While every five minutes the metro was bringing trade visitors from all over the world to the exhibition site and the halls were filling up, the official opening ceremony of the trade fair duo BioFach und Vivaness was being held in the early afternoon. Nuremberg’s mayor Dr. Ulrich Maly welcomed the international guests in his charming and bio-savvy manner. He described BioFach as the platform and meeting place for the whole industry that stands in opposition to genetic engineering but in favour of enjoyment and that can make a big contribution to solving the urgent problems of this world: “I sincerely hope that the organic industry can succeed in finding solutions to climate change and feeding the world.”

Together with the moderator, Klara Ahlers looked back to the early beginnings of Vivaness: “ NürnbergMesse is a great partner with green spirit that makes every effort to pursue ideas coming from the industry. Every year, I look forward to this sector’s family party here in Nuremberg.” In the ten years since Vivaness was created the market volume of natural and organic cosmetics in Germany has doubled.
 

In her speech, keynote speaker Dr. Oma Obama addressed the economic and ecological value of raw materials from countries in the south. “The soils of the north are exhausted and full of chemicals, and big corporations control what we grow by selling us, the countries in the south, the seeds. People are getting sicker and sicker, especially in the north, but the discussion about how to solve these problems is similarly taking place in the north. Her statement "soil is our most valuable raw material" met with applause. She described in concrete detail how her foundation is trying to get this message through to young people in particular. With the initiative "grow to eat" she wants to create awareness and then to move on to "grow to earn". “Precisely the young people must learn and understand why it is noble to produce their own food.” She emphasised that it is important to achieve “real trade” between the countries of the north and the countries of the south. Development aid is for her a provocation.

The Minister for Agriculture in the federal government Christian Schmidt, who attended this year in person, congratulated NürnbergMesse on the success of the double trade fair: “Yes, NürnbergMesse and the city are hosts to the most important trade fair devoted to everything to do with organic themes and products. And this has been going on since the time when it was far from clear that this trade fair would be a winner. You are pioneers in this sphere. Organic has become a cosmopolitan theme." He welcomed the theme “Organic 3.0 – Action for more organic” as a comprehensive approach that can build international bridges. He added that Europe is a significant market for organic products and for this reason it is all the more important to progress in the negotiations on the EU Organic Regulation in the way the sector wants. Schmidt said there is still some way to go, and this is what he had told Commissioner Phil Hogan. It is a question of further and clearly improving the framework conditions. The need to make society as a whole aware of the concept of organic is a question of education in particular and, for this reason, it is best in his view to start promoting it at school level.