Planeta Organico
Posted - September 1, 2006
Planeta Organico:
From Virtual Promoter to Active Player
By Adriana Michael - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
Planeta Organico, a website developed in 2000 by the marketing and design agency 2A2 in Rio de Janeiro, has become a main connector of Brasil’s burgeoning organic sector and the rest of the world.
Navigation throughout the web is free of charge and receives visitors from Brasil and abroad. It offers opportunity to learn about producers, certification agents and traders, events, restaurants and publications related to the organic sector.
“The idea of developing the website came out when we noticed that there was no internet address that covered the whole organic supply chain in Brazil. We did it in Portuguese and English and the number of visitors has been increasing to reach 5,000 per day in 2005″, says executive director Maria Beatriz Bley Martins Costa.
The website was considered such a useful resource that Messe Nurnberg approached Planeta to help promote BioFach in Brasil and the region.
In 2002, Planeta Organico gave 40 seminars in different Brasilian cities. The seminars also focused on the opportunities and challenges of the Brazilian organic sector. The seminars offer a platform for information exchange, she pointed out, explaining that a lack of information about market opportunities is one of the region’s major weaknesses. “As representatives of Nuernberg Global Fairs we continued the seminars in 2004 and 2005 and mapping the sector with assistance of organic experts, the first BioFach America Latina was created in 2003. After three editions in Rio de Janeiro the event is moving to Sao Paulo to run side by side with Expo Sustentat, event for initiatives and projects supporting responsible consumption and sustainable development. Planeta Organico is also cooperating with the State of Parana and the national project Organics Brasil”.
With the organic regulation 10.831/03, the sector in Brasil will really take off, says Maria Beatriz.
Biofach America Latina and Expo Sustentat 2006 will take place October 25-27 at the Transamerica Expo Center in S
Mexican Coffee
Posted - September 1, 2006
Mexican Organic Coffee Growers:
Small Producers Go Big Time
By Tanja Goedecke - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
What is the world’s second biggest commodity? Coffee. What is the world’s largest producer of organically grown coffee? Mexico - with 147,000 ha under organic cultivation. Mexico is a big producer with almost wholly small producers: small farms with less than five ha. Three million Mexicans depend of the coffee trade. Most are in the far south, many in Oaxaca. Most live in dire poverty.
But there are three ways to make things better: cooperatives, organics and fair trade. In 1990, some small-scale coffee growers organized themselves into production communities so circumvent middlemen, so getting better prices. Today 110 of these associations have 6,600 grower-members.
At the same time, Germany’s Naturland and the US-based DANA association, spread the word to small growers about organic farming, organic certification and finding export partners in the US and Europe. Today, Naturland Association has 60 members in Mexico with 15,000 small holders producing organic certified coffee. Almost all are small grower associations - only five own larger plantations.
One organic producer doing moderately well is Jesus Galguera Gomez. In 1988-89, Naturland certified Galguera Gomez, who owns two plantations of about 100 ha each. But exporting is perilous. Recently, his biggest importer in Europe switched to FairTrade certified coffee only. But FairTrade told Galguera Gomez that his plantations were too big to get their certification. Meanwhile, mainstream European importers will only accept bigger crops of unroasted beans larger than those he can produce. Galguera Gomez’s plantations, too big and too small, lead him to roast beans for the local market. He can now sell 70% of his coffee to chain stores like Pitico in Oaxaca. And he already has his eyes on the export market for roasted beans.
Some cooperatives have done well too. In the early 1990s, small-scale Oaxaca coffee growers founded the Yeni Navan cooperative. It now has 1100 small-scale farming members. Naturland and FairTrade certified them. This provides the farmers with a secure incomes as the FairTrade partners guarantee to buy all of the coffee they produce at $1.41 US. In good years, the cooperative spends a peso (about $0.11 US) for each pound of coffee on improving transport, streets and warehouses. The cooperative produces about 500 tonnes a year, selling 85% to Europe and roasting 15% for the local market.
But organic producers in Oaxaca offer more than organic coffee. Naturland’s Peter Granz, instructs Oaxaca’s farmers in organic growing and exporting. Says Ganz, use the right coffee plants and the right by-vegetation; shade-trees, for example, can protect the plantation from insect pests. What works for coffee plantations works for other organic crops: vegetables, fruit, herbs, and producing honey and Mezcal. Cooperatives, fair trade and organics are bearing fruit in Oaxaca.
Maca Medicine
Posted - September 1, 2006
A Reliable Supplement: Maca
O.W.N. News Network - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
Maca has been used as a folk medicine for centuries to enhance physical performance and endurance in the physically demanding environment of high altitudes. It has also been taken for the enhancement of fertility and sexual behavior in men and women, as a remedy for menopausal symptoms, as an antidepressant and to help the healing of wounds.
“The flavor is strong and bitter. As a food, you would need to develop a taste for it, the same as with coffee”, says John Harrison, managing director of Ecotrends Ecologics, Canadian distributor of natural healthcare products. “Maca has been around for centuries. In North America and Europe it has been introduced in capsules”.
Mr. Harrison explains that to enter the market with maca and any other natural supplements there is need for expensive research and trials, before you obtain the NPN (New Product Number). “Strict regulations are important to increase the credibility of real natural health products, but trials following the drug model with a synthetic substance do not really match the conditions of a natural product. It is important to note that super natural foods may not have the expected effect if, in the processing or extraction, the value of the active ingredients present in the original food is lost.”
There are two methods to process maca, but only the drying process yielding a non-gelatinized substance conserving undisturbed its vital nutrients and other elements ensures the best results, notes Dr. Luis J
Japan and China
Posted - September 1, 2006
Organic Asia Awakes
By Lucia Lorente - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
Asia now has 4.1 million hectares growing organic crops. China leads as producer; Japan, as consumer. Last year, China ranked the world’s second in organic farmland, with 3.5 million hectares says the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
Asia is certainly attracting the fairs. BioFach Japan takes place in September and the BioFach First China Conference in December. This past spring, Organic Natural Products came to Shanghai.
The Japanese consume more organic food than any other country in Asia. The Japanese organic market is estimated at USD 400 million. They are well educated and increasingly aware of food safety issues. Japan’s recent food scandals have made demand soar. Japanese now clamour for eco-friendly products.
Meanwhile China’s market has some problems. Eva Sternfeld, director of CESDRRC (China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center), says that most Chinese don’t know what organic food is, nor do they know where to buy it. Farmers don’t know how to market it. Few retailers offer it. Finally, most farmers can’t finance conversion to organic farming, nor its risks.
To worsen matters, many Chinese confuse organic food with green food. China’s agricultural ministry started the green food program to limit fertilizer and pesticide use. Yet green food is not organic. And green food grows on state-owned farms, while organics, grown in village cooperatives and private farms, go without government help. Until recently, the Ministry’s stance was to see organic production as a frill. So organic farming takes a back seat.
Despite all, China is poised to do well as consumer and producer.
“Soybeans, cotton, beans and grains, including rice, are products in high demand “, says Edgardo Koestinger, European Representative of OCIA International, a certification agency which has been working in China for the last 12 years.
Says Sternfeld, once people, farmers and retailers know more about organic foods, a “fast and huge development” will come. Indeed, Chinese news has recently spoken out against dangerous pesticide and nitrate levels in foods. The Chinese are cautious now of what they eat. In 2003, SEPA’s Organic Food Development Center, with the German Technical Cooperation group (GTZ), developed China’s first organic certification standards. IFOAM has since recognized them. Recently, three million hectares of Chinese farmland were certified as organic - six percent of the world’s total.
If in Japan organics are a market in vogue, China’s market will probably remain for some time a specialty market. An old Chinese maxim declares happiness is a full stomach - all the rest is luxury. But more and more Chinese, as the Japanese, look to safety, luxury and better food.
Sustainable Retail
Posted - September 1, 2006
Retail of the Future: Sustainable
O.W.N. News Network - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
Intelligent Nutrients
Conserving Water
Posted - September 1, 2006
Water Friendly Farming: the Next Big Wave
By Mauricio Salamanca, PhD - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
Organic farming is here to stay - so long as careful attention is paid to water use.
Prudent use of water is the key to continuing organic farming with success.
It would be hard to argue that water is the farming input that is becoming scarce at the greatest rate. It is also becoming contaminated by conventional farming practices at an outrageous cost of USD$15 per drinking customer per year.
Water constitutes between 50% to 95% of the fresh weight of all agricultural products. Regardless of the planting method, plants transpire back to the environment up to 99% of the water they take up through the roots during their growing cycle. Well farmed soil contains around 50% of water. Most farmers and irrigation experts recognize the importance of balancing oxygen and water for optimal yields. Plants need water in order to move nutrients and sugars.
Sustaining fruitful agriculture is much more related to how well we manage water use than pest controls, fertilizer or even soil. The UK has already started an initiative called Water Friendly Farming that the entire world should follow. It relates to all kinds of farming and it certainly matters to organic farmers. More so, organic farmers should be leaders in adopting these practices in order to make significant long-term contributions to sustainability.
Likewise, governments need to vigorously promote the benefits of Water Friendly Farming to consumers so that it can take hold on a large scale. Increased awareness of Water Friendly Farming by consumers could make the practice profitable and thus attractive to private and corporate investors.
Super Foods
Posted - September 1, 2006
As Organic Taste Evolves, Suppliers Innovate
By Adriana Michael - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
When it comes to food, consumers want diversity, quality and the adventure of experiencing new tastes - but they often have little time to cook. From this dynamic a trend has emerged: consumers are willing to spend on foods that offer health, convenience, authenticity and sustainability.
A few years ago, it was a novel experience to find organic food in the supermarket. No longer. Today, organic customers expect to find organic potatoes, carrots and tomatoes in supermarkets. They expect to be able to prepare sushi, Thai and Indian foods from organic products. And their tastes continue to evolve. So what’s next?
Savvy suppliers are introducing innovative products to meet organic consumers’ ever-growing expectations. These suppliers know that they must broaden the range of ethnic, specialty and natural super foods.
A great variety of new products made their debut at the trade fairs this season, including exotic fruits rich in antioxidants, empanadas, energy bars with quinoa, acerola, acai and maca and non-carbonated drinks of yerba mate and pomegranate.
With super natural foods suppliers are finding ways to continually spice up and energize the organic consumer’s evolving menu. “Buyers from Loblaws (Canada’s largest supermarket chain) state that their sales growth is coming mainly from the ethnic and kosher departments”, says Donna Wood managing director of Ethnic & Specialty Food Expo, a new fair from the Organic Trade Association, to debut this September 10-11 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, near Toronto. The Specialty/Ethnic foods segment has grown almost twice as fast as the overall food industry, and is expected to continue to grow at 12 percent annually during the coming five years.
Super Natural Foods
Natural foods, with their recognized healthy properties, offer a great opportunity to enter both the ethnic food and the natural supplements sector. This is the case with quinoa, a unique seed native of the Andes and staple food of the Ancient Incas. “We have seen more interest for gluten-free products and quinoa offers great possibilities for the Scandinavian market”, says importer and distributor Jorn Ussing Larsen of Aurion in Denmark. ” Bolivia has quinoa of good quality. We are currently importing an average of three tons per month from the Andean Valley”.
Quinoa is growing in popularity as dried seed for mueslis, porridge, risottos, energy bars and flour for gluten-free baked goods. Quinoa has even knocked at the door of Coca Cola in Japan. This Spring, the company re-launched its non- carbonated drink Sokenbicha, introducing quinoa as one of the twelve ingredients in the blend, along with. sprouted brown rice, young barley leaves, Angelica keiskei, and quinoa
“Perceiving the necessity of responding to consumer needs that have been changing in recent years and also to win over new consumers of the product, four new ingredients, creating a refreshing easy-to-drink blend.”
“We are really pleased to start reaching the large companies with our quinoa. We need more people to learn about it”, says Miguel Choque Llanos, manager of ANAPQUI, the national association of quinoa producers from Bolivia who coordinated this shipment of quinoa to Japan.
Yerba mate, known to promote natural health benefits such as detoxifying the body, strengthening the immune system, and reducing blood pressure has also been introduced this year in a new version of the tea-like beverage from South America by Canadian firm Sol Mate. The company claims the development of the world’s first certified organic, sparkling yerba mate beverage that delivers energy, health and refreshing great taste. It was launched at the Expo West and All Things Organic in a unique glass package with an eye-catching design.
Super Fruits
Following the demand for all berries, especially blueberries, exotic fruits are now entering the market. Great interest is shown especially in those known for their high level of antioxidants, such as pomegranate, noni and mangosteen. Research firm Innova Market Insights reports that there were over 100 product introductions containing pomegranate over the year. At All Things Organic, a constant crowd surrounded the stand of Fruttzo’s, a US-based firm with the first organic, refrigerated pomegranate drink. The company has also introduced an organic juice of acai, a Brasilian berry from the Amazon. It is not only tropical fruits that are making the news- in Germany, juices and other products derived from the yellow fruits of the European shrub sallow thorn are featured at organic and specialty stores and at tourist shops.
Alamoda
In an effort to increase the visibility of Andalusian organic olive oil, CAAE and the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers Creadores de moda de Espana have launched the project “alamoda”. Each designer, inspired by the Andalusian landscape, developed a label for one of the 13 bottles of a collection of the best organic olive oils from the region. A great project to enhance both food and fashion, two of Spain’s strongest sectors.
Colombian Tour
Posted - September 1, 2006
Discover Organic Colombia
By Luc
Celebrity Beauty
Posted - September 1, 2006
How Celebrities Discover the Beauty of Nature
By Adriana Michael - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
In an age where getting Botox injections is almost as common as taking the family dog for a walk, there remains an assured population of prestigious actresses who won’t use any synthetic products to make themselves “beautiful.”
Silver screen goddesses, such as Susan Sarandon, Alicia Silverstone and Rene
BioBrasil Report
Posted - September 1, 2006
Consumers Enjoy BioBrasil
By Wolfgang Dannebaum - as printed in O.W.N. Fall 2006
BioBrasil, the first international fair for organic products in Latin America to open its doors to professionals and end consumers, completed its second edition April 20-23.
The event drew 170 exhibitors and according to show organizer Francal Feiras 18,700 visitors from all Brasilian states attended, including government entities, retailers - such as supermarkets, hotels, resorts, drugstores - physicians and nutritionists and buyers from twelve countries. On the weekend, BioBrasil opened to the public to offer direct contact between producers, processors, traders and end consumers. The public-access aspect of the exhibition is meant to help retailers learn about their customers and to increase awareness of the organic movement at mainstream level.
BioBrasil is promoted by the Brasilian Association of Organic Producers Brasil Bio, created in February 2004 to speed development of an infrastructure - of private and public organizations - that would stimulate Brasil’s organic export trade. Ninety percent of organic producers in Brasil are small or medium enterprises. Thus BioBrasil helps expose end consumers to nation’s organic producers. BioBrasil 2007 is scheduled for May 3-6 at the Ibirapuera Exhibition Hall in S
