April 12, 2022

 

Trouw Nutrition announces changes to innovation team

 

Trouw Nutrition, Nutreco's livestock feed business line, recently announced new responsibilities within its innovation team.

 

Effective since March 15, Coen Smits has accepted the role of global director of sustainability for the livestock feed business line, and John Doelman has become livestock feed global R&D sirector.

 

Sustainability is an integral part of Nutreco's purpose of "Feeding the Future" and a strategic pillar for its livestock feed business. As global director of sustainability, Smits will focus on rolling out Trouw Nutrition's sustainability roadmap and working with internal and external stakeholders to further develop sustainability solutions and programmes for customers.

 

Remarking on his new role, Coen said: "Sustainability is something close to my heart and I'm driven to empower Trouw Nutrition colleagues and customers with a clear focus on sustainability initiatives like reducing antibiotic use in livestock production to address anti-microbial resistance, promoting an efficient use of sustainable resources and meeting the higher sustainability demands for the animal production footprint and lower greenhouse gas emissions".

 

Coen brings 24 years of experience in various R&D roles to his new position.

 

He joined Nutreco as a poultry researcher in 1997 and has served in various R&D management positions in swine, food and ingredients research. His significant contributions in developing the R&D organisation include setting up an R&D laboratory, the global validation team and the ingredients research centre, which all played a key role in co-developing the successful Selko feed additives portfolio.

 

In 2018, Coen was named global R&D director for Trouw Nutrition and under his leadership, the company expanded its R&D capabilities with the addition of new swine and poultry nutrition and health research units. He was also instrumental in the development of a global commercial validation farm network that cooperates closely with regional business units and local operating companies. His experience, knowledge and network will be highly valuable as he leads sustainability initiatives.

 

"Sustainability is something close to my heart and I'm driven to empower Trouw Nutrition colleagues and customers with a clear focus on sustainability initiatives like reducing antibiotic use in livestock production to address anti-microbial resistance, promoting an efficient use of sustainable resources and meeting the higher sustainability demands for the animal production footprint and lower greenhouse gas emissions," Smits said.

 

Doelman will focus his leadership responsibilities on advancing nutrition and Young Animal Feed (YAF) to support Trouw Nutrition's complete feed and mixed product offering. He will also connect research platforms with precision farming and sustainability efforts and support feed additives business units.

 

Doelman will oversee internal and external innovations testing and development in line with strategic priorities. He will also have a leading role in innovation governance to facilitate the development and delivery of a value-based, customer-centric innovation pipeline, ensuring functional excellence and transparency.

 

Doelman holds an MSc and PhD from the University of Guelph, where he also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences. He has held several roles in Trouw Nutrition's R&D and innovation areas and has developed a broad experience and skill set that will be invaluable in his new position.

- Trouw Nutrition