Shortly after the announced departure of Dick Hordijk, Agrifirm presented its successor in the person of Piet Hilarides. The employment contracts of both gentlemen also overlap for a month, which provides time to properly transfer the affairs. With Hilarides, Agrifirm is bringing in a wealth of experience from the cooperative world. The veteran from the dairy sector has less experience with feed and crop protection products. He does know how to 'milk cows hard'.
Hordijk's quick succession comes as no surprise, because Agrifirm had already hinted that a successor was in the picture. That will be 60-year-old Piet Hilarides, who worked at FrieslandCampina for 23 years in the past. He held various top positions at the dairy giant. For example, he led the cheese division and was a member of the group management. At the end of 2017, he left, by mutual agreement, when FrieslandCampina had to cut back on management positions in order to save costs.
Milking in the sandbox
Hilarides then went on an adventure in Asia and more recently the Middle East. In his last position he was CEO of the listed dairy company Baladna in Qatar, where he took office in the summer of 2021. This integration with 12.000 cows meets about 90% of the national Qatari demand for dairy. In 2022 Hilarides said in De Telegraaf that he thoroughly enjoyed his work in Qatar. This company flew in Holstein-Friesians from various countries to increase milk production, which Hilarides called the Porsche among cows. Production in the sweltering sandpit was on average over 30 liters per day, he calculated for around the 2022 World Cup. Nevertheless, he left the company again at the beginning of 2023 - whether or not forced. He had been out of office for the past year and a half. As a result, he is immediately available and he can spend another month with his departing predecessor from December.
Important choices
A challenging task awaits him at Agrifirm. Due to the shrinking livestock population, feed sales at Agrifirm are under considerable pressure. Moreover, compound feed volumes have shrunk faster than the market in recent years. In addition, marketing artificial fertilizers and crop protection products is also becoming increasingly challenging in the current times. Agrifirm is currently undergoing a reorganization in order to become profitable again. In addition, the cooperative is working on a strategic plan for the coming years. Hilarides is tasked with guiding this process in the coming years. Hordijk said at the beginning of this year that the cooperative should not be afraid to radical choices to make. The board will also have to consider the question of whether Agrifirm still wants to retain its membership of the Nevedi trade association at the end of this year. The cooperative recently cancelled this, but kept the door open to possibly reversing the decision.
Cooperative experience
Competitor ForFarmers appointed Pieter Wolleswinkel, a relatively young CEO from its own ranks, last year, which has proven to be a successful move so far. At De Heus, a new CEO will also be climbing up from within the organisation from 2025 in the person of Gabor Fluit. It is clear that Agrifirm is opting for external experience at the top with Hilarides. After almost a quarter of a century at FrieslandCampina, he undoubtedly has enough cooperative blood to be able to manage Agrifirm in the coming years.