Fanny Weinbreck, Global R&D director

"My job is never boring because I am in a different location every day and meet many different people."

What is your job at Agrifirm?

I am responsible for R&D. For all the business units that are part of that. We help the business units with innovation, for feed, specialties and plant based solutions.

  • Can you tell something about the team you work in?

    We are a team of about 50 people, consisting of 8 subteams. Half of them do projects directly for the business units and the other teams work more internally, for example at our research farm Laverdonk. We basically work for all business units, on behalf of the business units. We also propose projects ourselves, in consultation. For the innovation projects, we always have a business owner and a project leader from R&D.

What energizes you in your work?

Of a lot of things actually. I get a lot of energy from making positive changes. Agrifirm is of course undergoing a process of change in which innovation plays a major role. We collaborate a great deal with all the business units, but also with external partners. That also gives me a lot of energy. We work with suppliers, with companies like Unilever and FrieslandCampina, research institutes, etc.. So it's never boring. You're at a different location every day, you meet lots of different people.

What is unique about working at Agrifirm?

Agrifirm's goal is very unique, working on a responsible food chain for future generations. We have a great responsibility, we are a cooperative, we work closely with the farmers and with that we can make change together with the farmers. We are a very broad company. The place of the cooperative in this business is unique. Everything starts with healthy animals and healthy soil on a farm. We see the impact of emissions on food. Nothing better than working on that and making an impact with that. What's also nice about the cooperative, the fact that we have a long-term vision. We are really concerned with the future generation.

What are you proud of?

On a lot of things. But if I have to mention 1 thing: how the R&D team works together and works towards the main goals. In the end, it's really about how the team is put together. They are really super motivated, they are very loyal to Agrifirm, they have clear goals that contribute to the projects. They have a good sense of what is going on in the business, they know who they need for what. Twice a year there is an R&D event and then a lot of energy flows. R&D team leads also meet regularly and you can see that this goes very well. It is a very international and diverse team with a good male/female ratio.
Vacancies
R&D and Innovation