By January 18, 2014
The theme of the FrieslandCampina Young Farmers' Day is future challenges and the role of innovation
Amersfoort - The FrieslandCampina Young Farmers' Day was attended by more than a thousand young member dairy farmers and young employees of FrieslandCampina. The theme of the day, 'The innovation challenge - innovation starts at home', focussed on embracing three major challenges - increasing ageing among the farming population, feeding the growing global population with enough nutrients and making the dairy chain more sustainable - and the role that innovation plays in these challenges.
Cees 't Hart, CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., Piet Boer, Chairman of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina, and a number of experts spoke in depth about the various challenges and the importance of innovation to the dairy industry.
Continue to innovate
According to Chairman Piet Boer, self-reflection it is not just important for the future of the dairy industry, but also to continue to innovate, both on the farmyard and in dialogue with partners in the chain. To tackle the huge challenges in the field of ageing, providing the global population with healthy and nutritious food, and making the dairy chain more sustainable, as well as continuing to produce milk in the future, it is important that we, as dairy farmers, continue to innovate on an individual basis and as a group. "Producing more with less while respecting nature and the environment. Innovation allows us to achieve this goal and to improve the financial performance of the farm," said the Chairman of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina.
André Kuipers
Dutch astronaut André Kuipers spoke about his view of the earth from space. "Space travel and the technological innovation it involves are essential for us to make progress," he said. Kuipers talked about the beauty and vulnerability of the earth and shared his concerns about the decline in biodiversity; a development he was able to see clearly from space.
The FrieslandCampina Young Farmers' Day is organised once every two years by the Young Farmers' Council of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina.
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