Young IFFI Event – Food for Thought

Registration

09:30 – 10:00 hrs

Opening

10:00 – 10:05 hrs
Welcome – Dirk Lodewijk, IFFI

10:05 – 10:50 hrs
Food for Thought – Kadir van Lohuizen, Noor Images
For Food for Thought Kadir looked beyond the Netherlands and traveled all over the world picturing the global food industry: from Kenya to China and from the United States to the Middle East. Recently shown as a VPRO documentary on Dutch television Kadir will highlight the dilemma’s of global food systems providing food security to 9 billion people while stretching the natural resources and planetary boundaries.

10:50 – 11:15 hrs
Break

11:15 – 13:00 hrs
The Great Generation Show – Careerwise
There are currently five generations in the workplace; a unique moment in history. This is highly beneficial to the transition process because each generation comes with different skills and perspectives. But how do you get the most out of all those generations working together? The Generation Theatre is an interactive corporate theater program focused on generational management. The show fosters curiosity, understanding and respect for diverse backgrounds, leading you towards energetic and innovative collaboration. Enjoy!

Lunch

13:00 – 14:00 hrs

Workshops

14:00 – 15:30 hrs

We’ll unleash creativity and strategic thinking with interactive workshops, where young professionals and graduates discuss and define future solutions for todays challenges of the international food industry. Join in and turn plans into a dynamic experience.

Health: ‘Marketing of healthy foods’

Markets – Renee Boerefijn, Cargill

Today, consumers are increasingly aware of what they eat and how it affects their health. To reduce chronic, food related diseases it is important to focus on consumers and deliver what they need. They drive food innovation touching on clean and clear labels using natural ingredients to create great balanced taste profiles. But how do consumers value healthy foods and to what extent are they prepared to pay a higher price? To which extent will AI be used in recipe formulation development to make products healthier while still maintaining full flavor?

Sustainability: ‘Decarbonizing food production’

Operations – Erik Schweitzer, Bunge

The food processing industry is a large consumer of energy and therefore one of the industries with high level CO2 emissions. Since CO2 is a global problem to be addressed it is up to our companies and their global supply chains to find and deliver decarbonization solutions. However, this requires a drastic new approach to the way we use agriculture, energy, technology, subsidies, taxes et cetera. It is up to the new generation of professionals in the food industry not to settle this time for a status quo but to initiate and embrace a drastically different way of managing food operations globally. What kind of change management is required here to meet the criteria of a sustainable operating food industry?

Employability: ‘Employing young professionals’

Human Capital – Esmé Smulders, Interfood

Our global food systems provides food security to 9 billion people while stretching the natural resources and planetary boundaries. Challenging issues with respect to consumers, industries and supply chains need to be addressed by drastic measures and not by maintaining the status quo. It is expected that solutions for these challenging issues need to come from the perspective of young and future professionals working in the industry of food ingredients. But based on which criteria do young professionals choose for a career in food? In what way do they wish to be facilitated in defining solutions to todays challenging issues?

Break

15:30 – 16:00 hrs

What’s next?

16:00 – 16:45 hrs

Industrial perspective – Careerwise

Participants belonging to different generations will elaborate on the highlights of the workshops touching on solutions for a sustainable, global food system.

16:45 – 17:00 hrs

Personal perspective – Young IFFI

Members of the IFFI commission Human Capital invite young professionals to step in and make a difference by joining Young IFFI! A network and development program by and for young professionals working in the food ingredients industry.

Closing

17:00 hrs – Dirk Lodewijk, IFFI

Cocktails & Food

17:00 hrs

Kadir van Lohuizen

Kadir van Lohuizen (Netherlands, 1963) is a versatile photographer and fimmaker. In recent years Kadir has conducted extensive research into the global food industry. At the start of this research he recorded the complete Dutch food chain: from the high-tech modified seed to the Edam cheese for export. For Food for Thought he looked beyond the Netherlands and traveled all over the world picturing the global food industry: from Kenya to China and from the United States to the Middle East. Recently shown as a VPRO documentary on Dutch television and on display in the Scheepvaartmuseum until January 2025.

Kadir has worked as a photojournalist for national and international media for decades and won several awards. He also documented various conflicts in Africa and elsewhere in the world, but is probably best known for his long-term projects on the seven world rivers, the consequences of rising sea levels, the diamond industry, migration in North and South America and the (bad) way in which six megacities deal with waste.

He won a World Press Photo Award in 2018 with his photo series about waste in world cities. He also won the Silver Camera in 1994, 1997 and 2001. In 2000 and 2002 he served on the jury of the World Press Photo competition and until recently was a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Press Photo Foundation.

Careerwise Generation theater

Careerwise is a training agency specializing in soft skills and leadership programs for young professionals.

There are currently five generations in the workplace; a unique time in history. This is beneficial because each generation comes with different skills and perspectives, but how do you get the most out of all those generations fused together?

Careerwise developed The Big Generation Show to answer this problem.
The show is an interactive corporate theater performance about generational diversity. With one actor from each generation, everyone is included. In an interactive manner, you learn what generations actually are and how you can leverage the benefits of generational diversity every day. The show fosters curiosity, understanding, and respect for diverse backgrounds, leading you towards energetic and innovative collaboration. This way, you harness the power of every generation!

Renee Boerefijn

Renee Boerefijn is R&D Director at Cargill and Treasurer at IFFI. He entered the food industry in 2000, at Unilever. Later, he went on to develop his career at Corbion and at Bunge, where he occupied the role of Director of Innovation. After two small decades at these two companies, respectively, he joined Cargill a bit over a year ago.

Erik Schweitzer

Erik Schweitzer has been working at Loders Croklaan for more than twenty years in various engineering roles. Starting as a Process Engineer, he nowadays oversees the total technology platforms and CAPEX expenditure of Bunge Loders Croklaan including their latest project: building the largest vegetable oil refinery and fractionation plant in Europe. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plan, design and build a future-proof food factory, completely CO2 neutral, in the port of Amsterdam.

Esmé Smulders

Esmé Smulders is Global Manager Talent at Interfood Group.
Her work experience in Human Resources began at CEVA, where she was quickly taken on board after an internship to stay for nearly a decade. Here, she held various roles: starting as HR assistant and developing into Learning and Development Officer for the Benelux, and later as the Manager of Talent Acquisition for the same geographical area.

Esmé holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Studies and a Master’s Degree in Work and Organizational Psychology.

This network meeting is for young professionals employed by the IFFI member companies as well as BSc and MSc graduates and students of food-related studies.

They share insights, learnings and experiences in the food ingredients industry while working on challenging issues in markets, operation and innovation related disciplines.

Venue

Het Huis Utrecht
Boorstraat 107
3513 SE  Utrecht