Organic Food Finland blog

Kiantama Ltd got the ISO 22000 certificate

2009-03-24T10:12:00.004+02:00

Kiantama Ltd. got the ISO 22000 food safety management system certification as a first berry ingredient supplier in Finland

Kiantama Ltd. has been given a certification of ISO 22000 food safety management system as a first berry ingredient supplier in Finland. Long-term work with quality development culminated to approval of food safety management system by an international certification
body.

Kiantama Ltd. is located in Suomussalmi, northern Kainuu. The company is specialized in processing of wild berries. The wide berry product range for industrial use comprises among other things juice concentrates, IQF berries, purées, dried berries and different berry powders. Kiantama Ltd. produces also retail products under Biokia® trademark. This product group comprises sugar infused and dried berries as well as chocolate covered berries.

Certificate of quality is a proof of a company, which is committed to continuous improvement. Certificate of quality is also beneficial especially in export business, as more than 50 % of Kiantama’s turnover consists of export.

ISO 22000 is a modern operation controlling system concentrating on food safety. The purpose of it is to control food safety and methodically develop the whole company’s operation. When taking into use of the system, education was given both to thepersonnel and interest groups and subcontractors. Bureau Veritas Certification was responsible of auditing and granting of the certification.

Bureau Veritas Certification operates worldwide and it is also the most known certification body. In Finland, it has operated with certification since 1992. The company was accredited as a first certification body in the world to grant certifications according ISO 22000 food safety management system.

More information:
Managing Director Vernu Vasunta, Tel. +358 20 44 22 53 or email: vernu.vasunta@kiantama.fi

Certification Manager Matti Hukari, Tel. 040 753 5030 or email matti.hukari@fi.bureauveritas.com

Internet:
www.kiantama.fi
www.biokia.fi
www.bureauveritas.fi

19% growth in the Finnish organic market in 2008

2009-03-12T10:13:00.003+02:00

The market for organic food in Finland experienced slow growth for several years but in 2007 it grew by 10% and the last figures from Nielsen show that in 2008 the market grew by a healthy 19%. The biggest growth was in the milk and meat sectors where growth was more than 40%. By market share the most popular products are still vegetable oils and eggs. The market is estimated to be 74 M€, so it lags far behind Denmark and Sweden. The target in the Organic Action Plan is to reach 6% by 2015. That would be 6 times more than 2008 but still less than where Denmark already is.

Research on New Nordic Diet looks to healthy eating, locally

2009-03-06T15:42:00.002+02:00

This article is worth reading. I met Claus Meyer briefly at BioFach and just talking with him - mainly listening to him talk - was proof enough that this guy has inspring ideas about food in general and especially Nordic Food.

Satisfied with BioFach

2009-02-23T22:42:00.003+02:00

BioFach 2009 is over and most of us are already back home. Now starts the hard work of transforming all the nice meetings and discussions into business. Well - not all, but at least some. In advance myself - and I am sure many others - were wondering how the economic downturn would effect the outcome. Will there be as many people visiting as last year? Probably there would not be any growth. During the show the commonest sentiment seemed to be - and I shared it - that there were slightly less visitors than last year but the quality of contact was good. Thursday and Friday were so busy that I was totally stuck on the stand. To me it seemed that there was less people from Asia and probably also from North America. The information given by BioFach pretty much confirms this. According to their press release the number of visitors was roughly 46.000 so pretty much the same as 2008. So I think we can be happy with that.

Finland was represented this year by 12 companies of which 7 in the Organic Food Finland Export Group. 11 companies were on the joint stand while one was separately in Hall 1. We were for the first time in Hall 3 after being for years in Hall 1. Probably it was more quite there but I suppose most people who wanted to find us, did. However we might consider going back to Hall 1. Also for the first time we cooperated with Sweden which was positive. As long as the cooperation can be kept uncomplicated and straight-forward it is worth it. Spokesman, the Finnish representative of Nuerenberg Messe, did a great job in running the whole thing together. Maybe next year we will have also Norway with us and look for cooperation with Denmark - the country of the year in 2009. Denmark's stand area was huge this year but will certainly be smaller (still big) in 2010.

Four of the OFF companies were also presenting products under the Napapiiri Organics brand. The preserves from Maustaja were already presented last year but the juices from Greenfinn's, the Porridge from Helsinki Mills and the "Rote Grütze" from Finnamyl were presented for the first time as ready products that can actually be ordered.

One of the first-timers on the Finnish stand was ViiniVerla, the one and only organic winery in Finland. The fantastic products - wines, sparklings, liquors are made of Finnish berries. "Verlados" is a Calvados type spirit made of apple. The products received extremily positive feedback. I am sure ViiniVerla's next problem will be meeting demand.

The Stand Party on Friday evening was a nice success. Sweden supplied the music - former Abba guitarist Janne Scaffer, and Finland offered Viiniverla's sparklings and there was snack to eat from both sides. Some even danced. A real success!

The BioFach 2009 was good - and we can better it in 2010.

BioFach 2009

2009-02-18T23:28:00.000+02:00

BioFach will open tomorrow. In the picture Finlands 150 m2 stand being constucted. Beside Finland is Sweden also with 150 m2 so together the "Organic North" has a very nice 300 m2 stand area. So starting tomorrow we'll see how well people find us in Hall 3. Let's hope for the best!

New prodcts in the Napapiiri Organics range from Finland.

2009-02-13T16:47:00.001+02:00

PRESS RELEASE
New prodcts in the Napapiiri Organics range from Finland.

Several new products from the Napapiiri Organics brand will be launched to the international market this
spring. The Sea Buckthorn and Wild Bilberry flavored Oatmeal from Helsinki Mills Ltd, The Bilberry Kissel
Dessert from Finnamyl Ltd and the range of Cold Pressed Berry Juices from Greenfinn’s Ltd will be
presented at the BioFach exhibition next week. BioFach is the most important international exhibition for
organic products and it is held in Nuerenberg, Germany next week (19th - 22nd February 2009).

Napapiiri Organics is a joint brand that was developed in the Organic Food Finland group. The brand was
developed for the international market and the range consists of organic quality products from Finland. The
main target markets are in Europe and Asia. The joint brand underlines pure, authentic and wild nature and
the special arctic conditions of the north which are considered strengths of Finnish origin. Also the true
connection to the nature that the Finns and people of the north still have with the old ageless wisdom are
present in the Napapiiri Organics brand image.

The Sea Buckthorn and Wild Bilberry flavored Oatmeal produced by Helsinki Mills Ltd is a tasty and
nutritious meal that encompasses the benefits of oats and berries. The portion bags of the Napapiiri
Organics Oatmeal oﬀer an easy and fast way of preparing the oatmeal by just mixing the portion bag with
hot water.

A delicious Finnish style berry snack or dessert can easily be prepared from the Bilberry Kissel portion bag
from Finnamyl Ltd. ”Kissel” is a traditional Finnish dessert which is well known also in the other Nordic
countries and Russia. It combines high energy content and the delicious taste of berries. The Kissel powder
portion bag is easy to take with you anywhere and fast to prepare.

Greenfinn’s produces the Napapiiri Organics range of juices with cold pressing which enables them to
preserve as much as possible of the beneficial properties of the berries. The 100% cold pressed juices from
Sea Buckthorn, Wild Bilberry, Mountain Cranberry, Wild Cranberry and Black Currant create a tasty and
healthy range of juices.

For more information please contact
Marja Nuora
Napapiiri Organics
marja@napapiiri-organics.com
gsm. 050-5862697
www.napapiiri-organics.com

BioFach next week: Organic North

2009-02-10T23:09:00.007+02:00

Well everyone in the organic movement / industry knows BioFach. But I believe there must be a lot pf people who visit BioFach who don't really know the history. I made a presentation to the group of Finnish companies exhibiting at BioFach this year some weeks back. I wanted to give them some background information: when and where was BF started. It was surprisingly difficult to find that information anywhere. You don't find it at www.biofach.de. It took quite a lot of effort on google to find anything but finally I did find an article from the German EVE magazine - actually the number published for this BioFach. It hadn't reached me in print yet. BioFach becomes 20 years this year! It started in 1990 in Mannheim. It moved to Wiesbaden, to Frankfurt and in 1999 to Nürnberg. In 2001 Nürnberg Messe acquired BioFach.

I visited BioFach for the first time in 1995 in Frankfurt. We were the first from Finland to exhibit in 1996.I organized the Finnish pavillion in 1997 when the Nordic countries where the Region of the Year. Since 1996 I have exhibited almost every year. Since 2004 I have exhibited with Organic Food Finland, the export group for organic products from Finland. This year there will be 7 companies from OFF and 4 others companies exhibiting from Finland - the biggest number since 1997.

This is also the first year since 1997 that we are back to some kind of Nordic cooperation - if only between Finland and Sweden. Denmark - where the organic export business is by far bigger - is Country of Year with a huge 1000 m2 stand area in Hall 1. Finland and Sweden - under the "Organic North" banner will have 300 m2 together in Hall 3. Good start and I hope we will benefit from each other.

As you can see "Organic North" has been designed as one block in two parts. We hope to benefit from each others pre-marketing and communication and we are arranging the Friday Night Party together. Welcome! The Swedes have made a lot of noise about Janne Schaffer - the former ABBA guitarist - who will play live on Friday Night. ABBA is obviously important! Snack will be provided from both sides and as the Finnish speciality of 2009 we are providing the drinks: organic sparkling wines from ViiniVerla, the only organic berry winery in Finland. Come and have a taste! I think ViiniVerla will need to find only 1-2 customers in Europe and the business is pretty much done. And you'll be surprised by the taste and quality. They do have liqueurs and spirits as well!

The other first time ever is the fact that the Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mrs Anttila will visit BioFach. Until now we have done BioFach pretty much alone - or let's say business driven - without the kind of political support f.ex the Danish and Swedish organic industry is getting. No speeches and press conferences etc with lots of people in black suits. I'm not sure how much it helps the business anyway but I certainly do believe that it will have a profound impact on the understanding of the organic industry on the side of the Finnish Minister. Only once a higher-ranking official from the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture has visited BioFach - and that was in 1997! I think they don't have a clue of how big the business is. And why have they never come? I am afraid the main reason might be pretty "funny". Week 8 is the winter holiday week in South Finland. You go with your family to Lapland, to the Alps or whatever but you don't go to an exhibition in the middle of Germany. Guess who hasn't had a proper winter holiday with his kids since 1995?

Well - see you all at BioFach next week and let's hope the economic downturn isn't affecting the number of visitors too badly. See you!

Organic North presents Nordic organic production at the BioFach Fair

2009-01-27T22:54:00.003+02:00

27.1.2009

PRESS RELEASE

Organic North presents Nordic organic production at the BioFach Fair

Finland and Sweden have joined forces under the theme Organic North at the BioFach World Organic Trade Fair. BioFach will be held on 19-22 February 2009 in Nuremberg, Germany. Organic North presents contemporary Nordic organic production and services. The Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mrs. Sirkka-Liisa Anttila will attend the exhibition on 19-20 February 2009 and will open the Finnish joint stand on 19 February at 11.45 a.m.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to promote Finnish organic production at the BioFach Fair. Finnish organic products are reliable, ethically produced and fully traceable items which are safe to consume. Essential for the future of organic products is the efficiency of the food chain as well as the common goals of sector actors,” says Minister Anttila.

”We need professional and innovative people to produce and develop new products and services in order to constantly improve the renowned quality of the Nordic organic sector. I’m convinced that organic production will be one of the future success stories of the Finnish food industry,” says Anttila.

Organic Action Plan under preparation

An Organic Action Plan is under preparation in Finland and the work has been funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The action plan reflects the rapidly growing importance of organic production and the high public demand for organic products.

Of Finnish farming land, 6.5% is certified organic and 7 million hectares of forest land are certified for the harvesting of organic wild products (mainly berries). The most important sectors are cereals, including rapeseed, together with dairy, meat and bakery products. Wild berries are also increasingly important. Most exports are from the cereal value chain, most notably oats. Finland is renowned for producing the best quality oats in the world. Additionally, potato products and berry-based products are also exported.

Nordic organic production is of high quality

”Our main task has been to increase general knowledge of Nordic organic production and products in Europe. BioFach has grown into an event of huge proportions, and small exhibitors have to use every available means to get the most out of the event. That’s why Nordic cooperation and the benefits it will generate are a natural way to increase the visibility of a single participating company,” says Erkki Pöytäniemi of Organic Food Finland.

Organic Food Finland, implemented in cooperation with Finpro, is an export group specialising in organic products.

Organic North Project Director Arto Varanki from Spokesman Oy is also a strong supporter of Nordic cooperation: “Cooperation with Sweden is a very important step and we are planning and implementing communication measures to attract the maximum amount of visitors to our pavilions. Hopefully this will also encourage the other Nordic countries to join,” says Varanki.

BioFach is the world’s largest organic fair. It is held annually, each February, in the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre in Germany. BioFach has sister events in Japan, China, India, Brazil and the United States. In 2009 BioFach will also feature natural cosmetics, skin care and wellness products, which will be assembled in their own event under the name Vivaness. Besides its traditional offerings, the exhibition will also offer over 100 organic sector events and seminars.

The Friday Night Party will be held on 20 February from 6–8 p.m. at the stand, featuring former ABBA guitarist Janne Schaffer and an assortment of Finnish and Swedish organic delicacies. The Organic North pavilions are situated in Hall 3. The stand numbers are 300 and 400. You are most welcome join us at the party.

For further information, please contact:

Arto Varanki, Spokesman Oy, Tel. +358 40 544 55098,  arto.varanki@spokesman.fi
- The Nuremberg Fair’s official representative in Finland

Erkki Pöytäniemi, Organic Food Finland, Tel. +358 50 550 5225,  erkki@organic-finland.com
- Head of the Organic Food Finland export group

www.biofach.de

IFOAM: Growing Organic

2008-12-02T09:17:00.001+02:00

The web pages are a source of information for developing organic sectors of all kinds, even growing organic food and composting in the backyard. They represent the cumulative knowledge and experience of IFOAM, the umbrella organization for Organic Agriculture, and are a community resource designed to represent and serve global Organic movements.

The new EU organic regulation

2008-10-01T17:43:00.001+03:00

Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control

The regulation text can be found here.

New companies in Organic Food Finland

2008-09-05T15:59:00.005+03:00

Organic Food Finland is an Export Group specialised in exporting organic products from Finland. The best short way to describe our activity is that we (Erkki & Lhassan) act as outsourced organic export managers for the companies involved. We always represent the companies directly as the companies Export Manager would - we don't trade in their products.

This makes sense because exporting organic products is a special field of activity and as a business different from the companies' domestic business. We at OFF have long experience and deep understanding of organics and the organic market and good networks which we constantly develop. The companies benefit from this and in the end of the day also customers benefit. OFF is your contact point for organic products from Finland!

Each year we talk with new companies about joining the group. These might be organic food manufacturers who feel they should expand into export or mainstream manufacturers who think of expanding into organics. This year two new companies decided to join the group. Both happen to be on the Finnish West Coast:

Boströms Bakery is a bakery company specialised in swiss rolls, muffins, cakes and cookies for which it has highly efficient production lines. Recently they have developed organic muffins which will be the starting point for the organic export activities. The delicious muffins come in three tastes: chocolate, vanilla and lemon but more flavours can be developed as requested. The products can be marketed both as private label to retailers and as branded products.

Greenfinn's fantastic products bring us an extension in the berry line where Maustaja with jams and Kiantama with wild berries are already represented. Greenfinn's products are 100% cold pressed juices made from the nutrition-rich berries from Finland. Most noteworthy, Greenfinns is a pioneer in organic Sea Buckthorn which is organically farmed by them, but the range includes also wild bilberry, mountain cranberry (lingonberry), wild cranberry, black currant and aronia juices. The products will be marketed under the Napapiiri Organics brand.

8 companies participate in Organic Food Finland at the moment: please visit our web-site for more information.

Organic Control System in Finland

2008-04-21T22:58:00.003+03:00

The strange thing about the EU organic regulation (currently 2092/91) is that while it gives us the standard for organic farming and processing it doesn't really say how control and certification should be organized. At first site it seems that you have certification bodies (CB) in each country that have taken upon them to take care of the certification task. But with a closer look it is not quite so simple. I'm not really a specialist in this but I would say you can put EU countries in a few groups:
1) several private CB's and strong private standard(s) (example: the UK, Germany, Sweden)
2) several private CB's certifying mainly to EU standards (France, Italy)
3) one semi-private CB certifying mainly to EU standards (the Netherlands)
4) several regional authorities responsible for certification (Spain)
5) central governmental authority responsible for certification (Denmark, Finland)

I am not really aware where the new member states go, but I presume mainly 2) and 5). At least Estonia is in 5).

An interesting point is weather foreign certifiers are allowed in the country. Recently there was news that pressure from the European Commission piled over Austria to allow non-Austrian CB's to operate in Austria. While reading the news I wondered how come Finland is not sued for this? Well, I suppose it's because we don't have private CB's in Finland in the first place.

There are pros and cons to a governmental certification system. The pros are that it's relatively well organized and cost-effective. In Finland we feel that one of the pros is that government officials are more reliable than inspectors from private organizations. This is some kind of cultural thing: in Finland we actually trust government officials. Transparency International has rated Finland as the least corrupted country in the world - so actually you can trust them! But when we are in the export business we should realize that the image of government officials isn't the same everywhere. Actually a private certification might be more trustworthy.

But there are cons and therefore I have personally opposed a governmental control system since 1994 (that's when it was started). The main problem was that control of the whole system shifted from private (the organic movement) to government. Currently the bigger problem is lack of flexibility and customer-orientation. The authorities do what law (EU regulation) requires from them and that's it. If our companies need private certifications or foreign governmental certifications (NOP, JAS) they can't and won't help us (it's not their business). So we have the EU certification and if we need something else - well that's our problem.

to be continued....

In the meantime please comment.

Napapiiri Organics is launched - in Finland

2008-03-27T21:17:00.005+02:00

"Napapiiri Organics" is the joint brand that we have developed in the Organic Food Finland export group. It is a new brand developed for export but it is also an attempt to extend the cooperation between our companies into brand-building. So instead of each company developing its own brand we do it together. The brand is based on the strengths of Finnish organic products - be they cultivated or wild-picked - the strong connection Finns have to nature and the Nordic image. For more visit the Napapiiri organics web-site.

The first products that have been developed in the brand are the berry-based sugar-free jams (bilberry, mountain cranberry, wild cranberry, cloudberry, sea buckthorn and Tarya's mix). These have been on the Finnish market since last summer through the organic wholesaler Makrobios. but now they are actually launched in the supermarket multiples. The Prisma hypermarkets, larger S-Supermarkets, Stockmann department stores and Euromarket hypermarkets will have the products in their range starting 1st May. We'll see soon enough how our export concept works on the domestic market. The Napapiiri Organics Cloudberry jam already won the "Organic Product of the Year" price in Finland in February.

On the export side our main focus is the UK where we will be presenting the Napapiiri Organics jams at the Natural Products show on Community Foods stand giving tastings etc. Also other Napapiiri Organics products which are in the pipeline are presented: the berry flavored oatmeal pouches (bilberry, sea buckthorn) and dried sugar-free berries (bilberry, mountain lingonberry). We are also focusing on Sweden and we are already selling to Malaysia.

Picture: our key account manager Lhassan El Farkoussi besides the Napapiiri Organics showcase at BioFach in February.

Organic Oats 2007 crop

2007-10-15T16:36:00.000+03:00

Of the organic cereals grown in Finland oats are by far the most important. According to Evira statistics organic oats was grown on 19.583 ha in Finland which is only 300 ha more than in 2006. However the total yield might be double 2006 due to the record low harvest that year. But is this enough? I am afraid not. The dynamism of the market is difficult to grasp and therefore nobody seems to know how much will enter the market. Part of the harvest is fed to animals on-farm or sold to neighbors for that purpose. Part of the crop is harvested on small farms and there is no point in transporting it over any distance. For the organic oats that does enter the market there are several buyers, some trading it to the domestic industry but most looking at the export market. Helsinki Mills is buying directly from farmers trying to capture as much of the oats as possible for processing in Finland. So the farmers situation should be quite good. The prices have increased to levels that have not been experienced before during Finland's EU membership. Prices are up to 2,5 times higher than in 2005. So there should be an incentive for more farmers to go organic. Also conventional oats (as all cereals) price is increasing but nevertheless the price difference is a healthy 100+ €/t.

Sweden, Germany and Canada seem to have experienced average oat harvests on similar acreage as 2006. The main problem would seem to be that the market is growing strongly but production is not. We need more organic farmers. The interesting question which remains to be seen is how farmers react to this clear market signal. If farmers consider converting to organics they will naturally be wondering what the organic oats price will be in 2010. Who can tell? In the meantime we are unfortunately not able to meet the demand.

Berries in Suomussalmi

2007-09-27T23:02:00.000+03:00

Kiantama Ltd is the berry company in the Organic Food Finland group.It is situated in Suomussalmi, which is quite far north from a Helsinki perspective but actually not even in Lapland. In August we visited Kiantama with Selina Gan, our great customer from Malaysia. And we also went berry-picking to see for ourselves what lingonberries and bilberries look like in real nature. The lingonberries were just ripe and red at the time - this was end of August - but the bilberry leaves show already the colors of autumn.

Look at more of my berry picture at "Villit Kuvat"

Q&A- Interview with Erkki

2007-08-23T09:19:00.000+03:00

The questions are from my friend and customer Selina Gan at Country Farms, Malaysia and the interview will be also published in their Newsletter.

Q&A- Interview with Erkki.

1. What’s the purpose of Organic Certification?

The purpose of certification is to protect the integrity and trustworthiness of organic production and products. By having a reliable inspection and certification system we ensure that consumers are getting the pure organic products they are paying for. Likewise we are protecting the farmers and producers against unfair competition.

2. What is behind an organic label such EU logo and Finnish certifications,

Organic certification must be based on a common understanding of what organic production is. Therefore organic standards have been developed in different regions since the 1940’s and formal third party certification schemes were started in 1970’s in Europe. IFOAM was founded in 1972 for cooperation between organic associations in different countries and for harmonization of the standards. An important step was taken in 1991 when the European Union Organic Regulation came into force and harmonized European organic standards and certifications. Importantly it states that all food products marketed as organic (in all member state languages) or as Bio or Eco must be third-party certified. It includes an organic standard and stipulates that organic products must be certified either by third-party certifiers that are accredited by the member state government or by governmental authorities. The EU organic logo can be used on all organic products that have been certified organic in an EU member state. Therefore the EU logo is guarantee that the product has been produced according to the EU organic standards and it has been certified in the EU.

In Finland we have a governmental certification system run by the Food Safety authorities (Evira).

3. How do organic farmers fertilize crops and control pests, diseases, and weeds?

An underlying idea of organic farming is that chemicals that are foreign to nature are not used. Therefore chemical fertilizers and pesticides are prohibited. But it is wrong to say that organics would be going back to old farming methods. Farmers benefit from the progress in our technological and biological knowledge and apply them in a sustainable manner. Chemicals, genetic modification, hormone-treatments and routine medication of animals is not sustainable and is not accepted.

Organic farming methods must be adapted to different climates and environments. In Finland fertilizing is primarily based on crop rotations using clover lays to bind nitrogen biologically from the atmosphere and animal farms take advantage of the animal manure. Limestone, rock phosphate, stone meal etc can be used if the fields pH is too low or they are deficient in specific nutrients.

Many pest problems result from use of easily soluble chemical fertilizers and specialized monoculture farming systems (growing only one crop in large areas for several years). Organic farming strives to maintain a healthy soil and ecosystem on the farm and therefore the farmer has less pest problems to start with. In organic cereal farming in Finland weeds are controlled mainly with a well-planned crop rotation. The most important method to fight diseases is to use clean disease-free seeds – however seeds may not be treated with fungicides. If pests are a problem different methods might be used based on an understanding of the biology and life-cycle of the pest.

4. How does public response to Organic certification?

Earlier – especially before organic certification was required by law – the consumers main question was: “How do I know your product is really organic – that you are not cheating”. The only way was either to know the farmer personally or trust a certification label. Now that the EU organic regulation has been enforced for over 15 years the recognition of and the trust in the organic label is very high.

5. Why there are some producers and farmers resistant to Organic Certification?

There are 2 main points the producers complain about – and I can understand they do so. The first is the cost of inspection and certification. Especially for very small producers it does not make economical sense to bear the costs. The second reason is the burocracy that is involved. The producers must adopt very detailed quality and documentation systems. Farmers complain they are not farmers anymore – they feel they are office workers. However strict documentation is necessary for the inspection to be reliable. So unfortunately both the cost and the paperwork is necessary for the integrity of organic farming.

6. Can organic farmers produce enough food for everybody?

This is a big question but I think the answer is and must be yes. From a global perspective we should compare organic farming to two other systems of food production: modern chemical farming methods that are predominant in the West and introduced to the developing countries as the “Green Revolution” and less developed traditional farming methods that are still predominant in many parts of the developing world.

There is no doubt that organic farming does not match modern chemical farming systems in terms of yields per hectare. However chemical farming is totally oil-driven and a major contributor to climate change and pollution of the watershed. We all know that the world will be running out of oil in our lifetime and that excessive use of oil and other fossil fuels is the main contributor to climate change. Therefore we must go back to a sustainable farming systems based on biological processes and local resources – and that means organic farming. We must also bear in mind that the bulk of agricultural research has been done for chemical farming and organic farming has developed despite this. We must focus research on developing sustainable organic farming systems and this must be done with tax-payers money. Business is interested only in farming systems that depend on inputs: fertilizers, pesticides, hybrid or gmo seeds etc. They are not interested in self-sufficient sustainable farming systems because there is no business for them.

On the other hand adopting organic farming methods instead of traditional farming methods can – according to professionals – easily raise productivity 50-100% in developing countries. Organic farming is based on the important innovation of crop rotations, mixed farming and using leguminous nitrogen binding organisms in the farming system. These basic innovations have not been widely adopted yet in most developing countries although it is mostly a question of education because organic farming is not dependent on commercial inputs.

Organic farming is often referred to as an alternative farming method. Personally I don’t think we have an alternative to organic farming if we are to feed everybody – certainly not when we run out of oil. We must also think of what is enough food? When people get more wealthy they tend to eat more meat. Bear in mind that producing 1 kg of meat requires 7 kg of cereals and other plant origin fodder that could be eaten by humans as well. The less we eat animal products the more there is food for everyone.

7. How can IFOAM ensure the Organic Certifications are authentic?

In the world of organic certifications we have both legislative and private certification systems. For example in the European Union, the USA and Japan organic certification is based on legislation and is compulsory. In most other regions organic certification is still enforced by private third party certification bodies. While the understanding of what organic means is broadly the same in all legislative and private systems, the devil lies in the details. The word for coping with this is harmonization. IFOAM (short for International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) has long worked for harmonization of organic standards and certification systems so that trade in organic products would be possible. IFOAM is also a very important lobbyist for the organic movement towards legislative systems. On the private side IFOAM has developed an accreditation system which is a kind of certification of certifications. Certification bodies that have been accredited by IFOAM (or actually IOAS) are recognized as complying to the Organic Basic Standard of IFOAM and to the requirements for the inspection and certification system. Most private certification bodies are IFOAM accredited because that enables their certified producers to go into export and be recognized by the certification bodies in the target country. So you might want to check that a certifier is IFOAM accredited unless it is a EU or USDA certifier. You can find a list of accredited certification bodies on IFOAM’s web-site www.ifoam.org. The EU or USDA certifications are not IFOAM accredited because they are legislative systems and all certification bodies issuing EU or USDA certificates are accredited by their respective governments. However IFOAM basic standards and IFOAM lobbying have had a great influence on EU and USDA as well as FAO’s Codex Alimentarius organic standards. We need the legislative systems for protecting organic standards but we also need to keep the initiatives to develop organic farming in the hands of organic NGO’s – and that is why IFOAM is so important.

8. Can you tell us the organic issue in Asia?

95% of organic products are sold in Western Europe and North America. Most of the remaining 5% of the market is in the Far East. The main production areas are also Europe and North America but also South America and increasingly Asia, especially China and India. South America and Asia are producing mainly for the export market although the local market is emerging rapidly. For Asia I believe it is important to spread a deeper and wider understanding of organic farming as a solution both for consumers and farmers – and the environment. A consumer is initially mostly worried about her own health and food security and chooses organic products for her own immediate benefit. It can be difficult to understand the environmental benefits especially if organic products are imported. But the fact is that promoting sustainable organic farming methods in Indonesia would make it easier to breath in Kuala Lumpur. Even converting more field area to organic in Finland will decrease climate change and benefit people in Asia on the long run. However I think the most important issue is to stop the chemicalisation of agriculture in Asia and adopt sustainable farming methods instead. As a consumer you can have your say but of course this is also a political issue.

9. How can IFOAM become popular in Asia?

IFOAM brings together all people and organizations working with and promoting organic farming and production. IFOAM members include national organic movements from all over the world, other NGO’s close to organic farming and also businesses committed to organic farming. My company is an IFOAM member. IFOAM is extremely important in defending the integrity of organics against big business and governmental forces and should get the support of all who work with organics and want to support the development of a sustainable farming system locally and globally.

Koli - the national landscape

2007-07-24T17:20:00.000+03:00

Last week we were at the Koli National Park in Eastern Finland at lake Pielinen. This landscape has been called the 'National landscape' of Finland since the late 19th century when the national romantics - including Jean Sibelius - 'found' Koli and its beautiful landscape, including the views from 'Uko-Koli' to lake Pielinen (picture).

At that time farmers in Koli were still using slash-and-burn methods for growing rye, barley and turnip. Turnip (Brassica rapa) was the most used root vegetable in Finland before potato and also happens to be the same species as Nordic rape seed (B. rapa ssp oleifera). Slash and burn was an important element in the Finnish landscape because as a result birch was much more common than it is today. In the natural succession of the forest birch is the pioneer species so all the slash and burn areas turned into white birch forest (picture).

Since the mid 1990's the Koli National Park has reintroduced slash and burn farming of rye and turnip in order to revive the old farming methods and its effect on the landscape. The picture is of the old 'Toivo' variety of rye that grows a much longer stem - often 2 m - than modern varieties.

The abundance of wild bilberry was amazing in the Koli forests.

Wild cranberry is flowering at Torronsuo

2007-06-24T22:42:00.000+03:00

Originally one third of Finland was marshlands. Maybe that is why Finland is Suomi in Finnish - suo means marshland. Half of the original marshlands have been drained for use as arable land or to increase forest growth. Especially in Southern Finland there are very few large marshlands left. We visited Torronsuo - which is one of the biggest marshlands in Southern Finland - about one hours drive from Helsinki.

The picture shows the flowering of wild cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccos. Also cloudberry was flowering while some already are raw berries. And at the edges of the marshland mountain cranberry (lingonberry) is flowering too. Bilberry has already formed small berries - of course still raw and green. So this is where we need to come to pick cranberries in the late summer. (Of course the commercial picking happens mostly in Northern Finland.) V.oxycoccos is by the way not the same cranberry as its much bigger brother that is cultivated in Canada (V. macrocarpum).

Oat crop 2006 was only 50%

2007-06-18T09:34:00.000+03:00

TIKE, the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland, has for the first time collected data on the use of organic crops in Finland. The data for the 2006 crop of organic cereals (wheat, rye, oats and barley) has now been released. It shows that the production of organic cereals was 47 million kg or 1,2 % of total cereal production in Finland. By far the biggest crop (51 % of organic total) was oats. What is stricking about the statistics is that the average crop was only c 50 % of normal and also that only 51 % of that entered the market as organic. So only 12 million kg of organic oats entered the market which is far less than is normally exported from Finland as bulk - not to speak about domestic consumption and Helsinki Mills' export of oat flakes. The numbers fully explain the crises we have been in regarding organic oats in Finland.

So far the 2007 crop looks ok: it has been warm and moist. But it is still over 2 months to harvest...

Natural Products London

2007-04-29T19:27:00.000+03:00

So Natural Products was two weeks ago in London. After the show it has been so busy that I have found no time to come back to the blog. As the pictures shows, also the show was busy and we had a lot of interesting discussions with clients. The most tangible result was that the Napapiiri Organics range of berry preserves will be available at Community Foods' Cash&Carry starting from the next price list in May. So it means there is a lot of work ahead to ensure they find their way to the shop shelves. At least reactions to tastings at NPE were very positive with the Sea Buckthorn preserve probably the best liked type. But there is a lot of communication to be done. What is cloudberry or sea buckthorn? How do you use the preserves? What are the benefits? All the berries in the Napapiiri range are arctic superberries that grow wild in Finland. All of them have great health benefits but people are of course not aware of them. For example wild bilberry from Finland contains 8 times more antocyanins and flavonoids than North American blueberry. This is the berry the Japanese pharmaceutical industry is buying for preparing eye-sight enhancing supplements. The Americans are making all the health claims but we have the real product! Also lingonberry - called also mountain cranberry - has much higher content of health benefitting substancies than North American cultivated cranberry. But all this needs to be communicated. A good source of information is the web site of Arctic Flavors.

An other new product we were presentig at NPE was Nordic Rape Seed Oil from Virgino. Virgino is a very high quality cold pressed oil that can be used for salad dressings as well as frying. The quality is now even better than it was earlier because Virgino has recently moved into new facilities and has new machinery for pressing the oil. What is special about the Virgino rape seed oil is that it is produced from turnip summer rape seed (Brassica rapa ssp oleifera) while most rape seed cultivars are Brassica napus cultivars. The English language makes no difference between the two species but let us call ours Nordic Rape Seed as it is hardly cultivated outside Finland anymore. The fatty acid composition of Nordic Rape Seed Oil is more favorable than in normal rape seed oil and by far more favorable than other major oils like olive oil or sunflower oil. It contains only 5% saturated fatty acids (the bad ones) and has Omega 3 and Omega 6 is perfect balance. But here again we have quite a task in communicating and differentiating. The goods news is that everyone at NPE who had the opportunity to taste Virgino was impressed. It should also be mentioned that all Finnish rape seed cultivars are 00-erusic acid cultivars (0% erisic acid) and GMO-free.

BioFach 2007: Busier than ever

2007-02-20T23:05:00.000+02:00

BioFach is over and a few days have passed. It was the fourth time we had a joint Finnish stand at BioFach and definately the busiest so far. Until now Saturday at BioFach has been relatively calm giving some possibility to get off the stand and make a tour in other halls. Now that kind of breaks didn't come before Sunday.

This time we were 5 companies from the Organic Food Finland export group: Finnamyl, Helsinki Mills, Kankaisten Öljykasvit, Kiantama and Maustaja. As a typical feature of 2006/07 two important products: potato starch and oat flakes were already out of stock. Wild berry products from Kiantama and ketchup and Napapiiri jams from Maustaja seemed to be drawing the most attention. We received a few orders and a lot of follow-up work to be done by myself and Lhassan (right in the picture).

There is definately nothing that can be compared to BioFach. Still also local shows are necessary - see you at Natural Products Europe in London in April.

On our way to BioFach

2007-02-10T23:56:00.000+02:00

The first time I visited BioFach was back in 1995. I was travelling with a friend of mine who has been one of the key officers responsible for organic farming issues in the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (well, if he ever reads this and wants to comment, he can put his name in). I remember we were quite interested in the degustation of organic wines and I did get long lasting friends at Perlage - their Cabernet is still available in the Finnish 'Alko' monopoly retailer as a result, and I think stil one of the organic best-sellers there.

In 1996 I was involved in a marketing project for organic-biodynamic food and had arranged a small booth for organic products from Finland. That is where the story of the world's first organic liquorice started although the manufacturer Makulaku wasn't aware of it before I introduced the idea to them half a year later. In 1997 the Nordic countries were the region of the year at BioFach and saw the biggest ever number of companies from Finland exhibiting at BioFach. After that I arranged the Makulaku stands until we started with joint Finland stand in 2004.

So this is the 12th time at BioFach and 11th time we have a stand at Biofach in one form or another. This year six companies participate at the Finland joint stand - five of them also members of Organic Food Finland Export Group. Helsinki Mills and Finnamyl have participated at the joint stand since 2004. For Kiantama, Maustaja and Virgino this is the first time. Also this is the time when we are introducing the NAPAPIIRI Organics range: six sugar-free preserves based on Nordic berries and 2 flavored hot cereal products. So far the response to the jams has been quite positive - we sent samples to some of our contacts as invitations to our stand - so we'll see what BioFach brings along and if we can report some real business.

It seems that for me personally I see less and less of BioFach and am busier and busier at the stand. Even now my calendar is pretty full with meetings every hour or half-an-hour. We'll see how that works with everyone rushing around more or less late. And then there are all the people who I should meet who don't have an appointment. Lhassan, who is working at Organic Food Finland as Key Account Manager since last April will be busy on the stand.

Anyway I'll see you there!