In Rotterdam’s historic Rijnhaven stands one of the area's last remaining warehouses and production facilities, adjacent to the newly opened FENIX Museum of Migration, the city's latest flagship development.
Across the waterfront, former port infrastructure is making way for housing, cultural institutions and public space. The transformation is nearly complete.

One structure, however, still points to a different history: a concrete silo rising above the former warehouse complex on the quay.

Since the 1950s, the site was occupied by Provimi, a Dutch producer of animal feed supplements that moved into a former Holland-Amerika Lijn warehouse during Rotterdam's post-war reconstruction. “Pro” stood for Proteïnen, “vi” for Vitaminen and “mi” for Mineralen: nutritional additives for Europe's rapidly expanding livestock sector. Piglet feed, milk replacers for calves, premixes and specialty compounds passed through the facility before being distributed across the continent through what had become Europe's largest port.

In 2011, the company was acquired by Cargill, incorporating the site into an even vaster global network of one of the world's largest agri-industrial corporations.

As the silo is now being demolished, this invites a provocative question: Is meat production crumbling?

(continue with Willem’s text – meat consumption)

From 2026 onwards, production moved to a newly modernised facility in Overijssel. In Rijnhaven, demolition began. The silo is removed while the warehouse is retained. Soon it will reopen as Rotterdam's new Danshuis, marking the completion of the area's transition from working harbour to residential district.

The transformation is selective. The brick warehouse remains; the silos removed, and the image of the industrial city re-assembled.