Preview of events
BIOEXPO Warsaw, the international trade fair for organic food and non-food products, will take place on 30 September-2 October 2021. It is the only event in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe solely dedicated to the organic industry.
MARKET LEADER | The first edition of the fair was organised in 2019 by Ptak Warsaw Expo. BIOEXPO Warsaw represents a significant contribution to the development of the organic sector and the greater promotion of a healthy lifestyle. This comprehensive response to the needs of the industry and consumers has been appreciated by its partners, LIDL and the Polish Chamber of Organic Food (PIZE).
HIGH SCORE | More then 250 exhibitors have confirmed their participation in the fair for 2021 and around 15,000 visitors are expected. Leading brands include: Soligrano, BioPlanet, BeOrganic, EkoZagroda, Dary Natury, SuroVital, Farmy Roztocza and Smak Natury — with new companies and visitors still joining the event.
INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES | BIOEXPO is an opportunity to present a broad assortment of products by all exhibitors who have obtained organic certification. The event is supported by IFOAM Organics Europe, the European umbrella organization for organic food and farming, which is a perfect way to establish new international business relationships. What’s more, BIOEXPO Warsaw will be attended by foreign buyers interested in importing food and organic products to their countries, thanks to the Hosted Buyers program.
ACCOMPANYING EVENTS | BIOEXPO Warsaw creates chances to co-operate with prominent innovative companies. For instance, there will be two important events accompanying the fair, both organised by the Polish Chamber of Organic Food:
- The first one is IFOAM Organics Europe’s Organic Food Conference, co-organised in collaboration with the Polish Chamber of Organic Food, taking place on 30 September–1 October 2021 online and live from Warsaw. Targeting particularly organic food processors, retailers, traders, importers and control bodies, this year’s edition motto is “The future of organic food”. The event will cover, among others, the European Green Deal and how to reach the 25% target of organic land by 2030; expected changes in the new EU Organic Regulation; how packaging should look like for organic products; and much more.
- The second event will be the BIOEXPO Congress, dealing with the subject of agriculture and ecological food, natural cosmetics and cleaning products, as well as health.
For more information and to register, please visit BIOEXPO Warsaw’s official website.
This year, Good Food Good Farming is again organising its European Action Days 1-31 October 2021. Raise your voice, add your initiative and help convince political leaders to stop industrial agriculture!
Food and farming policies in Europe need to transition towards fairer, healthier, more environmentally conscious and caring systems, rewarding farmers who deliver public goods. We need to show policymakers that citizens, farmers, activist and civil society demand ambitious agricultural policies to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises and provide healthy food for all.
We invite you to get creative and show your support through on- and offline actions. Groups and individuals can organise events showing other ways of farming and calling on our governments to make ecological and sustainable food and agricultural reforms.
What can you do?
- Organise an action between 1 and 31 October 2021 and let us know about your plans. All on- and offline events will appear on the map on Good Food Good Farming website. Use online banners, posters, the action toolkit and other materials, that you can find on www.goodfoodgoodfarming.eu/resources;
- Share the mobilisation video (available in various languages) and call to action with your members/partners, in your newsletters, and on social media using #GoodFoodGoodFarming;
- Use and share #Farmers videos to show decision-makers that many farmers are ready for change and live the change every day on their fields and farms. These videos were produced by GFGF together with organisations from Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands and progressive farmers demanding change. All are available with English subtitles and you can find example tweets in English in the same folder.
Are you organising in-person actions? Please respect local regulation and take responsibility for the health of participants. Stay tuned on www.goodfoodgoodfarming.eu and follow @GFGFActionDays on Twitter.
Natexpo’s 2021 edition will open its doors on 24-26 October in Paris Nord Villepinte. The fair is expecting:
- 1.350 exhibitors for three full days of 100% organic business;
- Loads of content to discover; and
- More than 150 newcomers, 250 internationals, and spaces dedicated to young organic stars.
Buyers will be able to renew their sourcing with small rising brands such as the Organic Incubator, The Big Splash, The Lab, The Cosmetics Village and more.
Big names of the organic sector will be there too, together with historical exhibitors showcasing on bigger surfaces compared to last year’s edition. What is more, the show welcomes 35% brand-new exhibitors.
At Natexpo, visitors will be updated with all latest organic trends: Natexpo Awards, New Products Gallery, Innovation Forum and more than 150 conferences. You do not want to miss it! IFOAM Organics Europe will be attending Natexpo, hosted at Natexbio’s booth. Come visit us at booth K32. Get your free badge and more info on www.natexpo.com
Recent severe weather events and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report make it clear: agriculture will have to prepare for more droughts and heavy rain events. In wet years such as 2021, plant protection in organic perennial and speciality crops are a challenging task for farms, especially when it comes to copper minimisation. Nevertheless, the organic sector has been proactively engaged in a copper minimisation strategy for decades and is determined to continue to make progress in this area.
The 6th European Conference on Copper in Plant Protection will:
- Discuss the development of copper use in plant protection;
- Identify challenges which still need to be overcome by future research and development projects; and
- Reflect on innovations which can support minimisation and how politics can support farms in the transformation
Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW), IFOAM Organics Europe and the Julius-Kühn-Institute are pleased to invite stakeholders from research, industry, practice and politics to save 17-18 November in their planner.
We will release the programme and open registration in October.
A call for papers is already open if you wish to present the results of your own studies or practical trials. To register contributions, please send an informal e-mail with the topic and title of the contribution to [email protected] by 30 September 2021.
Day two is carried out on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) as part of the Federal Program for Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (BÖLN).
Registration for the Organic Innovation Days 2021 is now open – join us and discuss the latest organic research & innovation themed ‘Better inputs for organic farming‘ on 30 November-December 2021.
For this edition of the Organic Innovation Days, TP Organics partners with the European research projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS. These two Horizon 2020-funded EU projects aim at reducing the use of contentious inputs in organic farming systems.
On the first day, the alternatives to contentious inputs in organic farming will be discussed. The second day will be dedicated to socio-economics aspects and the way forward for contentious inputs. Participants will take a closer look at plant protection products. Several alternatives as well as results will be presented by the projects’ experts, followed by discussions.
Stay up to date on the event webpage, download the draft programme & register by 28 November!
Present on social media? Share your thoughts and pictures from the event using the hashtags #OrganicInnovationDays #OID2020 #TPOrganics as well as the Twitter handles @TPOrganics, @RELACSeu & @OrgPLUSresearch!
Background information on the research projects
Coordinated by Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Switzerland, RELACS has 29 partners from 13 European countries. IFOAM Organics Europe is responsible for communication, dissemination, and facilitation of the science-practice-policy dialogue. RELACS will foster the development and facilitate the adoption of cost-efficient and environmentally safe tools and technologies, to phase out the dependency on and use of inputs considered contentious in organic farming systems. Coordinated by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, ‘sister’ project Organic-PLUS (O+) involves 10 universities and 15 multi-actors (other research institutions and NGOs) in 8 EU and 4 non-EU countries. The overall aim is to provide high-quality, trans-disciplinary, scientifically informed decision support to help all actors in the organic sector, including national and regional policy makers, to reach the next level of the organic success story in Europe. Both projects started in May 2018 and officially run until end of April 2022 (not considering possible Covid-19 extensions).
Coordinated by Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Switzerland, RELACS has 29 partners from 13 European countries. IFOAM Organics Europe is responsible for communication, dissemination, and facilitation of the science-practice-policy dialogue. RELACS will foster the development and facilitate the adoption of cost-efficient and environmentally safe tools and technologies, to phase out the dependency on and use of inputs considered contentious in organic farming systems.
TP Organics is the European Technology Platform for organic food and farming and agroecology officially recognised by the European Commission for giving input in research and innovation policy and programmes. IFOAM Organics Europe hosts its secretariat.
Coordinated by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, ‘sister’ project Organic-PLUS (O+) involves 10 universities and 15 multi-actors (other research institutions and NGOs) in 8 EU and 4 non-EU countries. The overall aim is to provide high-quality, trans-disciplinary, scientifically informed decision support to help all actors in the organic sector, including national and regional policy makers, to reach the next level of the organic success story in Europe. Both projects started in May 2018 and officially run until end of April 2022 (not considering possible Covid-19 extensions).
Pathways to phase-out contentious inputs from organic agriculture in Europe (Organic-PLUS) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774340.
These sessions are financed by the projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS, which have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 773431 and No 774340, respectively.
This event is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). The sole responsibility for this event lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.
Time flies and we will soon be opening registration for the 4th edition of IFOAM Organics Europe Meets Business, 7 December 2021.
This successful platform for exchange between players from the whole (organic) supply chain – including processors, traders, retailers, and certifiers – brings together IFOAM Organics Europe’s members and their members, as well as companies involved in or interested in organic, such as retailers that have an organic range, or processors that are contemplating to start working with organic products.
This edition takes place online and focusses on the organic regulation and policy-related issues. A more detailed agenda as well as more information about registration will follow soon and will be available on our website.