Organic Food Conference 2023 took place on 22-23 May at the premises of Aboca, in Sansepolcro, Italy. A wide range of participants, from organisations and companies to university students and the media, came together at the event organized by IFOAM Organics Europe to share their passion for sustainability and explore the future of organic agriculture.
A model fit for the future
The Organic Food Conference 2023 kicked off with welcoming remarks by IFOAM Organics Europe Director and President, Eduardo Cuoco and Jan Plagge, and Aboca’s Director of Public Affairs and Agricultural Impact and Sustainability, Jacopo Orlando.
One of the moments that attracted the most interest was the keynote speech by Christian Felber, writer, university professor and promoter of the Economy for the Common Good and the Austrian Cooperative for the Common Good. In his lecture “Economics for the Common Good: A Model Fit for the Future”, Felber highlighted the need to establish a sustainable, socially responsible and human-centered economic model: “The main goal of economy should be the common good! It should respect and not cross ecological limits of our planet, while meeting our first and basic needs. It shouldn’t be about making profit, money should just be a mean.”
The session was followed by an interesting discussion on organic food in a changing world, focusing on the challenges ahead, as well as the views, experiences and needs of the organic sector. “We are on a cross-road with many decisions which are without real returns. Organic needs to present alternatives to quick technological fixes for the future, for where we’ll be in 2050 will be influenced by our choices today,” said Jan Plagge. The President of AssoBio, Roberto Zanoni, highlighted that “To improve consumption, and thus support the sector, we need to focus on the quality of organic products.”
The first day of the event closed with a visit to the Aboca museum, which offered a historical tour of the use of herbs applied to health through the ages, as well as an organic dinner, which included a toast by the Vice President of IFOAM Organics Europe, Marian Blom, and the General Director of FederBio, Rossella Bartolozzi, who also briefly presented the BEING Organic in EU project, sponsor of both the dinner and the conference.
New challenges and opportunities for the organic transition
The second day of the Organic Food Conference 2023 featured an intense program, with round tables on the challenges of sustainability within the framework of the EU Farm to Fork strategy, multigenerational communications and the New Organic Regulation.
“Reaching EU Farm to Fork goals is a challenge, it means increasing production and consumption, but at the same time it’s an opportunity to transfer good organic practices to the rest of agriculture and to raise the bar for the future”, said Maria Grazia Mammuccini, President of FederBio.
The roundtable brought to the table the fact that while we aim to achieve more sustainable food systems through targets such as 25% organic land and 50% reduction in pesticide use and its risks by 2030, we face specific challenges such as the geopolitical context, lack of policy coherence and concerns about the impact of the transition on livelihoods. “To lead the ecological transition, organic needs to explain its value by communicating about its positive externalities, and has to lobby against negative externalities. It has to be the real changing agent”, noted Aboca’s CEO, Massimo Mercati.
“The whole agri-food system is trying to ride the sustainability train, and the risk of greenwashing is tangible. The transition won’t be easy, but it can be an opportunity to transfer good organic practices to the rest of agriculture. Organic, as a pioneer, will have to show leadership and strive to improve while raising the bar for organic production, and not settle for minimum standards”, summed up the organization.
Transparency and connection with the consumer
In the session “Organic for All Ages – Navigating the Current Market with Multi-Generational communication”, pannelists discussed the best way to convey messages about organic and its benefits, especially when targeting consumers of different ages, which may require the use of different media.
“To engage people in solutions, they need to care abt the problem”, explained Sarah Compson, associate director of the Soil Association. “Decisions to buy organic products are made with the brain. We need to focus more on the heart, we need to meet people where they are, show how organic can be a solution for local issues, a game changer for our health”, she added.
Hence the need to use transparency tools. “The objective of True Cost Accounting is to identify positive and negative externalities of foods and to incorporate them in the price. End-goal is to present true prices to consumers, in full transparency”, Dr Amelie Michalke, from the University of Greifswald, stated out.
How to produce organic food in a polluted world?
The last session focused on the new organic regulations and how to produce organic food in a polluted world. “Contamination is omnipresent in our environment. The organic sector is well aware of the problem, organic producers do their very best to minimise pesticide residues on their products. And in most cases cannot be made responsible for contamination”, explained Marian Blom.
According to Pesticide Atlas, the global pesticide market has almost doubled in the last 20 years, leading to an increase in pesticide poisonings. How to deal with pesticide residues in organic products is therefore a relevant topic for most organic stakeholders, especially since the burden of contamination costs is currently carried by the organic sector, and not by polluters.
The issue was addressed by the project Pesticide use and contamination of IFOAM Organics Europe, which resulted in a position paper on the management of pesticide residues in organic products, presented by panellists Bernhard Speiser (FiBL) and Michel Reynaud (EcoCert) during this session. The conclusion is that, to combat fraud and remain able to produce healthy food products, good knowledge of risks, guidance for organic producers, and proportionate control measures are needed.
“The Organic Food Conference was a successful event, with a varied attendance, from organisations and companies to university students, media and a delegate of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Pietro Gasparri. It was once again a great opportunity to discuss hot topics of the organic sector with high-level speakers, as well as to network among organic stakeholders while enjoying the Tuscan sun and food!”, IFOAM Organics Europe commented.
More information is available at www.organicseurope.bio
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