Anyone who looks around the northern Netherlands can see at a glance: it is good farming here. Moreover, the vast cultivated land is just the tip of the iceberg. The North has a rich agricultural history, which has led to a strong Agri&Food sector chain with a culture focused on specialization and intensive cooperation.
From Groningen, for example, the W.A. Scholten firm grew into the first multinational company in the Netherlands, and Frisian farmers cleverly cooperated in dairy cooperatives. New times brought new challenges: the growing population after the Second World War demanded an increase in scale, while from the 1970s onwards the environment received more attention. Even today, the Agri&Food sector faces important challenges: maintaining food security, stimulating biodiversity, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and climate adaptation. By supporting innovative companies, NOM not only works on the Northern Netherlands economy, but also on these challenges.
Initial investments
In its early years, NOM focused primarily on the manufacturing industry. The Agri&Food sector did not enter the picture until the late 1980s. The emphasis at that time was mainly on traditional companies that were already established in the Northern Netherlands and came to NOM with classic challenges around production growth or efficiency. This suited the traditional Agri&Food sector: a conservative market, revolving around big parties with big interests.
However, modern challenges require modern solutions, but how do you implement them in a conservative market? To better deal with these kinds of questions, the sectors are now central to the NOM organization. From a focused sector team, NOM enters into discussions with the Agri&Food sector, looking for challenges and solutions to which NOM can contribute. The development domains that NOM focuses on are: reduction of environmental impact, healthy food and agriculture, protein transition and residual stream processing.
Today
Unlike in the early days of NOM, there is no shortage of investment capital in the region. NOM clearly distinguishes itself from other capital providers by its approach with sector teams, in which NOM's core activities come together: innovation, internationalization, investment. Moreover, NOM has a large network; thus, questions from the market can be picked up and placed where the answers are available.
This approach is having an effect: more and more innovative startups and scale-ups in the Agri&Food sector are knocking on NOM's door. Investing in these companies is often accompanied by risks that banks do not want: NOM takes those risks. From this approach, a nice investment portfolio with various companies in the Agri&Food sector has now been built up. This strengthens the development domains, and the sector is developing in various ways.
With investments in companies such as HLB Group, Longbloom, Future Food Fund and Tryptomera, a broad sustainability drive is underway that not only offers opportunities for these companies, but can also make an important contribution to future-proofing the classic Agri&Food sector ecosystem. At the same time, investments are being made in companies that operate at the intersection of sectors and ecosystems, such as between the Agri&Food sector and the smart manufacturing industry, which is well represented in the Northern Netherlands.
Supporting companies such as Vector Machines, Quva and Zonderland helps these ecosystems integrate better, allowing both sectors to grow further. Finally, NOM helps companies that not only connect to existing activity, but can also be the starting point for an entirely new ecosystem in the Northern Netherlands economy, such as Iam Algea and Seaweedland working on innovative sources of proteins and other nutrients.
Looking to the future
NOM has its eye on the future and its door is always open to entrepreneurs who are looking for solutions and working on tomorrow's Agri&Food sector. NOM has capital, knowledge and a network; but perhaps most importantly, NOM listens. In this way NOM continues to build on its position in the Agri&Food chain and invests in a more sustainable, smarter and healthier Agri&Food sector.
Working together for change: Seaweedland
How an entrepreneur together with NOM can make a difference, and work towards a new ecosystem is shown by the story of Seaweedland. Founder Sven Rusticus was looking for maximum impact in the field of sustainability; ideally in a sector where few people were yet active. Seaweed caught his eye, he dived into the matter and saw a gap in the market: seaweed for human consumption. Popular in Asia, but in Europe we have forgotten to eat seaweed, despite endless possibilities: raw or fried; from chips to fish sticks. But how do you deliver consistent quality from an unpredictable sea?
Sven Rusticus' answer: growing seaweed on land, in basins in greenhouses. NOM was immediately enthusiastic. The Northern Netherlands has all the ingredients: high-quality saline groundwater, the Wadden Sea, vast space, knowledge from fisheries and the Water Campus. According to Rusticus, seaweed can develop into a fully-fledged sector in the North; with NOM's help, Seaweedland is building a network in the region: from knowledge and business partners to suppliers. Seaweedland's seaweed is now available from Lidl to Librije. Yet the main challenge remains the market: 'We now have to find customers who say: give me 1,000 kilos a year.'