Our market position

Our policy

Maintaining a good financial position is important to us. This is the only way we can guarantee a sustainable future for our family business. By investing in innovation and new technologies, we continue to develop while contributing to solutions to the challenges facing livestock farming. We work with integrity and actively bring this theme to the attention of our employees and cooperation partners.

Strategic innovation

We develop and implement innovative solutions and new technologies in our activities and supply chain in order to improve our efficiency and sustainability efforts.

We are working on innovation at various places in our companies. The most obvious example of this is the in-house R&D team that is engaged in research in the fields of animal health, sustainability, robotics and smart farming on a daily basis. The R&D team tests innovations in husbandry practice at three in-house research centres: this occurs at DrieVeld, De Haar and De Tweeling.

Within the industry organisations in which we are active, various research projects are being conducted, such as public-private partnerships. We contribute to this in kind and sometimes in cash. For example, we are involved in the following studies from the Dutch Veal Industry Association (SBK).

• PPS Klimaatmonitoring (Public-Private Partnership Climate Monitoring)
  This project aims to align the monitoring of climate impacts of Dutch Agro & Food production more effectively based on the chain approach and the national approach. The project will run up to the end of 2023.

• PPS Stalklimaat (Public-Private Partnership Stall Climate)
  The aim of this project is to design several technical concepts for low-emission husbandry systems in calf husbandry, based on source-oriented reduction of emissions in such a way that progress is also made in terms of stall climate, animal health and welfare. The project will run up to the end of 2023.

• PPS Toekomstig diertransport (Public-Private Partnership Future animal transport)
  The aim is to investigate whether the (existing) registration, measurements and conditioning on the means of transport can be used to demonstrate compliance with legal obligations. The project will run up to the end of 2022.
  

• PPS Betere stal, betere mest, betere oogst (Public-Private Partnership Better stall, better manure, better yield)
  This research identifies the bottlenecks and opportunities of manure processing and, where possible, suggests additional treatments/measures/adaptations of stall systems, taking into account the manure processing obligation and looking at opportunities, such as green gas production, fertiliser substitutes and cost savings in logistics (and the associated effect on sustainability). The project will run up to the end 2024.

• PPS NL Next Level Mestverwaarden (Public-Private Partnership NL Next Level Manure Maximisation)
  The project focuses on opportunities for development of sustainable and valuable end products, associated technology development, innovation for the production of valuable manure, and organisation and development in the chain. The project will run until the end of 2022.
  

SBK has been awarded government subsidy for the ‘Kijk op het kalf’ (View of the calf) project in 2022. This subsidy is part of the Dutch scheme 'Pilots gezonde kalverketen’ (Pilots promoting a healthy calf chain) and aims to stimulate system innovation in dairy farming and calf husbandry and to investigate to what extent a system change can contribute to an integral contribution of animal health and welfare opportunities. In this, the SBK works with dairy farmers, veal farmers and core cattle practices (vets). We make a big in-kind contribution herein.

In the project, knowledge will be gained on how to increase the fitness of calves before they are transferred from the dairy farmer to the veal farmer, the ultimate goal being to improve their health and enable them to get off to a better start at the veal farm. By relocating it at a later age, giving a nasal vaccination as a defence against the main lung infections, direct delivery and various other checkpoints a calf must satisfy before being transported, the project will assess what the effect is in practice and whether this is a workable system for the future. The project will be completed before the end of 2024.

Responsible corporate governance and ethics

We want to do business in an open and responsible manner. That means that we provide insight into our results, work in an ethical way and deal with people, animals and the environment in respectful way.

Compliance

In our companies, we want to have a culture in which we are open and transparent towards each other. However, not everything is so black and white. Some situations are difficult to assess, whether that concerns fraudulent or unethical behaviour, or environmental, animal welfare and safety issues. Anyone who suspects an abuse is encouraged to report this to a supervisor or confidential adviser within the VanDrie Group. If anyone thinks this is not an option, they can turn to SpeakUp. This is a tool with which employees (both permanent and temporary), but also chain partners, can report potential abuses anonymously. No reports were received in 2022. A code for doing business fairly, which describes how the VanDrie Group aims to act in its international value chain, is available on the corporate website.

In 2022, the VanDrie Group signed the more stringent animal welfare code of conduct of the Central Organisation for the Meat Sector (COV). The code of conduct includes annual training for slaughterhouse employees, intensive camera monitoring, the use of artificial intelligence when deploying cameras and knowledge sharing between companies to increase learning ability. The code of conduct also requires external specialists to assess the safeguarding of animal welfare in slaughterhouses. The Central Organisation for the Meat Sector (COV) reports annually on the operation, compliance and results of the code of conduct.

The organisation

2022 was characterised by unprecedented inflation and associated cost increases for energy and raw materials, for example. We saw energy costs rise by more than 100 per cent, while this was about 50 per cent in the case of raw materials. While the price of veal was still between €4.77 and €5.10 for white veal on 27 August 2021, this level was at €5.80 and €6.10 on 26 August 2022; an increase of about 20 per cent. The fact that this price increase for meat products was accepted by the market was a welcome support in order to offset the cost of veal production.

Acquisition of Joosten Products

Joosten Products in Weert was acquired in 2022. This Limburg-based family business is an international specialist in young animal feed. The nearly 150-year-old company focuses on exports outside the EU. With the acquisition, Joosten Products aims to strengthen its position in the global market for young animal feed. Joosten Products will work closely with Schils from Sittard Benefits of the collaboration between the two companies under the umbrella of the VanDrie Group include joint purchasing of raw materials and knowledge sharing for further product development.

Wie de boer niet kent (Who doesn’t know the farmer)

In 2022, the VanDrie Group supported the stichting Wie de boer niet kent (Who doesn’t know the farmer foundation) One of its activities is the RTL4 programme of the same name, in which the presenter Jamie Trenité travels the length and breadth of the Netherlands, together with a number of Dutch celebrities, to discover everything they – like many citizens – did not yet know about farmers, animals and sustainability. A wide range of farms are visited, each with their own interpretation of living and working in the countryside. The episodes of Wie de boer niet kent can be watched again on demand on Videoland or via the website.

Future prospects

On 10 June 2022, the National Rural Area Programme (Nationaal Programma Landelijk Gebied, NPLG) was launched in the Netherlands. In the NPLG, the central government works with the provinces on an area-based approach that oversees the improvement and restoration of nature, water and climate in the Netherlands. The NPLG is a joint programme of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Rural area is taken to mean all of the Netherlands excluding the urban areas and large bodies of water. As a result, the NPLG requires the 12 provinces to plan how nature, water and climate will be improved and restored in the various areas. The deadline set by the government for preparing those plans is 1 July 2023. The NPLG also includes a super-emitter approach. This scheme was published in June 2023. The impact will become clear in the coming months of 2023. 

Agricultural Agreement

With the release of the NPLG's plans in June 2022, a great deal of unrest arose in society. At the request of the House of Representatives, Mr Remkes was asked to lead the discussions to restore confidence. One of the recommendations Remkes made was to reach an Agricultural Agreement. That is where Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Piet Adema started in 2022. The Agricultural Agreement focuses on the prospect of an economically healthy, sustainable and internationally prominent agricultural sector in the Netherlands by 2040. To make that happen, Minister Adema has asked agricultural organisations, chain parties, nature and environmental organisations and decentralised authorities to enter into discussions on the preconditions. The Agricultural Agreement is not without obligation and must contain specific agreements and measures. The Agriculture Accord aims to develop a common vision for the future of the agricultural sector in the Netherlands. Through the SBK, we are participating in the discussions about this agreement. A negotiated result is expected in the second quarter of 2023.

Incoming complaints

In 2019, Animal Rights lodged a complaint with civil proceedings before a Belgian investigating judge due to alleged animal welfare violations in 2018 at VanDrie Belgium in Hasselt (BE). In 2020, the investigation into the stated charges began, in spite of the closure of VanDrie Belgium. In 2021, this investigation was continued. We expected the case to be brought to court in 2022. This did not happen. We assume that case handling will start in the first quarter of 2023.

In 2021 and 2022, several complaints were received from the vicinity of Brons Mengvoeders regarding noise, odour or traffic safety. We take these complaints seriously and are therefore taking steps to inform local residents and the provincial and local government more effectively about our approach.