BIOFACH 2025

Sustainability reporting is becoming increasingly important, but also more complex and demanding, for all organic operators. The requirements for data delivery and proof of climate, environmental and social impact with quantifiable outcomes is constantly increasing. Even though organic farming inherently promotes environmental and social sustainability, quantifying and reporting its impacts remains a challenge.

•  Location: NCC Ost| Level 3 | Room Seoul
•  Speaker:

Jan Plagge – President, Bioland & IFOAM Organics Europe

Fausto Jori – CEO, EcorNaturaSì Spa

•  Moderator: Joanna Wierzbicka – Deputy Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

The scientific part of the session will showcase recent research findings from Southeast Asia that highlight enablers and barriers to PGS upscaling and explain the economic and environmental impacts of PGS adoption.

• Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room Riga
• Speakers:

Gábor Figeczky – Senior Manager, Global Policy, IFOAM Organics International

Patricia Flores – Senior Global Academy Manager, IFOAM Organics International

Christian Grovermann – Senior scientist, agricultural economics, FiBL

Robert Home – Senior scientist, rural sociology, FiBL

Join this session to explore how organic can play a role in addressing the issue that water is under pressure as a resource. Hear from experts about initiatives at the EU and national levels, including EU political priorities such as the water resilience strategy. Discover opportunities for the organic sector to enhance water stewardship and strengthen visibility in water management discussions.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room Riga
•  Speaker:

Sabine van Wiren-Lehr – Director, van Wiren-Lehr consulting

Sophia Majnoni d’Intignano – General Delegate, Fédération Nationale d’Agriculture Biologique

Hannah Winkler – Policy Associate Manager, IFOAM Organics Europe

Moderator: Silvia Schmidt – Policy Manager, IFOAM Organics Europe

During this session, high-level speakers will explore the EU’s strategic vision for transforming its agrifood sector towards greater sustainability, resilience, and competitiveness. A key question will be how the CAP and the EU’s vision on agriculture and food can adequately support farmers who provide environmental and social benefits while ensuring that agriculture remains a competitive sector. It will also be an occasion to enquire what political changes are expected in the US organic development after the presidential elections.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room St Petersburg
•  Speakers:

Jan Plagge – President, Bioland & IFOAM Organics Europe

Christophe Barnouin – CEO, Ecotone

Stefan Krajewski – Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland

Tom Chapman – CEO, Organic Trade Association

Silvia Bender – State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Gijs Schilthuis  – Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives, DG AGRI

•  Moderator: Eduardo Cuoco – Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

The networking reception will present the BEING Organic in the EU project coordinated by Federbio and Naturland to organic operators, consumers, and other stakeholders from the food value chain, along with high-level representatives from EU and national institutions. The reception (entirely branded with the project’s promotional material) will be an opportunity for the project coordinators (Federbio, Naturland) to give an informal presentation about the project goals and activities, and to network and share knowledge with the European and national policymakers. It will also be an occasion to promote the new programme of promotional campaigns. A tasting of organic drinks and food will follow.

•  Location: NCC Ost| Level 2 | Café next to room St. Petersburg

A highlight to the positive change that organic meals bring to schools, emphasizing their transformative potential and looking at the participatory approach. The session is divided into 2 parts: 1) Speakers will present their inspiring practices in school meals and organic 2) An award ceremony will be co-organized with our partner ICLEI to reward the best cities in the SchoolFood4Change project.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 3 | Room Shanghai
•  Speakers: SF4C + IFOAM Asia

•  Moderator: Eduardo Cuoco – Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

                                                                                                                              The SchoolFood4Change project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036763. The sole responsibility for the content lies with the authors. The content does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Commission. The European Commission is also not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

With the help of our speakers, we get a summary of the legislative work of the past year and a whole picture of the organic regulatory framework which has concluded an important stage of completeness with its extension to third countries. The panel discussion aims to reflect on the important achievements and challenges, with a special outlook on imports, and how the new system has started to function from 1st January. We will also reflect on important implications and current challenges in the export of EU organic products.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 3 | Room Seoul
•  Speakers:

Henri Delanghe – Deputy Head of Unit Organics, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission

Michel Reynaud – Vice-Président, ECOCERT

Tom Chapman – CEO. Organic Trade Association

Cristina Rigoni – Export Sales Manager, Rigoni di Asiago

Moderator:

Lea Bauer – Regulation Consultant, IFOAM Organics Europe

The global organic market develops dynamically and in different ways around the world. We take a closer look at market information from the IFOAM – Organics International/FiBL statistics book and reflect on trends and strategic market positioning from several parts of the world.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room St. Petersburg
•  Speakers:

Tom Chapman – Co-CEO, Organic Trade Association (OTA)

David Amudavi – Executive Director, Biovision Africa Trust

Tia Loftsgard – Executive Director, Canada Organic Trade Association

Josefine Pettersen – Operations and Technical Manager, Australian Organic Limited

Dr. Helga Willer – Scientist, FiBL, Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau

•  Moderator: Ravi Prasad – Director, IFOAM Organics International

•  Location: IFOAM OE & OI booth

TP Organics, the European Technology Platform for Research & Innovation into Organics and Agroecology, hosts the annual Science Day. The 2025 edition will be organised with several EU research projects such as SchoolFood4Change, OrganicTargets4EU, OrganicAdviceNetwork, ROAM-FREE, and SOILL Startup, as well as the CORE Organic network. During a policy debate, funding opportunities for organic R&I will be presented. OrganicTargets4EU will present scenarios developed within the project in an interactive workshop before the participants will get to know the projects during an interactive “speed dating”.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room Oslo
•  Speakers:

Ilsa Phillips – Research and Innovation Officer, IFOAM Organics Europe

Ambra de Simone – Research and Innovation Associate Manager, IFOAM Organics Europe

Evelyne Alcázar Marín – International Manager/ Brussels Office Manager, Ecovalia

Atle Wibe – Research Scientist, Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture

Matthias Koesling – Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture

Berit Blomstrand – Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture

Olivier Mora – Coordinator, INRAE

Etienne Schultz – INRAE

Maria Gernert –  TP Organics Senior Officer, IFOAM Organics Europe

Susana Gaona Sáez – Research Programme Officer, European Commission

Ivana Trkulja – Project Manager, Core Organic

Gabriele Rudolfi – Project Coordinator, FiBL Europe

•  Moderator: Eduardo Cuoco – Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

                                                                                                                              SOILL-Startup is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.                        

                                                                                                                                OrganicTargets4EU is funded by the European Union (Grant no. 101060368) and by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) (Grant no. 22.00155). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Research Executive Agency (REA) or Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). Neither the European Union nor any other granting authority can be held responsible for them.

During this session, we will look into concrete cases in which youth advocated on organic and other sustainability-related topics, and which best practices and lessons learned can be drawn from these cases. Furthermore, the newly created Organics Europe Youth Network will be officially inaugurated and further opportunities for youth empowerment in this Youth Group will be explored.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 2 | Room St. Petersburg

•  Speakers:

Eduado Cuoco – Director, IFOAM Organics Europe

Lennart Bertels – Chairman, Junges Bioland

Henri Delanghe – Deputy Head of Unit Organics, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission

Helene Schmutzler – Senior Policy Officer on GMOs and Animal Welfare, IFOAM Organics Europe

•  Moderator: Silvia Schmidt – Policy manager, IFOAM Organics Europe

In recent years, policies and government strategies for organic agriculture and agroecology have increased substantially in Africa on continental, regional, and national levels. We provide an overview and discuss the implications, benefits, and gaps from a movement, private sector, and science perspective.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 3 | Room Seoul
•  Speakers:

Markus Arbenz – Senior Consultant and Project Leader, FiBL, Switzerland

Bharat Bhandari – Executive Director, LI-BIRD

Paul Holmbeck – Director, Holmbeck EcoConsult

Alex Mutungi – AU EOA Initiative Continental Secretariat Coordinator, Biovision Africa Trust

•  Moderator: Gábor Figeczky – Senior Manager, Global Policy, IFOAM Organics International

The session will give an update on the policy process of New Genomic Techniques at the EU level, as the political developments are in full swing. Furthermore, the session will shed some state-of-the-art light on the development of detection methods for GMOs derived from or produced with NGTs in the context of the DARWIN EU Horizon project.

•  Location: NCC Ost | Level 3 | Room Shanghai

•  Speakers:

Andreas Petke – Head of Quality Management , dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG

Philomena Chu – Senior Researcher, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre

Helene Schmutzler – Senior Policy Officer on GMOs and Animal Welfare, IFOAM Organics Europe

•  Moderator: Friedhelm von Mering – Head of Politics and Law, BÖLW

                                                                                                                                DARWIN is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.