t Land and Emo van Halsema. While our own developments remain secret for now, I can however inform you about our involvement in start-ups.