Our company
Founded in 1948
Introduction
Foundation
Ever since our beginnings, in 1948, our founding fathers, the brothers Cornelis and Arij van der Lely, had only one goal: making farmers’ lives easier through innovation. We have been committed to innovation, and supporting farmers in sustainable food production ever since.
About
Who we are and what we do
Employees
Approximately 2,500 employees work day in day out to make farmers’ lives easier.
Production
In our two production facilities, we bring together our product expertise to achieve the best result for our customers.
Research & Development
Our Research & Development department plays a key role in our capacity for innovation. We devote 6% of our revenue to product development.
Patents
Right now, we have 1,500 active patents protecting our inventions.
Markets
Farmers in over 50 countries work daily with our solutions for use in the barn or on the field.
Sales
We achieved revenues of € 888 million.
A changing environment
Farmer focus
The world around us changes rapidly with a growing population and the demand for more food that is produced even more sustainably. That changing environment is our reality. In the years to come our innovation journey continues to help solve the major challenges of dairy farming. For that, we will focus on five themes that are central to the Farm of the Future.
We believe in the potential of dairy as a sustainable source of protein since cows can convert low-value proteins such as grass into high-value proteins. To secure this potential in the future, the dairy sector needs to address several major environmental and societal challenges. We take responsibility and are motivated to address these challenges by utilising our strengths to create value throughout the dairy chain.
Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. Our commitment to helping farmers has led to numerous innovative products starting in 1948 with the introduction of the finger-wheel rake. Many more solutions followed changing the world of modern dairy farming.
Video
Diversity & inclusion
Lely believes in an inclusive work environment which embraces diversity. What this means at Lely we explain in our proposition video. Our ambition is to have a 70%-30% men-women ratio by 2030 across our (senior) managerial roles. To achieve these targets, we will implement several initiatives on diversity and inclusion by means of communication, leadership, guidelines, training and sharing knowledge on the subject. We believe that our focus on diversity and inclusion will contribute to sustainable, long-term business results and employment relationships.
How can we help?
Farmers all over the world make choices about how they set up and run their farms. Every day, we help them make the best choices for themselves and their farms. We do this by providing advice and innovative solutions that contribute to efficient farm management as well as sustainable milk and meat production, present and future.