BCFTA continues to support the Feed Design Lab in the Netherland as a Partner.
UPDATE FROM THE FEED DESIGN LAB, NETHERLANDS
What an incredible year 2020 was! Also for Feed Design Lab, and certainly for our partner companies, the impact of Covid-19 was great! Unfortunately, almost all partner activities that Feed Design Lab is so eager to organize for its network, had to be cancelled. We are very sorry about this, as soon as it is possible we will take this up again with enthusiasm and we will do our utmost to increase the value of the network for our partner companies! Very good news is that our network, despite Covid-19, has once again grown to more than 115 companies. This gives confidence for the future! See the appendix for a final overview.
Very positive news is the renovation of the pilot plant: after months of renovation with the efforts of 18 partner companies, the line is now completely ready for the future, we are very proud of the result! There is great interest in the new line, many have already registered for our virtual tours. The first tests were positive and we are seeing an increasing interest in testing, the renovation with the reduced capacity and additional testing options is starting to meet a need of our partners.
Trainings only took place in January, February, September and October. It is positive to report that the interest in those months was particularly high, and the registrations for the coming year are also looking good. What we could have done online, for example the project “Particle size analysis of piglet feeds” was fully discussed online and started with 11 participating partner companies (from 5 different countries!). The workshop “Power to the pellet” was held online and also the Young Feed Professional meetings were organized online. There was great interest in the study days mixing uniformity and pellet quality, and various study days will also be organized in 2021.
Of course we are concerned about the developments regarding the Covid-19 virus, but also very positive and optimistic about the period after that: there is great interest in Feed Design Lab and our facilities!
In 2021 we hope to be able to offer a “normal” training and networking program as soon as possible. In the appendix you can read all planned activities and events. We will further inform you about these events through our newsletters.