Insights from the Ecological Future Day 2020's image ' News
Insights from the Ecological Future Day 2020

What can Sweden learn from Denmark, which is a world leader in organic? And how do we get the market players in Sweden to work together to raise organic prices EKO-september 2021? These were two of the key issues discussed during this year's edition of the Ecological Future Day.

Keynote - How Denmark became a world leader in organic

Ecological Future Day began with a lecture by Paul Holmbeck, former Political Director at Økologisk Landsförening / Organic Denmark. He talked about how organic went from being a small niche segment to becoming an obvious part of Danish food strategies and action plans. A key factor behind Denmark's success is the broad political consensus behind the added value of organic farming and the long-term investments, Paul Holmbeck pointed out. He also talked about how the National Organic Association in close partnership with the grocery trade has been able to identify product categories where there are great growth opportunities for organic to work with strategically.

Panel discussion - What can Sweden learn from Denmark's investments?

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion with five Riksdag politicians from the Environment and Agriculture Committee; Isak From (s), Maria Gardfjell (mp), Stina Larsson (c) Betty Malmberg (m) and Elin Segerlind (v). There was a consensus among politicians about continued investments in organic, even though we still lack the same broad and strong support behind organic as in Denmark. Another difference between our countries is that in politics in Denmark, organic is used as an important tool for both sustainable development and for increased profitability and employment in agriculture and in rural areas.

Round table talks - Collaboration for increased sales

In the afternoon, the focus was on how increased collaboration between producers and trade can drive sales of organic in 2021. Representatives from various food companies gathered in categories to discuss how the campaign EKO-september can be a common tool for spreading knowledge, commitment and inspiration to get more consumers to move their hand on the shelf. The talks generated several concrete ideas and proposals that we will have reason to return to in the near future.

MatLust - How do we make the workshop of the national goals for organic?

In parallel with the roundtable discussions, Projekt MatLust arranged a seminar on how the public sector can promote the goals for organic in Sweden - 30 percent organic cultivated area and 60 percent organic food in the public sector. During the seminar, representatives from different municipalities talk about how they work strategically and practically - what the keys are to success.

Summary - What do we take with us from the conference?

The key word for this year's edition of Ecological Future Day was collaboration. With increased collaboration in politics, the public sector and not least between farmers, food companies and the grocery trade, we can together accelerate the transition to a more sustainable food system.

A longer reference to the Ecological Future Day and the conference's various program items will be coming soon. In addition, we will also return with a link to a landing page where you can download the speakers' presentations.