APS16 Programme

The seminar programme at this year’s APS will kick off in style with a panel hosted by Perishable Pundit Jim Prevor. He will be joined by The Dutch Minister of Agriculture Martijn van Dam, Sijas Akkerman formerly of NGO Natuur & Milieu (Nature and Environment) and now working as a consultant to increase fresh produce consumption, Shawn Harris, CEO of Nature’s Pride, Dick Spezzano, a US consultant formerly vice president of produce and floral for The Vons Companies, and Herman Peppelenbos of Wageningen UR. The focus of the session will be on consumption, and specifically how to raise the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables across Holland, and each of the participants will be asked to give their perspective on what both consumers and the industry could do to improve the health of the nation.

Elsbeth Roelofs is senior programme manager at International for Corporate Social Responsibility in the chemical Sector at CSR Netherlands. She is currently leading a three-year (2015-17) programme for sustainable development of the chemical industry in Holland and strengthening relations of the chemical sector with developing countries and emerging economies. With 10 frontrunner companies, CSR has formed a coalition to develop projects to achieve the objectives of the programme. The companies are CRODA, Stahl, Dishman Netherlands, Tanatex Chemicals,Baril Coatings, Spectro, Nett Energy, C. Kornuyt BV, Ecotender Saneral, NTA Solutions. Four cornerstone projects are already developed, one of which was the foundaing of a Community of Practice on Transparancy in the Value Chain on sustainability issues. Elsbeth will explain the project and its objectives, with particular reference to groundbreaking work already being carried out with the Costa Rican pineapple industry to increase the sustainability of the production, recycling and distribution processes.

It is widely recognised that there is a skills gap developing in Dutch produce, as there is elsewhere in Europe, in part because the raging workforce in this industry has failed to engage fully with the relevant academic institutions in the country. Marnix Wolters, lecturer food and international agribusiness at HAS, will outline the varied ways in which his university already works with the food business and outline the ways and means in which the industry can get more involved in shaping not only its own destiny, but also the lives and careers of the next generation of graduates.

Sharon Janmaat, Project Manager, Regional Economic Development, Food – has 15 years of experience working for the city of Rotterdam in the economic domain. She is currently dedicated to increasing the business of the Green sector generally, and the food cluster specifically, based on a large private network throughout the whole food chain in the Rotterdam region. Her specific areas of expertise are knowledge development and collective innovation, area development, long chains and multimodal logistics, international marketing, education and employability; all in food. Sharon is currently working on the implementation of several collective innovations in area development for the purpose of globally profiling the Netherlands in the perspective of innovation and transition towards new business models in food in the transition to a next economy.

Gerjan Snippe set up and runs one of the biggest growing operations of organic vegetables in Holland. But for him, organics is not simply an ideal – he approached the business from a commercial angle first and foremost and with a well structured, coherent strategy has turned his company Bio Brass into one of the most trusted supply chain partners in the sector. Gerjan recently teamed up with the fast-expanding Love Beets brand and has launched BEETZ in Europe. He has also just completed a Nuffield Scholarship – in which he travelled the world to visit different farm models and explore how they are changing the way we farm, in order to feed a global population expected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050. In his presentation, he will touch on all of these areas and give his unique perspective on how an innovative supply chain approach can be key to feed the world.

Recognising the importance of the next wave of fresh produce consumers, leading fruit importer Cool Fresh has undertaken a unique research project with Dutch students to analyse how best to communicate with the so-called Generation Z. Mathieu Hirdes, a commercial economics student at Avans University, has headed the project and he will present some of the key points that have come out of focus groups and other research work carried out with hundreds of 14-21 year olds. Cool Fresh’s Nic Jooste will then explain how his business intends to use the findings to help its customers improve their communication with the next group of economically active shoppers.

Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research explores and develops advanced technologies for objective, automated, fast and non-destructive quality control of fruits, vegetables and other crops together with industrial partners. The key goal of the research project Quality Phenomics is to develop new methods to measure quality and predict quality deterioration of vegetable and fruit products. Rick van de Zedde, a senior researcher/ business developer for Computer Vision at the Wageningen Food & Biobased Research will explain the vision of the project, which is a close collaboration between three different fields of expertise within Wageningen UR and several plant-breeding companies, growers, fresh-produce processors and technology providers.

The amount of good food that is wasted in Holland adds up to billions of euros per year and the biggest culprit is the final consumer. Roughly half of all of the food wastage each year happens in people’s homes, which means of course that the other half is wasted upstream somewhere along the supply chain. Joost Snels, Senior Scientist Supply Chain Management, Wageningen University & Research argues that this is not just a waste of money, but also a waste of the valuable resources that were used producing and transporting the food. Joost says that strategies that can have a real impact on minimising food waste often transcend the links in the chain and are there to be challenged. But research at Wageningen UR shows that reductions of 40-50% are not only possible, they are also well within reach.

In many developing countries, a lot of time and effort is devoted to the production process, in order to increase yields. However, the post-harvest part of the supply chain through to the consumer is somehow forgotten, often leading to loss of product through a deterioration in quality. Peter Ravensbergen, programme manager, Food Security, at Wageningen UR, will explain why he wants to see more investment in quality-driven agrologistics, and highlight the tools Wageningen Research has developed to support governments and companies in the design and implementation of supply chain management strategies. The approach combines technology, (chain) organisation and knowledge development.

Herman Peppelenbos, Programme Manager Customised Food, Wageningen University & Research, specialising in consumer-driven product development, with a strong focus on healthy and sustainable food. As in many counties, there is little correlation in Holland between the awareness that eating fruit and vegetables is healthy and actual consumption of the products this industry produces. Herman believes that with a new approach this problem can be solved. The key challenge, he argues, is to increase the availability of convenient and attractive products at non-traditional eating moments and at out-of-home locations. Recent studies have showed the potential of this approach and Herman encourages the produce industry to see low consumption as a big opportunity, rather than a problem.

An eminent surgeon who is often outspoken in the Dutch media, Dr Joost van der Sijp will give his views on the potential role of nutrition in optimising the treatment value of the time that patients spend in hospitals, as well as its ongoing contribution to combatting post-surgical complications. Specifically, he will address the role of fresh produce. He will explain the medical buyers’ landscape, and delve deeper into the role of the medical and pharmaceutical industries, the government, health care insurers and last but not least, the patient himself or herself.

One of the many aspects of consolidation occurring in the retail supermarket industry is a lack of differentiation among competitors. This session will examine that premise and offer thoughts on how companies can stand out. For many years, Bruce Peterson was the man who headed up efforts to differentiate Wal-Mart’s fresh produce offer from its competition in the US market. He is now a consultant and speaks as one of the leading minds in the global retail industry. Bruce will deliver a fascinating and thought-provoking session and encourage active engagement from the audience

Dutch startup BloomPost is taking the (online) retail market by storm by making it possible for retailers to sell and distribute fresh flowers without the use of water or cooling. Entrepreneur and BloomPost founder Dave van Stijn, who describes himself as a man on a mission, will provide a close insight into his success to date, the role of modified atmosphere packaging in that and provide business cases for both established and novice (flower) retailers and how they see the technology changing the way flowers and other fresh produce will be distributed in the near future. Dave’s award-winning technology has already made him a sparring partner for many key retailers worldwide keen on optimising their home delivery services.

Agriculture can be productive and profitable for farmers and workers, an important engine of economic and community development, and an integral part of sustainable and resilient rural landscapes. The jointly-managed Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN)/Rainforest Alliance certification system supports this change and Marcel Clement, director, market transformation, EMEA & Japan, Rainforest Alliance, will discuss the latest updates made to the certification standard, and explain how the 2017 SAN Standard is designed to enable more producers to embark and then continually progress on their journey toward sustainable farming. He will also delve into what key issues the SAN standard tackles and what this means for businesses and farmers who want to help to tackle these issues.

Sergio Borquez will outline how his family’s company is working with like-minded organisations and the end consumer to ensure that every step of the value-chain has CSR at its core. Through a case study on a water project being carried out in conjunction with Wholefoods Market and Fairtrade USA, Sergio will illustrate that getting the process consistently right for just one product and one retailer can provide real sustainability and potentially save thousands of lives.

Dr John Stanton, professor and chairman of the Food Marketing Department at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia will deliver a session that explores ways in which the produce industry can enhance its promotional output. While big companies selling consumer products have utilised these analytical techniques, the produce and fresh food industry has lagged behind in applying them. Dr Stanton will look at the advantages of promotional optimisation and then demonstrate how these methods can be applied to the produce industry.

In Holland the Sustainabililty Initiative Fruits & Vegetables (the SIFAV) has been signed by big Dutch importers and the main supermarkets. They have agreed that by 2020, all imports of fresh fruits and vegetables to Holland should be 100% sustainable. Furthermore, imports/exports of organic fruits and vegetables are increasing, and social certificates guaranteeing healthy and honest working conditions are more and more required. Because of these tendencies in the market, and Peru being a big exporter of several varieties of organic fruits and vegetables, the Trade Commission of Peru has organised this Panel Debate to see where we are, and what is being done with respect to “sustainabililty in the fresh produce sector” in Peru and Holland.

The panel will include Julian Arnts, customer relations manager of Dutch company AGROFAIR (an established importer of organic and fairtrade bananas from Peru), and Peter Verbaas, deputy director of the Fruittrade Association Netherlands. They will discuss from their perspectives what is going on in the sector, what problems exist with respect to sustainability, and how companies can and do tackle these problems. The Panel Debate will be moderated by Kathy Hammond, editor of ProduceBusinessUK.com, organiser of the Amsterdam Produce Show.