On the occasion of BIOFACH’s 25th anniversary, the industry and the trade fair join in looking to the future and declare Organic 3.0 as the key theme of the most wide-ranging international organic trade fair and supporting congress. This is where international players in the industry make their contribution to shaping the market, the organic movement and the policies for a sustainable world. The approaching anniversary is a good reason to look into the future. The thought leaders and pioneers and the constantly expanding global organic industry have finished with Organic 1.0 and 2.0. But in what direction will this industry develop in the future? What do Organic 3.0 and the organic agriculture of tomorrow look like? BIOFACH 2014 from 12–15 February in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg not only offers inspiring opinions, ideas and possible solutions for the three core aspects of this year’s main theme – resources, impact and transparency. Once again, around 2,400 exhibitors and over 40,000 trade visitors are expected to attend the trade fair duo BIOFACH, the World’s leading Trade Fair for Organic Food, and VIVANESS, the International Trade Fair for Natural Personal Care.

 

 

The focus of BIOFACH 2014 has been set jointly by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the international patron of the world’s leading organic trade fair, the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW – German Federation of the Organic Food Industry), the national supporting organization, and NürnbergMesse. The core themes will be addressed at events like the opening of the fair and the Media Day, but are the main focus of attention in the congress programme.

The foundation for organic agriculture – Organic 1.0 – was laid by organic pioneers from a variety of disciplines. In recent decades – Organic 2.0 – the industry further developed organic farming into what we see today. This phase is characterized by practical implementation, marketing and the development of private labels and standards grounded in law. Certified organic agriculture exists today in 160 countries. Scientific research and knowledge management on the part of farmers have brought about substantial development in cultivation methods. The organic movement has created a large number of decentralized and independently operating institutions. Stefan Zwoll, Managing Director of BÖLW: “Organic agriculture has huge development potential worldwide. Organic is the strategic pathway to sustainable agriculture. So that we can make the most of opportunities, we now have to take another step forwards to Organic 3.0. We want to see organic even more firmly rooted in civil society, politics and business. The first thing we’ve got to do is analyse the changed conditions across the world.” Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of IFOAM: “Organic producers, traders and processors must together accept the challenge of devising concepts for the organic agriculture of the future – concepts that promote sustainability, permit growth without abandoning quality and at the same time enhance our credibility in the eyes of the customer.” With its focus on Organic 3.0, BIOFACH 2014 concentrates attention on agriculture. The players in the industry also present their activities in the context of the UN International Year of Family Farming.

Access to resources, resource efficiency and styles of nutrition

Markus Arbenz, Executive Director of IFOAM: “As early as Organic 1.0 and 2.0 the issue was how all the people in the world can feed themselves in view of the limited resources. New challenges call for new drivers of development. The players have to confront fundamental questions of resource efficiency and styles of nutrition. We are especially preoccupied with the access of farming families to land, water, seed, knowledge, capital and incomes. These are important preconditions for sustainable agriculture and the well-being of farmers, but also for securing supplies along the value chain and minimizing the risks in a world that is becoming ever more complex.“