„Organic Marketing Forum“ bursted at the seams

“Many new ideas and contacts” and “Poland may play a key role in the European organic market in the future” are the main conclusions stated by the participants of the Organic Marketing Forum.

The Organic Marketing Forum is an international conference on processing, handling and marketing of organic products, which took place from May the 25th till the 26th 2006 in Warsaw. Almost 150 participants from 11 countries came to this first international conference on organic marketing with special focus on Central and Eastern Europe.

„The popularity of this event exceeded all our expectations” said Mr. Bernhard Jansen, managing director of the organising institution EkoConnect- International Centre for International Centre for Organic Agriculture of Central and Eastern Europe e.V. “The forum with 150 participants was fully booked to the last seat. Further 50 applications received, could not be accepted because of the limited capacity of the venue. On the other hand, the spatial narrowness was indeed very helpful for the many talks and the overall atmosphere of the conference. Participants, asked for their feedback, mentioned the good spirit in particular.”

Especially presentations regarding the prospects of the organic retail trade in Eastern and Western Europe, strategies of the conventional food trade for going organic and troubleshooting for young organic processing companies were greeted with big interest.
Examples like the German organic wholesaling structure „Die Regionalen“, in which 13 leading German organic wholesalers co-operate in supplying organic shops with products and marketing tools, as well as the Czech-Austrian co-operation to support the organic retail trade were considered as intresting. 19 expert presentations and reports from organic companies were presented at the conference all together. 23 companies showed their products and services during the forum. After the conference participants used the chance to join an excursion to three organic shops in Warszaw.

The Organic Marketing Forum took place under the patronage of the Polish Minister for agriculture and rural development. The forum was organised by EkoConnect in co-operation with the Polish organic farmers association Ekoland, the Polish state advisory centre for agriculture and the Organic Retailers Association. For further information and pictures also see: www.ekoconnect.de/en_warschau.html .

In 2005 the total number of organic farms in Poland has risen from 3.760 to 7.183. The organically managed area increased from 82.730 ha to 167.740 ha. Another 99 organic processors and handlers are registered and there are about 20 wholesalers who mainly distribute organic products.