Setting a Model for the Entire Sector

Fu Bingbingg

BIOFACH and VIVANESS 2023 returned to their February slot with an impressive first in-person show following the one-off Summer Edition in 2022. During the four-day event from 14 to 17 February 2023， they attracted almost 36，000 trade visitors from 135 countries. ‘Strong’ and ‘confident’ describe the start to the year’s international events for the organic foodstuffs and natural and organic personal care sector. The focus was on variety， networking and professional interaction， and the highly topical Congress theme of“Organic. Food Sovereignty. True Prices”. The organic sector and the combined trade fair event proved crisisresistant， as they demonstrated with revenues of €15.3 billion for the German organic market in 2022 （B？LW） and €125 billion globally in 2021 （IFOAM/FiBL）， in addition to an impressive total of 2，765 exhibitors from 95 countries at BIOFACH and VIVANESS 2023. Tina Andres， Chair of the Bund ？kologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft （German Federation of the Organic Food Industry， B？LW）： “We are caught between a paradigm shift and a polycrisis， and we need to provide the right answers now to deal with the crises affecting energy， the climate and biodiversity. Organics offers direct， functional and trailblazing answers to achieve a social and environmental transformation， and thus an agricultural and food industry that is suitable for the coming generations without overstretching the planet’s resources. With its slogan Paving the Path， BIOFACH is showing the way as the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Organic Food. It sets the tone and serves as an anchor and a model for the entire sector. It is a place for innovative， committed business operators and visionaries to network， with a clear focus on ‘30 percent organic’by 2030， and using positive， powerful examples to illustrate how we can shape the future differently.”Petra Wolf， Member of the Executive Board， NürnbergMesse： “BIOFACH and VIVANESS are not only back in their February slot but also impressively demonstrated their role as an international sector gathering and a launch pad for the year’s activities during the past four days. The industry players here in Nuremberg showed themselves to be full of strength and strategies for the future. The positive atmosphere that was palpable in the exhibition halls was deeply moving and filled me with joy at a personal level. It is remarkable how rich， inspiring， solution-focused and forward-looking this sector is. Organic is the future！”

The BIOFACH and VIVANESS Congress， with a total of 120 professionally polished individual sessions and high-calibre participants， attracted almost 8，000 delegates and once again proved to be a forward-looking forum for the sector. In addition to the keynote theme of “Organic. Food Sovereignty. True Prices”， with up to 125 interested listeners and participants in the individual sessions， the focus was also on questions of current market developments and trends， as well as the political and legal framework. The session on the international market situation， “Global Organic Market Overview”， as part of the BIOFACH Forum， drew the highest attendance in 2023 with 242 participants.

Around one in four of the participants in BIOFACH and VIVANESS 2023 also made use of the services offered by the digital event platform， most of them as hybrid participants. They attended in person， but also used the platform as a digital add-on before and during the combined trade fair. The Congress content will continue to be available after the event. BIOFACH and VIVANESS 2024， the next event in the series， will take place at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 13 to 16 February 2024.