Climate change, Brexit, organic campaigning, technology, and GMOs are just a few topics up for discussion at the Nordic Organic Food Fair 2019. The two-day trade event will return to MalmöMässan (Sweden) on 13-14 November with a packed ‘free-to-attend’ seminar programme – providing thousands of buyers and retailers with plenty of ‘food for thought’ about challenges, opportunities, innovations, and future trends for the organic industry.
High-profile speakers from The Soil Association, Organic Sweden, KRAV, Natural Products Global, Futerra Sweden, Arla (Finland), Ecovia Intelligence, EkoMatCentrum, Organic Denmark, Beyond GM, and more, have been confirmed.
Visitors can also discover the biggest certified organic food and drink products to hit the Swedish organic market in a live pitching session with sustainable grocery store Paradiset. For the first time, top suppliers have been chosen in different categories to pitch their products live in front of the Paradiset senior buying team, where the winners can secure a potential listing with the ethical retailer.
Other highlights from the Organic Theatre include:
- The Organic Brexit with Erik Hammar, founder of Kakaw.se, Emma Yeats, operations manager (quality & inspection) at the Soil Association, and Jonas Englund, global business developer at Business Sweden – Erik will talk about the difficulties and challenges he has met as a small business operator, importing fine chocolate from the UK to Sweden, in conjunction with Brexit. Emma Yeats and Jonas Englund will talk about the post Brexit conditions for organic trade to and from the UK. This session will provide insight at the regulatory level as well as at the commercial business level.
- Global Market for Organic Food & Drink: Update & Outlook with Iveta Kovacova, senior research executive at Ecovia Intelligence – Global sales of organic food and drink surpassed USD 100 billion for the first time in 2018. Although healthy growth rates are continuing, there remain many challenges ahead. This seminar gives an update on the global organic products market, highlighting market trends and developments for the major regions. Export openings will be highlighted for Nordic organic food and drink companies.
- Sweden joins the Organic September movement – how to communicate the benefits of organic food with Anita Falkenek, CEO of KRAV NN (retailer) NN (processor), and Charlotte Bladh André, CEO of Organic Sweden – Inspired by Soil Association’s campaign ‘Organic September’, Organic Sweden, Ekologiska Lantbrukarna, KRAV and Swedish Consumer Association have initiated a collaborative campaign highlighting the benefits of organic food. The campaign, returning every September, is designed to share knowledge and co-create value on the organic market. The session will share insights from the first year, and retailers and processors will provide their input on how this campaign works in the field.
- Organic Apps with Eva Fröman and Mimi Dekker, founders of EkoMatCentrum, and Jonas Möller, manager business development at Sisyfos Digital AB – EkoMatCentrum has now launched Sweden’s first-ever app (EkoGo) about organic restaurants and eateries. Eva and Mimi will talk about the thoughts behind the app, how it works, and what they hope to achieve with it.
- The Story of Arla Milkchain with Tomi Sirén, head of digital at Arla Finland – In this session visitors will hear the story of Arla Milkchain and how its vision of building the most transparent value chain in dairy came to life. Sirén will discuss the role of blockchain technology in the project and how it can be used to promote transparency, traceability and overall sustainability in FMCG.
- ‘Organic GMOs’ – Is this the future of sustainability? with Pat Thomas and Lawrence Woodward, directors at Beyond GM, Dr Stefan Jansson, professor and head of the department of Plant Physiology Umeå University, and Dr Odd-Gunnar Wikmark, scientist/program coordinator at GenØk Centre for Biosafety – In Norway and Denmark – as in much of Europe – there are now calls from the biotechnology industry and researchers for the products of new gene editing techniques such as CRISPR, to be exempt from regulation in order to help farming meet sustainability goals. At the same time, a growing number of people feel that doing so brings inevitable questions about food safety and transparency – as well as potential risks to the organic market. This panel session will bring together experts on both sides of the debate.
More information at www.nordicorganicexpo.com
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