Name: Lisa Cornelissen (29) and Luc Cornelissen (27)
Company: Varkenshouderij Cornelissen B.V.
Activities: Together with their father and two other brothers, they manage nine locations. Both in the office and in the shed. Responsible for personnel, transport, administration and work in the sties, among other things. 

Why did you choose this profession?

It's been instilled in us from the very beginning. Our family business has existed for four generations. We’ve been involved in the company and the industry since childhood. We grew up with it, as it were.

What will your company look like in 10 years?

‘One team, one task'. That's how we'd describe our current working method within Cornelissen. We manage the locations together with our staff, but can also regularly be found in the sties ourselves. Wherever staff is needed, we are happy to step in. This will certainly continue to be the case in the future. We aim to become a closed company in the future. We already do a lot, from arable farming to manure processing to renewable energy production. We want to ‘complete the circle' and have the whole process in-house. In addition, society demands a lot from our company and our employees. Another priority in the coming years is to make our company more transparent, to communicate more about what we are doing all day. We will have to tackle this not only as a company, but with the whole sector together.

What will the sector look like in 10 years?

We will still be pig farmers in 10 years, but things will be different. Laws and regulations will be tightened. Understandable, but we hope it will remain workable for us in the future. We're willing to invest, but it has to remain profitable. We keep a close eye on legislative and regulatory developments in order to be prepared for them.

We don't see integration happening in the Netherlands any time soon. What you do see is that this is already happening with arable farming and manure processing, and it will continue to do so in the future. In general, the Dutch agricultural entrepreneur is ambitious and likes to seize such opportunities.

What challenges will there be in the future?

One of the challenges we already face is finding and keeping suitable staff. Attracting and retaining staff will continue to be a challenge in the future. It's very difficult to get staff, let alone trained staff. That is why we try to motivate and interest young people in the region in pig farming.