Did you know that most innovations originate from family businesses? It’s because they have a long-term vision. As a business, we at Lely aren’t driven by quarterly results and accounting for ourselves to shareholders on the stock exchange. We’re a family business, so we can really invest in solutions we believe in. And I really believe in the power of family businesses, which is why I’m a member of the board of FBNed | Familiebedrijven Nederland. At FBNed, we help family businesses become even more stronger by connecting and supporting businesses, and learning from each other. That’s something I really enjoy contributing to, both as a board member and as the owner of an amazing family business. Did you know that 30% of all jobs in the Netherlands are created by family owned businesses?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In this column, Alexander van der Lely shares his thoughts and activities during the past few months to keep you informed, inspire you, and offer an insight into the global trends that are relevant to our work and industry.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board & Shareholder
Dear Colleagues,
I believe in milk as a healthy and sustainable food source, although it does, of course, have to be produced with close attention to animal welfare and the environment. There are significant challenges in both these areas that could have major long-term consequences if we don't act quickly. Politicians rightly place them high on the agenda, but seem disinterested in an extremely promising solution – innovation. I’m extremely proud of our Sphere for example, and there are countless innovations being proposed worldwide to answer issues, including emissions, as well as further improve animal welfare in our sector. Politicians seem to be blind to them, which troubles me greatly. In my opinion, it's fantastic that Lely is making itself heard, and making a strong case for improving sustainability in the sector through innovation.
Family businesses are the biggest innovatorsoice of the employees
A wealth of opportunities for sustainable food production
As you know, I’m now looking more at the role we can play in sustainable food production outside the dairy sector. In this context, I can report that we’ve invested together with the Ridder Group in the company Metomotion, an Israeli company working on a tomato-picking robot. A robot of this type would not only solve the labour shortage in greenhouses, it would also mean the climate in the greenhouse would no longer be disturbed by the presence of people. The end result is a better greenhouse climate and a better product. Karel van de Berg's innovation team, which focuses on devising innovations for sustainable food production, has already hired seven trainees, and the first patents have been registered. We’ve observed a wealth of opportunities for making food production more sustainable, which is something that really energises me. We’re tackling real issues, and helping feed the growing world population, and that’s absolutely essential.sustainable food production outside the dairy sector
Supervisory Board visit
Finally, I’d like to let you know about the visit of the Supervisory Board in August. It was our first opportunity to meet together, face-to-face, for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can imagine how much more pleasant that is than a meeting via Teams. On the first day, we travelled to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, where we visited three farms and Lely Center Heerenveen. We chatted with colleagues at the Center and cluster. The passion radiating from these colleagues was wonderful, and charmed us all. One of the farmers we visited received a Red Cow from us, because he milks with nine robots. He also operates a Vector. When we asked him if he was happy with the products, he said that he would keep the Vector rather than the milking robot if he had to return a product. Let that be an inspiration to boost sales of the Vector!
So much for a peek into my thoughts and what I’ve been up to recently. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at communications@lely.com. If I can answer them, I certainly will.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Chairman of the Supervisory Board & Shareholder
Dear Colleagues,
I believe in milk as a healthy and sustainable food source, although it does, of course, have to be produced with close attention to animal welfare and the environment. There are significant challenges in both these areas that could have major long-term consequences if we don't act quickly. Politicians rightly place them high on the agenda, but seem disinterested in an extremely promising solution – innovation. I’m extremely proud of our Sphere for example, and there are countless innovations being proposed worldwide to answer issues, including emissions, as well as further improve animal welfare in our sector. Politicians seem to be blind to them, which troubles me greatly. In my opinion, it's fantastic that Lely is making itself heard, and making a strong case for improving sustainability in the sector through innovation.
In this column, Alexander van der Lely shares his thoughts and activities during the past few months to keep you informed, inspire you, and offer an insight into the global trends that are relevant to our work and industry.
Family businesses are the biggest innovatorsoice of the employees
Did you know that most innovations originate from family businesses? It’s because they have a long-term vision. As a business, we at Lely aren’t driven by quarterly results and accounting for ourselves to shareholders on the stock exchange. We’re a family business, so we can really invest in solutions we believe in. And I really believe in the power of family businesses, which is why I’m a member of the board of FBNed | Familiebedrijven Nederland. At FBNed, we help family businesses become even more stronger by connecting and supporting businesses, and learning from each other. That’s something I really enjoy contributing to, both as a board member and as the owner of an amazing family business. Did you know that 30% of all jobs in the Netherlands are created by family owned businesses?
A wealth of opportunities for sustainable food production
As you know, I’m now looking more at the role we can play in sustainable food production outside the dairy sector. In this context, I can report that we’ve invested together with the Ridder Group in the company Metomotion, an Israeli company working on a tomato-picking robot. A robot of this type would not only solve the labour shortage in greenhouses, it would also mean the climate in the greenhouse would no longer be disturbed by the presence of people. The end result is a better greenhouse climate and a better product. Karel van de Berg's innovation team, which focuses on devising innovations for sustainable food production, has already hired seven trainees, and the first patents have been registered. We’ve observed a wealth of opportunities for making food production more sustainable, which is something that really energises me. We’re tackling real issues, and helping feed the growing world population, and that’s absolutely essential.sustainable food production outside the dairy sector
Supervisory Board visit
Finally, I’d like to let you know about the visit of the Supervisory Board in August. It was our first opportunity to meet together, face-to-face, for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can imagine how much more pleasant that is than a meeting via Teams.
On the first day, we travelled to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, where we visited three farms and Lely Center Heerenveen. We chatted with colleagues at the Center and cluster. The passion radiating from these colleagues was wonderful, and charmed us all. One of the farmers we visited received a Red Cow from us, because he milks with nine robots. He also operates a Vector. When we asked him if he was happy with the products, he said that he would keep the Vector rather than the milking robot if he had to return a product. Let that be an inspiration to boost sales of the Vector!
So much for a peek into my thoughts and what I’ve been up to recently. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at communications@lely.com. If I can answer them, I certainly will.