On August 28, the Next Food Collective directors Marian Geluk and Gerda Verburg visited Friesland Campina’s R&D Centre in Wageningen to strengthen the partnership and discuss how as a collective we can speed up the crucial transitions in our food systems. They were warmly welcomed by Margrethe Jonkman, CTO and Wil van Loon, Director of Expert Team Food Physics & Chemistry and Partner-Board Representative, and the Programme Leaders from the R&D organization.
A Shared Vision
During the visit FrieslandCampina presented their research initiatives clustered in four focus areas: sustainable farming, process technology, nutrition, and packaging. Furthermore, attention was paid to their sustainability program "Nourishing a better planet" and climate plans. It became clear that the mission of Next Food Collective, to accelerate the transition towards sustainable food systems and a healthy diet, fits very well with FrieslandCampina's purpose nourishing by nature and R&D strategy. Overall, the meeting was extremely interesting and gave valuable input for further shaping Next Food Collective's themes and projects.
“Science plays a vital role in solving the current societal challenges. Next Food Collective, with partners from knowledge institutions and industry, can speed up transitions by using their collective strength.”
CTO FrieslandCampina
A Sustainable Future
FrieslandCampina aims to produce net climate-neutral dairy by no later than 2050. Its climate plan contains clear targets and concrete actions, with a checkpoint being a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. These goals are translated into research and technology projects.
This fall, a group of senior experts from Next Food Collective partners, including FrieslandCampina, will develop a cross-industry vision of what is needed to speed up the transition in the whole food industry. The race to 2030 needs to be won.
"FrieslandCampina aims to provide good quality nutrition to the world and simultaneously has an ambitious climate plan to reduce environmental impact. This aligns closely with Next Food Collective’s goals, and we expect to make significant steps through the collaboration”
Director of Expert Team Food Physics & Chemistry, FrieslandCampina