'Our sector always knows how to find solutions'

"Innovation plays a crucial role in the agricultural transition," said Aalt Dijkhuizen (in the middle of the photo) after the presentation of the Boerenbusiness Agribusiness Award, of which he is jury chairman. "The strength of the food and agri sector is that if things are no longer possible or allowed as they used to be, our sector always manages to find a solution," said Dijkhuizen. 

The government is paying attention to innovations, but according to Dijkhuizen, politicians should also allow companies time to actually develop innovations. "It often takes five years for a first prototype and then another five years for fine-tuning." He therefore advocates providing space for innovations, also with the position of the Netherlands as an innovation country in mind. He points out that there is interest from abroad for both the winner and the two other nominees for the Award, Nucrop van Kamps de Wild and Health System van Piglets Treatment System.

Banks, in turn, are innovative in the field of financing, says Pierre Berntsen, director of agricultural companies at ABN Amro, and also one of the three jury members (on the right in the photo, on the left is Jan Omvlee). About In Ovo, which was one of the nominees for last year's Agribusiness Award, he says: "I quickly got the feeling that this was not part of normal lending because it is too technologically advanced."

That's where Rob van Willigen, new business manager Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) at ABN Amro comes into play. Van Willigen advises companies that are experimenting with the PaaS business model and need financing. In Ovo, which has developed a machine with which the eggs with roosters can be selected at an early stage of the incubation process of laying hens, has been financed in this way by ABN Amro, with money from savers. You must have a physical product around which a service can be built. The customer never becomes the owner, the product must return to the manufacturer and, for example, be refurbished or refurbished.

When asked afterwards, Van Willigen says that he can also imagine that this year's winner, the Robot Weeder ARW-912 from Andela Techniek, can be financed with the PaaS business model, if the company remains the owner and rents out the device. "I think agribusiness is one of the subsectors where this fits very well. You see a lot of equipment being used, costing 1 or 2 million and not used all year round."

No sky bikes
In addition to livestock farming, arable farming also faces challenges, says Dijkhuizen. This year, two arable farming innovations were also nominated for the Award. Dijkhuizen: "All three nominees offer solutions for matters that are in the spotlight." The jury chairman is already looking forward to next year. "Every year we get such a nice set of innovations. "The submissions we get are very concrete, it's not air bikes. When you look at media and politics, you become very pessimistic about the sector, but when you look at these great solutions, you regain your optimism."

Linda van Eekeres

Linda van Eekeres is co-writing editor-in-chief. She mainly focuses on macro-economic developments and the influence of politics on the agricultural sector.

l.vaneekeres@boerenbusiness. Nl

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