The Sustainable Business Challenge 2020 has started

2 November 2020

The Sustainable Business Challenge has started again. This student competition in the Netherlands is all about sustainability. Last year’s excellent experiences has resulted in ForFarmers’ decision to once again participate this year. The online introductory meeting between the 60 students and 5 companies took place last Friday. Grolsch, Alliander, Waternet and Engie will be participating alongside ForFarmers. Three teams, with a total of 12 students, will start working on our assignment during the forthcoming weeks. And the timing is perfect, straight after the announcement of our new Going Circular sustainability strategy; that’s what the students are going to be focussing on now.

So much energy!

One thing’s for sure: all students are energised by the subject of sustainability. The 12 students all have a very different background – from Sociology to Economy and from a Master’s in Sustainability to Consumer Studies - but their common passion is: contributing to a more sustainable world. We most definitely welcome this, as we are convinced this diversity in backgrounds and experiences will contribute to innovative and creative ideas.

Students Going Circular – the challenge

How can we produce our feed with as little impact on the environment as possible? This is one of the subjects within Going Circular. That’s why it’s interesting to investigate whether and how we can use renewable energy, for example, generated by livestock farmers. This could be energy generated by solar panels on stable roofs, which we could subsequently use in production. This can effectively create a cycle: livestock farmers generate energy which we purchase in order to produce feed in a more sustainable manner, which is then supplied back to the same livestock farmers. That’s why we’re asking the students to investigate their ideas in this specific area and to subsequently share these with us.

How will we benefit from this energy?

How will the Sustainable Business Challenge progress? The students are now going to get to work on our case in their own team. They will be assisted by a number of our colleagues. The final is in mid-December, when the teams will be presenting their idea and we will appoint one winner. Who knows, we may well even be able to put the winning idea into practice.

We will be organising special sessions for the students between now and mid-December and they’ll also be able to enjoy a virtual company visit to ForFarmers. The students are encouraged to submit questions to various different experts within ForFarmers in order to make their proposal as relevant as possible. We are incredibly curious about all the questions, ideas and plans. To be continued.

A virtual welcome to the participants