International wholesale chain Metro Cash & Carry will present to delegates at this year’s Asiafruit Congress on its groundbreaking venture for sourcing from producers in China, Star Farm.
Established as a fully funded subsidiary of Metro Cash & Carry in 2007, Star Farm works directly with producers in China to source safe, quality food for domestic and export markets through a sophisticated traceability system.
Lv Guoman, senior vice-president of Metro Cash & Carry China, said in a company statement: “As the first agri-technology consulting and training service company invested and established by Metro Cash & Carry China, Star Farm has been providing training to local farmers for standard processing and transparent management. One of the most outstanding features is that we implemented a traceability system to control the food quality from farm to fork.”
Hans Peter Reust, the managing director of Star Farm Agricultural Consulting Company, will introduce the principles behind Star Farm before explaining how the quality assurance system was implemented in China together with Metro. He will also outline Star Farm’s achievements to date and reveal its future plans.
Major multi-national retail and wholesale groups have been stepping up their direct sourcing programmes from Asian producers in recent years with a focus on supplying their regional and international store networks - and the Star Farm venture will provide an interesting case study in this context.
The Asiafruit Congress will take place alongside Asia Fruit Logistica on September 2-4 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
