Connecting the dots at VIV Europe

Glocal farming

During VIV Europe 2022, HubOrange will present the network concept Glocal Farming with a selection of 11 local and regional brand concepts in which the producers themselves make the connection with the food sector in their own way.

“We give these concepts a platform that we shape together with VIV and the partners from our network, as we do on a smaller scale at other international fairs and events organised by VIV worldwide: VIV Asia (Bangkok), VIV MEA (Abu Dhabi), Poultry Africa (Kigali) and FarmFit (Northwest Europe), as well as VIV partner events in China, India and Vietnam,” says HubOrange founder, Noud Janssen. He continues: “Our roots are Dutch but the trends we have seen in recent years in the Netherlands can also be seen in other countries around the world”.

Scalable

Localisation and regionalisation of food production is a trend that has become clearly visible on several levels as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the macro level due to the worldwide impact on global food supply chains, at the micro level due to the strong emergence of short-chain initiatives in the agrifood sector and at the micro level due to the growth of numerous new farming concepts.

Janssen: “The ‘support your locals’ sentiment has grown strongly, partly due to a national focus on short chains. The Netherlands is at the forefront of this in the world. It starts locally, but by forming circular chains in the region, this trend can be translated into scalable concepts that can count on warm interest in terms of impact and exposure if the ‘whole world’ can see how they take shape”.

Showcase projects

One of the 11 showcase projects at VIV is the ‘circular egg’ concept. “This is a great example of what we are trying to achieve. In the circular egg concept, everyone involved had to learn to look beyond their own sphere of influence.”

”…sharing risks and rewards, and ensuring a sound source of revenue for every partner…”

In the project, restaurant leftovers are fed to insects, insects are fed to layers and the eggs are returned to the restaurant: quite circular. Janssen: “The basic idea is pretty straightforward but to have a really sustainable business there is far more involved. For starters, you want to have a concept with some volume. So instead of one restaurant, you need a restaurant chain. Then you need a professional insect grower and a feed firm that does all the nutritional work. Then layer farms, packers and a marketing plan to properly brand the circular egg.”

According to Janssen a scheme like this won’t work if everyone remains stuck on their own ‘island’. “It’s a matter of working together closely, sharing risks and rewards, and ensuring a sound source of revenue for every partner in the chain. Projects like this add value to production and sustainability. It would not survive in a race to the bottom which we sometimes see in other parts of our industry.”

Building together

HubOrange is well underway with the realisation of its projects. “That doesn’t mean that we haven’t seen partners who are anxious about participating. The process of thinking within your own influence ‘silo’ runs deep but, in essence, what we try to do is find answers to existential questions. What happens to our egg or our product? Where does my input material come from and what underlies that?”

Janssen is very positive about what he sees: “No matter which of the 11 concepts you take, you see partners who have stepped out of their comfort zone to build something together. It’s so fantastic to witness how, by embracing an idea together, they start on a voyage of discovery, a voyage we want to share with the visitors to VIV Europe”.