Lely Orbiter now also produces yoghurt. The Orbiter is an advanced on-farm dairy processor that enables farmers to deliver their milk directly from the farm to the supermarket and consumers. Earlier this year, the addition of new functionalities made it possible to produce cream as well. Thanks to the ongoing development of the Orbiter, farmers will continue to get the most out of their milk. 

Lely Sphere is the proud winner of the Agribusiness Award 2021. The award recognises companies that offer new products or services that contribute to the success of Dutch agricultural business owners and whose innovative spirit and attention to sustainability and social responsibility inspire and elevate the sector. ‘The timing of your innovation is perfect and makes it possible to tackle the issue of nitrogen in dairy farming at the source and dramatically reduce emissions. Looking at the cost per kilogram of nitrogen spared, using the Lely Sphere to reduce emissions is much less expensive than buying out companies. It is now also RAV-certified. In short, it is an innovation with a lot of potential', said the jury. 

Lely and Netherlands-based startup Connecterra announced the start of a robust co-development and commercial partnership. The partnership is rooted in our shared mission to empower farmers to increase their productivity while reducing the impact of farming on the planet. The announcement came after the pilot testing of an integration between Lely Horizon and Connecterra’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform Ida. The Ida platform uses AI to enable farmers, their advisors and other stakeholders to make better decisions that lead to a more efficient, more productive and ultimately more sustainable dairy industry.

Germany-based startup Oculyze was named the winner of the second edition of the Feed the Future by Lely challenge. In partnership with Rockstart - one of Europe’s first startup accelerators - Lely scouted the next generation of tech pioneers whose solutions have the power to innovate and improve the dairy industry. Lely CEO André van Troost commented on the winner: ‘We very much believe in the technology and software that Oculyze presented. The Oculyze team has a strong affinity with our industry, which was also important to us. They ticked the sustainable, profitable and enjoyable boxes.’ 

As of October 1, the Lely Sphere barn system has been added to the Dutch RAV (Livestock Farming Ammonia Regulation) list. The RAV recognises innovative barn solutions that contribute to the reduction of nitrogen emissions in the livestock sector. RAV recognition is also required for obtaining a permit to use the barn system in accordance with the Low-Emission Livestock Housing Decree. The provisional emission factor for the Lely Sphere is 3.6kg NH3 per animal space per year, reducing emissions by more than 70% compared to barns with traditional slatted floors, which emit 13kg NH3 per animal space per year.  

In 2021, we launched the Lely Horizon Support Community, an online platform for customers of the Horizon programme. On this platform, customers can connect, share knowledge, ideas and tips, and ask questions. Dairy farmers interact directly with each other by submitting topics for other farmers to respond to. The community contributes to a positive customer experience and helps our farmers in their daily business. During the pilot phase, the Lely Horizon Support Community successfully united some 200 farmers from three different clusters around the world. We will use the learnings from the pilot to roll out the platform to more areas and to open it up to customers of other Lely solutions as well.  

In September, the Lely Orbiter was installed at the Rotgans family farm in Hippolytushoef, the Netherlands. Reijer Rotgans is the fourth farmer to process milk via the automatic dairy processor. Using the ‘Mijn Melk' (My Milk) label, he now distributes dairy products straight from the farm to supermarkets and consumers. Rotgans has increased the value of the herd’s milk thanks to this innovation and is serving the growing consumer demand for local products.

‘The passion remains, the tools change’. This is the tagline of Lely’s campaign – released in July 2021 – to generate interest in and awareness of barn automation among farmers. In some markets, like Iceland and Norway, around 95% of farmers who are making investments in their business are opting for automation. In other markets there is still a lot of potential for growth. The campaign is rooted in our strong belief in robotisation as a solution for future-proof farming and aims to grow adoption globally.  

To raise awareness about the importance of safety, for people and for cow, Lely launched the Safety in the Barn campaign. The campaign focuses on ten tips and shares easy-to-use instructions to improve safety on the farm. It covers a wide variety of topics, such as the safe handling of chemicals, wearing the right work clothes, keeping visitors and children safe and using slurry responsibly. At lely.com/safety, you will find all ten tips as well as a helpful animation.  

This year, we celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the Lely Vector. Continuous innovation and improvement lie at the heart of the success of this automatic feeding system. A wide range of dairy and beef cattle farms in 31 countries are using the Lely Vector to work more efficiently and achieve better results. Last year, the sale of the Vector grew significantly. This upward trend is expected to become even stronger in 2022, a sign that automated feeding is on track to become just as accepted and applied as automated milking.  

In April 2021, the Lely Future Farm Days were awarded the prestigious Gouden Giraffe (Golden Giraffe) for the best online Relations & Community event in the Netherlands. The event was held in October 2020 and took visitors on a journey through our vision for the future. More than 5,000 people around the world tuned into any of the 38 broadcasts. The attendees, both Lely personnel and stakeholders, had front row seats to the introduction of three groundbreaking innovations, the Lely Sphere, Lely Exos and Lely Horizon, that will contribute to an enjoyable, sustainable and profitable future in dairy farming.