In honor of the farewell, GMV organized the symposium “Dutch food systems, Facilitating world food supply.” The programme reflected the great value of Dutch food processing industry worldwide.

GMV says farewell to Jan Hak after 28 years as chairman

Farewell symposium reflects great value of Dutch food processing industry worldwide

GMV, the sector association of manufacturers of machines for food processing, food packaging and ’biobased systems’in The Netherlands, said farewell to its chairman Jan Hak, after 28 years of chairmanship. During Hak’s chairmanship, the Dutch food processing industry has achieved a strong position worldwide. In honor of his farewell, GMV organized a symposium entitled “Dutch food systems, Facilitating world food supply.” During the Agro Food & Technology Week. Mr. Jan Hak has been succeeded by Theo Bruinsma (Marel) as chairman of GMV .

Global market leader

Mr. Jan Hak has been the GMV figure head for 28 years as GMV’s chairman. In this long period he always was an ambassador for the position of the Dutch sector. The symposium theme “Dutch food systems, Facilitating world food supply” reflects the high value that the Dutch suppliers to the agrifood sector worldwide have, as well as their contribution to solutions for food security and sustainability.Dutch companies in the food processing industry are world leaders in many fields. E.g. almost all egg incubators, egg-sorting machines and egg-packaging lines in the world come from Dutch companies. The majority of the milking robots worldwide are produced in the Netherlands and sold worldwide. The same is the case for poultry processing lines. A significant portion of the bread and cheese processing lines, as well as the animal feed and potato lines in the world come from the Netherlands. Dutch high-tech solutions play a major role in these fields. GMV members are leaders in process innovation and solutions in the food production and processing.

Facilitating food – facilitating world food supply

Food production and food processing is enabled by the equipment and systems of GMV-members. “Facilitating food” therefore is the GMV’s motto. The symposium theme with the title “Dutch food systems, Facilitating world food supply” focused in particular on the Dutch agrifood which can provide a major contribution to global food security with its smart solutions and a chain approach. A rapidly growing part of the world lives in large, densely populated cities. The current method of food production is unable to feed these people properly in the future. Emerging economies have to invest in the food security. The Dutch supply industry and the GMV members play a strong role here, with all their know-how, technology and capability to cooperate within the chain.
Symposium host Ate Oostra (chairman of Metropolitan Food Security and former ambassador /- DG Agro) introduced the key note speakers: Ineke Dezentjé Hamming (FME), Fred van Heijningen (Rabobank), Raoul Bino (Wageningen UR), Hans Huijbers (ZLTO) and Theo Bruinsma (Marel) and discussed with the panel members Kees de Gooijer (Topsector Agri&Food), Wouter de Haan (Stork Food & Dairy Systems), Dick Pouwels (HAS Hogeschool) and Bob Steetskamp (Topsector Agri & Food).