The German fresh produce industry is set to launch a forum to debate the future of world food supplies during International Green Week in Berlin.

The three day forum from 16 to 18 January, will be attended by 30 ministers of agriculture and more than 1000 experts from the agriculture and food industry from all over the world, who will be discussing various global strategies for addressing these food issues in relation to energy and climate change.

On 17 January 2009, during the International Green Week, which runs from 16 to 25 January, ministers from the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection will be attending the first Berlin International Conference of Agriculture at the Charlottenburg Palace.

German industry will be using this political platform in order to hold an international economic forum, the “International Forum for Food and Agriculture” (IFAE), from 15 to 18 January at the ICC Berlin, on the subject of world food supplies.

This forum is a joint initiative by the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BVE), the German Farmers’ Union (DBV), the German Agricultural Society (DLG), the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations.

The aim of the International Forum for Food and Agriculture is to find ways of achieving sustainable increases in agricultural production and to identify areas of action for improving the political conditions for agriculture and the food industry around the world, thereby providing ministers of agriculture with recommended courses of action.

“Green chain” strategies, from farming via agricultural engineering, the food industry and the trade in agricultural products, will be used to show the direction that must be taken in order to more effectively safeguard future world food supplies.

The papers and the panel discussions between international business representatives will deal with the opportunities offered by innovation for increasing yields and making more efficient use of resources, and how partnerships to encourage modernisation can make these technologies more accessible, especially in Eastern Europe as well as in emerging economies and developing nations.

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