Despite the chaos of COVID-19, Nutreco-owned aquaculture feed company Skretting pushed forward with developments in 2020, taking advantage of a new global sustainability awareness to drive strategy and accelerate product and policy developments.

CEO Therese Log Bergjord, IntraFish's 2020 Person of the Year, told us what this entailed and how the company will develop these pillars of business further in 2021.

What was the most important change your business made in 2020?

What a year. We could not have predicted at the beginning of 2020 what would develop with COVID-19. The situation we were all faced with needed a big shift in perspective. The seafood consumer market changed from significantly HORECA to retail within a matter of weeks, and an entirely new dynamic was created for the industry.

This of course impacted us, and not necessarily in a negative way. For example, sustainability credentials became much more prominent in a retail setting. Consumers are ever more aware of the impact of their choices and are looking for cleaner and healthier alternatives. Our whole value chain has seen a serious step up in sustainability, which I think is a great thing. In this sense, rather than a big change, what we got was solid confirmation that the path we are on, is the right one.

This is the same for our strategy. Again, rather than a big change, we have continued to sharpen our focus in these times.

Land-based production is experiencing a big moment. We supported the pioneers early, and this was strengthened further with Nutreco making a number of land-based farming investments. At the same time, we’re focused on cost-efficient production for all clients, utilizing all the benefits of scale that we can.

If you joined our first ever digital AquaVision conference this year, you will have heard us talk about trust. Trust, when you can't travel and meet and be together is even more important, so developing that trust further was also a big change for everyone this year.

The world has been disrupted, yes, but this has allowed us to see clearly and ensure our house is in order. We’ve had to be fast and agile and adapt to volatility and unpredictability in our supply chain. I have to say I am very proud of what we achieved in 2020, and actions we have taken to support our clients all around the world.

What lessons will you take away from 2020?

One a personal level, it is almost strange to think back on how full of travel, meetings and people life was previously. I now believe that if a situation such as COVID-19 happens, we are able to adapt thanks to the technology we have available to us today.

So, I think one of the biggest lessons is one of agility. We need to be fast to adapt and we need to embrace change. I am very proud of the way the Skretting team has taken this on. Our people are our greatest strength.

There is also no doubt that building strong relationships is a bit more challenging today. But we are all in the same storm. We are all faced with the same circumstances. We are all adapting. I strongly believe in cross- and inter-industry collaboration to discuss and find new ways of working. For example, engaging with the United Nations Global Compact, SeaBOS and GSI has led to some interesting discussions and insights that help frame our future focus.

What changes and developments do you expect your business to undergo in 2021?

I think we will see tremendous growth in 2021 for the industry.

We will see more digitalization and huge steps in sustainability. We at Skretting are working very hard on footprinting through fact-based measures like life cycle assessments.

We are also continuing to expand on our organic growth programs in Asia and Africa and finding better synergies through Nutreco-wide operations in the regions, which is very exciting for the years ahead.

Collaborations will become even more important. SeaBOS, for example, has made great strides this year. We’ve come a long way together as big companies, which is not easy to do. But we believe in the science, we believe in supporting each other and we believe in becoming better. This type of initiative is not a competitive one. It is our licence to operate, and essential for a sustainable future.

In addition to being essential, it’s also very inspiring to work with scientific organizations like the Stockholm Resilience Centre so I’m very happy we are continuing this collaboration.

I also think our innovation focus is shifting to support our customers even better. We are investing, we are building and developing competence and right-sizing our organization to remain strong in a new and increasingly competitive era.

Interview

Skretting CEO Therese Log Bergjord: 'The world has been disrupted, but this has allowed us to see clearly'