Students of HAS University of Applied Sciences and the Arnhem University of Applied Sciences have started the first edition of the new minor in vegetable-based nutrition. In this 10-week minor, 40 students will be taking a close look at the vegetable-based food chain. It is the first time that higher vocational education institutions have joined forces with an industry partner to develop an educational programme engaging students with the movement towards “green protein” in our daily diets and the worldwide trend of consumers choosing vegetarian food more often. NPM participation HAK is supporting the programme with two projects.
The minor covers the entire vegetable-based food chain, from the soil to the dinner table. Students work in multidisciplinary teams on a range of different projects. Vegetable grower HAK is supporting the programme by providing two projects, “the effect of climate on summer vegetables” and “the Dutch kidney bean”. Eight students will be working on these two projects in the coming weeks.
Vegetable future
“It’s high time for a teaching programme revolving completely around vegetable-based nutrition,” says Carry van Dijk, instructor at HAS University of Applied Sciences. “We just can’t ignore it any more, plants are the future.” Her four fellow instructors at HAS agree: “In 2050, the world population will be over 12 billion. The simple fact is we just aren’t going to be able to feed that population with animal protein alone. The role of vegetable proteins is only going to grow, because they are perfectly capable of completely replacing animal protein. This is going to have an impact on the entire chain, from seed dealer to food consumer. That’s why we’re glad that we, with help from partners like HAK, have the opportunity to train our students to become specialists in links in this vegetable protein chain.”
HAK CEO Timo Hoogeboom says: “In the coming years there’s going to be an increasing demand for food technologists and agriculture specialists with knowledge of the entire vegetable food chain. We have some of that knowledge in house, like ways to make eating vegetables and legumes easier and tastier. Aside from transferring our knowledge to a new generation, it’s also very interesting for us as a company to see how today’s students look at all the changes in our diet, which are really moving fast.”
Promoting consumption of vegetable protein
The idea of the partnership between HAS University of Applied Sciences, HAK and Schouten Europe took root within the Green Protein Alliance (GPA). This alliance, backed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is made up of over 25 market parties and non-profit institutions dedicated to making the consumption of vegetable protein an everyday fact of life for all of us. Connecting education with enterprise is an important part of achieving this goal. Along with supporting the minor, HAK offers students guest lectures and final projects in the field of vegetable protein in general, and specifically its cultivation, product development and trade.
