Vion Pork to hire expert in face of changes in Dutch pig farming
Vion has announced that Koen van Bergen, who currently works as Sector manager Pig farming at Rabobank, will be joining Vion Pork as Director Livestock and Supply Chains as of 1 January 2019. Mr Van Bergen will be responsible for the operational management of the Farming department
2 November 2018
3 minute read
By: The structure of Dutch pig farming is changing rapidly. Due to changed regulations from other provinces paired with the new vision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality - which is strongly focused on circular agriculture in closed supply chains - pig farming in the Netherlands is facing an important transition.
Over the past few years, Vion has invested substantially in the development of demand-driven supply chains with the introduction of its innovative Good Farming concepts. Besides Good Farming Star (the pork concept with the one-star Beter Leven label), Good Farming Organic (organic pork under the brand name De Groene Weg) and Good Farming Balance (pork for international markets) are the leading supply chain concepts. Last year Robusto, a premium ham for the top segment of the European processed meat industry, was introduced at food trade fair Anuga.
Vion expects the development of the structure of Dutch pig farming to accelerate in the coming years. The development of demand-driven supply chains will play an important part in this. Pig farmers have a central position in Vion’s market approach. Vion's mission is to ensure that every pig farmer/partner realizes their optimal return objective. It is only under this condition that a healthy future can be guaranteed for pig farming in the Netherlands.
Mr Van Bergen will be given the task of speeding up the development of new concepts – based on demand-driven supply chains. In connection with this, his role will be to strengthen the supply structure in the years to come. He will report directly to John de Jonge, who will take over the position of Chief Operations Officer (COO) within Vion Pork from Frans Stortelder as of 1 January 2019.
Mr Stortelder said: "Mr Van Bergen joins our organisation as a very experienced Director, with great knowledge of and specialisation in the pig farming supply chain. Due to his experience within Rabobank, we consider Mr Van Bergen to be perfectly suited for the further development of our supply organisation in the strategic direction we have chosen."
