The day started early as we departed at 6:45am to drive over to John Deere. Once we got to the facility, we were greeted by employees as we received a brief presentation about the company where we learned about the 18 countries they operate in, their sales and revenue, and the different types of tractors they manufacture. Following the presentation, we followed some very nice tour guides through the factory.
The morning started slightly later with breakfast at the hotel between 8 to 9a.m., and us leaving Leiderdrop, The Netherlands, at 9a.m. Cees, the bus driver who accompanied us and very kindly drove us everywhere within Belgium and The Netherlands, had to end his tour with us in The Netherlands yesterday. We were sad, but wished him well and said our goodbyes. Today, everyone greeted our new driver, Peter, with enthusiasm, as he take Cees' place in driving us all around Germany in the next six days.
Today started off with a light breakfast and then we packed our growing luggage on the bus and headed off to the McDonalds Food Town. We were not allowed to take any pictures of the inside, but you can trust us when we say it was pretty awesome. After stepping off the bus, we were met by several OSI professionals, including Juergen Moembacher, who gave us a brief overview of OSI and let us take a peak at the chicken nugget and patty manufacturing machine that operates for McDonalds restaurants.
Today we went to the Real Future Store by Metro Group. We split up into two groups and were guided on a tour through the store. Our guide explained a little about each department and the innovations which make it a "Future Store." Our first stop was the CD and DVD section, the innovation in this area was a sound shower that allowed customers to preview the album without wearing headphones. This was a white platform from which the sound showered the people who were standing underneath it.
After a wonderful 5 days in Belgium, we were sad but excited to explore a new country. This morning was the first morning in The Netherlands. The start to the morning included buffet breakfast at the hotel which was followed by an educational presentation by Engelie Beenan, one of the founders of Oregional, a "local for local" farmer cooperative based in the Nijmegen region of The Netherlands. We have found that cooperatives are common in The Netherlands so that farmers can share costs and work together to sell their products.
The day began bright and early as we boarded a bus and headed out for the Netherland after a wonderful week stay in the beautiful city of Leuven . After a bus ride of about three and a half hours we arrived in Amsterdam. We picked up our host Ad Grinwis who is logistics coordinator for ADM. We then proceded to take a tour of ADM’s cocoa plant where we learned about the transformation of cocoa from pods in a farmers yard until it gets to the ADM owned and operated facilities to be refined.
Around 9 am Thursday we all boarded the bus to start day five of our trip. We were very excited to arrive at our first stop for the day Carrefour, a grocery store similar to Wal-Mart in style. Before we hopped off the bus, Professor Martens asked each group to find 5 similarities and differences between this store and one in the U.S.. The group that returned with the best examples would win a secret prize.
Today, after a short bus ride, we were met by a Ms. An-Sofie Hendrickx and Paolino Miranda at what appeared to be a trendy sit-down restaurant. It turned out to be the McDonald's location we would be visiting in Waterloo, Belgium. It was one of the nicest McDonald's we have ever seen and apparently this is how all of the McDonalds are designed. Bottles of recycled oils were displayed in a large glass case and pictures of the sustainability of the building materials and green initiatives lined the walls. Leather seats and stools.
At 8:30am we started our second full day in Belgium with breakfast at the Leuven Irish College. Following breakfast we attended a finance lecture with Prof. Piet Sercu of KU Leuven. Since there are many of us who are Ag-Finance or Finance majors we found the lecture to be very beneficial. Prof. Sercu talked about topics including speculation, minimizing bid-ask spreads, futures and forward rates, and comparing spreads across currency.
Today we went to Lindemans Brewery for a quick tour where we learned about Belgium's traditional Lambic beer. Our tour guide Nestor, which roughly translates to the oldest and wisest in the group, began the tour of Linddemans Brewery outside, where we learned of the traditional square farm layout. In the 19th century there were over 300 farms that brewed Lambic beer; however, there are now only 9 and Lindemans Brewery is the second largest! We next saw the room in which the Lambic beer is brewed .