'Lots of confidence in ForFarmers revised course'

Gerritsen is confident in ForFarmers' revised course, even though its performance has been disappointing in recent years. "I am convinced that the new CEO, Theo Spieringscan accomplish a lot in one year.”

When you took office you said: "I am going to commit myself to the future prospects for farmers, the members of FromFarmers." How do you, as chairman, implement this?
"FromFarmers will be more visible, especially to the outside world. After all, farmers' interests must be represented in these times. In the whole nitrogen discussion, it bothers me that many politicians in The Hague want to protect nature by removing the agricultural sector from the fertile Dutch postage stamp. However, if we reduce farms here with the blunt axe, food production will shift abroad. On balance, then there will be no environmental benefit. This motivates me, as chairman of FromFarmers, to stand up for the interests of our 3800 members and the sector."

Are political aspirations a new role for the cooperative?
"Yes, you could say it that way. As a NV, ForFarmers is a discussion partner for the ministry, but is often seen too much as a stakeholder. After all, the restructuring plans are unfavorable for sales opportunities. As a farmers' cooperative, we have a more human image than a listed company. That is why We will assist, but we will not become a new LTO. We envision an additional role for ourselves. To make it concrete: FromFarmers sits at the table with various provinces and contributes knowledge to hopefully arrive at sensible plans."

ForFarmers came up with one at the end of last year revised strategy outwards. The takeover ambitions outside Europe were scaled down, but not eliminated. Do you have confidence in the direction of the company?
"Very much. It is good that the takeover plans outside Europe are no longer a goal in themselves. The biggest challenge is to manage the situation in the Netherlands. Due to the shrinking livestock population, feed sales are under pressure. The positions and participations abroad can also be better to benefit from this as a Dutch member. If all goes well, the step outside Europe could be a logical consequence. But the Netherlands remains the home market, which is a must for me. In addition to the strategy, I also have a lot of confidence in the current management, led by the recently appointed CEO Theo Spierings. I know him from my time as a supervisor at FrieslandFoods. Theo has a lot of experience and has been through difficult times in the dairy industry. He also has a lot of knowledge of foreign companies. In addition, he is a good analyst to better set up the cost structure. I expect him to be able to prepare a lot in a year. If you look through ForFarmers' annual accounts, there is room for cost savings in some items."

Has the cooperative feeling within your club been lost after the IPO in 2016?
"No, I don't think so. I still experience a cooperative feeling, despite the fact that FromFarmers has become more distant from the company after the IPO, although we are now moving closer together again. Just after the IPO, the importance of FromFarmers is has grown to approximately 50%. For major decisions, management must get the green light from FromFarmers, and it is often determined in advance how the cooperative views matters. In addition, two FromFarmers board members sit on the company's RVC and the cooperative can appoint two external supervisors For example, we supply four of the six commissioners. In this way we safeguard farmers' interests. I do recognize that farmers generally have more of a bond with the dairy cooperative than with the feed cooperative. With a dairy cooperative you have an obligation to supply, while our members also buy their feed elsewhere. The feed equivalents provide an advantage to not doing that. Last year we received more than €4,50 back per ton of compound feed purchased, on top of the dividend per share. That's a bonus."

We are now more than 6 years after the IPO. The share price is not necessarily much higher than before when the certificates were still traded on the internal trading platform. Can you retroactively call the IPO a success?
"The objective of the IPO was to have the assets registered in the name of the members and to increase the tradability of the shares. Based on that objective, I say 'yes'. After all, the tradability has increased considerably. In addition, ForFarmers now always has a back door to make money. can be raised via the stock exchange, something that would not be possible via the members. The difficult thing about the IPO is that ForFarmers is fully in the spotlight. The financial performance is under a magnifying glass. That is certainly not nice if things go less well. The agricultural sector is not sexy today, which is reflected in the stock market value. However, I am of the opinion that the price is undervalued, just like the opinion of some analysts. But as long as you keep your shares in pockets, that is not problem."

Nutreco was delisted from the stock exchange as a Dutch feed company. Could this also be possible at ForFarmers? After all, analysts sometimes opt that ForFarmers does not belong on the Damrak...
"Let me put it this way: this cannot be ruled out. However, after the fair it is easier than leaving the fair. It is not an issue at the moment."