Europe

Sustainable Foods Summit Europe: impacts, ingredients, green marketing

Europe Europe

The European edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit will take place in Amsterdam on 7-8th June 2018. The summit comprises four conference sessions.

E-commerce and natural cosmetics: challenge and opportunity

Europe Europe

Ramon Stroink is Managing Director of the natural and organic cosmetics division at Weleda for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He is also on the advisory board of Vivaness and the German industry association for cosmetics, detergents and cleaners IKW. We talked to him about the development of the natural and organic cosmetics market in the German-speaking area and the growing challenge of digitization and its opportunities.

GMO: EU General Court strengthens the precautionary principle

Europe Europe

Last week the General Court of the European Union confirmed the right of civil society organisations to submit legal cases concerning the health risks of genetically engineered plants.

EU: constitution of the EP Special Committee “PEST”

Europe Europe

The newly formed "PEST" special committee of the European Parliament is to examine the scandalous glyphosate risk assessment and the European pesticide approval system as a whole over the next six months.

OPTA: How to achieve 100% organic until 2050?

Europe Europe

The Organic Processing and Trade Association Europe (OPTA) discussed at Biofach about the question how a complete transformation of food and farming towards the organic standards can be achieved in the coming decades.

BASF in exclusive talks with Bayer to acquire vegetable seeds business

Europe Europe

The German based chemical corporation BASF is in exclusive talks to acquire Bayer’s entire vegetable seeds business, operating under the global trademark Nunhems^®. Bayer intends to divest this business in the context of its planned acquisition of Monsanto.

Ukraine at BioFach: combining innovations and traditions

Europe Europe

There is an urgent need to change the attitude to Ukraine as a raw material zone and create the image of Ukraine as a country which produces quality innovative products. The Ukraine Pavilion contributes to that goal.

Genome editing: Legal expert criticises opinion of Attorney General of the EuCJ

Europe Europe

Breeding: Organic right from the start

Europe Europe

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Public benefits of organic farming need formal recognition

Europe Europe

The public benefits offered to the UK by organic agriculture need to be properly recognised and rewarded by government post-Brexit, according to leading organic certifier OF&G.

Vivaness: German natural cosmetics market by far the biggest in Europe

Europe Europe

More and more consumers are purchasing natural cosmetics. Over the last two years their number has increased by 1.2 million. The winners benefiting from this trend continue to be the drugstores; the losers include the specialist trade. The turnover of natural cosmetics grew by around 1.2 billion euros. As well as providing the latest market data, Vivaness presented many product innovations on the 275 stands in Hall 7A, on the joint German Newcomers Stand and in the Breeze exhibition area. In our article you find details on market data, trends and many photos.

Mediterranean countries with almost 7 million ha organic area

Europe Europe

The Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network (MOAN) collects and disseminates data on the organic sector in the Mediterranean region.

European organic market grows to over 33 billion euros

Europe Europe

The European Union is the world's second largest single market for organic products after the United States.In 2016, organic retail sales in Europe rose by 11.4 percent to 33.5 billion euros, while organic sales in the EU member states significantly exceeded the 30 billion euro mark and reached 30.7 billion euros. The figures were traditionally compiled by the Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) and partners and presented at the Biofach.

Dutch vegan start up Charly´s All is Fair

Europe Europe

The Dutch start up entrepreneur Charlotte zum Vörde Sive Vörding with her brand Charly´s All is Fair presented her ideas and the company at the IFOAM EU Procssing Congress in Zwolle, Netherlands.

Arla Foods on acquisition tour

Europe Europe

Arla Foods the world’s largest producer of organic dairy productswill acquire Yeo Valley Dairies Limited, UK and announced new partnership with Britain’s leading organic dairy brand.

Bayer-Monsanto: authorities are still investigating

Europe Europe

Bayer AG submitted "extensive commitments" to the European Commission to approve the acquisition of the US seed giant Monsanto, reports  the German GMO information service Infodienst Gentechnik.

Digitization: new sales concepts needed

Europe Europe

The IFOAM Congress in the Netherlands discussed about digitization and the future of the organic sector. The German Organic Entrepreneurs Association AÖL anticipates major transformation processes in retail.

Ukrainian National Pavilion at BioFach

Europe Europe

In the organic sector of Ukraine one can observe qualitative transformations, in particular, the number of companies which offer processed products is growing. The Ukrainian National Pavilion will be presented at BIOFACH for the 5th time.

Organic farming boom in Bulgaria and Croatia

Europe Europe

According to official statistcs Bulgaria and Croatia have seen the highest rate of expansion in their organic farming sectors in the whole of the EU in recent years.

EU Organic Regulation: news, challenges and chances

Europe Europe

After endless discussions and lobby work of organic associations and stakeholders the new EU Organic Regulation is now a fact and has reached the second phase. On this stage, in a common process, the responsible EU-institution and organic sector representatives adapt details of the regulation and inconsistencies in order to makes the new rules beneficial for the value chain and for consumers. A panel at the IFOAOM EU Processing Conference discussed challenges and opportunities together with the Nicolas Verlet, new Head of the Organic Unit of DG Agri, EU Commission. Watch the video.

42nd Innatex: focus on fair shoes

Europe Europe

The 42nd Innatex in Hofheim-Wallau was focused on the shoe industry. The program of the green fashion fair was rounded by many lectures concerning the main topic as well as a blogger meeting.

SOLMACC: new brochure and BioFach seminar

Europe Europe

Some wider benefits such as greater resilience to water stress or higher water holding capacity of the soil are not always easily noticed in farmers' daily work, however they can be observed long-term. In 2017, many SOLMACC farmers had seen a good harvest compared to their previous yields, but also compared to other farms in their region.

EU organic law: dispute resolution directly at the European Court of Justice

Europe Europe

The Luxembourg Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) shall facilitate direct action for annulment in Luxembourg for companies affected by implementing regulations and delegated regulations in any way whatsoever.

5th Organic Processing Conference: opportunities for an organic future

Europe Europe

From 16th to 17th of January 2018, international stakeholders from the organic sector gathered at the 5^th Organic Processing Conference (OPC) in Zwolle, Netherlands, to discuss digital opportunities for organic processors. Organized by IFOAM EU and Bionext, the conference guided the participants through a varied program offering different possibilities and ideas on how to improve organics and how cope with problems such as the conventionalization of the organic market by digitalization. Watch the video.

OK-Net EcoFeed launched

Europe Europe

A new project – OK-Net EcoFeed – aimed at helping organic pig and poultry farmers in achieving the goal of 100% use of organic and regional feed was launched by partners from many European countries last week.