Roland, co-owner of the Van Asten Group, started his career in former East Germany after successfully completing the Higher Agricultural School. Here, he played an essential role in setting up and building the pig farms and biogas plants at the various locations of the Van Asten Group in former  East-Germany.. Within the Van Asten Group, Roland devoted himself entirely to developing and implementing new knowledge in their own pig farms in the Netherlands and Germany. From 2009, he specifically focused on fermentation, which resulted in significantly healthier and more efficient animals in the house. And this did not go unnoticed: the Van Asten Group won the prestigious "Herman Wijffels prize" (2015), and recently the international "SIMA Farming Award" (2022).

Ronald, founder and owner of Dr.FERM, has a practical attitude based on scientific knowledge. His passion for fermentation arose during his PhD research "Fermentation of Liquid Diets for Pigs" (1997-2001), with Prof Verstegen and Prof Den Hartog at Wageningen University. In 2010, Ronald founded the company Dr.FERM, focusing entirely on developing and implementing fermentation concepts for the agricultural sector. His first major assignment was an R&D programme aimed at developing a well-functioning microbial fermentation concept on pig farms. This is where his intensive collaboration with Van Asten Group originated.