The Big Five: Organic Export Webinar

The Big Five: Organic Export Webinar

Soil Association Certification

Tuesday15th March 2022, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Online Webinar

It’s not only the UK organic market that’s been performing impressively. Growth further afield has been equally strong, with markets such as the US (12.4% ) growing at similar rates to the UK in 2020.

As we reached the end of 2021 the limitations of the EU-UK Trade & Cooperation have started to become all too apparent. Options for movement of goods is deemed to be outside the scope of the agreement, reducing the ability of UK businesses to trade with the EU bloc.

Whilst the EU will doubtless remain an important trading partner, UK trade agreements with several mature non-EU organic markets mean potential new opportunities for organic exporters. With agreements in place with US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, these ‘Big Five’ will be a focus for UK government efforts in support of organic food and drink export in 2022.

We’re keen to improve our licensees understanding of these important markets, so we’re hugely excited to be joined by the OTA (US), COTA (Canada), Australia Organic, OANZ (New Zealand) and JETRO (UK-Japan) for our ‘Big Five’ export webinar on the 15th March.

At this webinar, attendees will not only hear insights and advice from senior trade association representatives in each key country, but they’ll also get access to our quick guides to each of the ‘Big Five’ to inform and inspire export planning.

Speakers

Niki Ford - Chief Executive Officer, Australian Organic

Niki joined peak industry body Australian Organic Limited (AOL) in 2018 and as the organisation’s first CEO has led discussion between Government and Industry to successfully negotiate the organic regulatory review for Australian domestic standards.

Over the past 24 months, Niki has been working towards AOL’s strategic priority to deliver a fit for purpose regulatory process that is consistent with the organic export requirements. Working closely with Government, Niki has played a pivotal role in establishing a strong relationship and reputation on behalf of the organic industry.

In November 2021, the Federal Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud, announced the formal review process for domestic regulatory reform would begin. This is the organisation’s biggest achievement to date, and evidence of Niki’s invaluable work behind the scenes to protect and progress the organic sector and broader Australian agriculture community.

Niki works closely with certified organic operators and the broader organic industry which spans across almost every agricultural commodity sector and manufacturing industry. Niki continues to forge and build upon Federal Government and industry stakeholder relationships both domestically and internationally and proudly represents the Australian organic industry at key industry forums, roundtables and conferences.

Alexis Carey - Associate Director for International Trade, OTA

At the Organic Trade Association (OTA), Alexis manages international programming, including the association’s USDA funding for overseas organic market development, along with several member task forces dedicated to international trade topics. These resources provide export assistance to U.S. organic companies and expand the reach of organic around the world. Alexis also facilitates dialogue on international trade issues related to organic between the U.S. government, foreign governments, and U.S. organic stakeholders.

In her time with OTA, Alexis has traveled to dozens of cities around the world with U.S. exporters promoting U.S. organic agricultural products, and educating consumers on the benefits of U.S. organic products. Alexis graduated with academic honors from American University with a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish. She has lived in Santiago, Chile and Rome, Italy, and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Tia Loftsgard - Executive Director, COTA

Tia Loftsgard has been the Executive Director of the Canada Organic Trade Association since 2016. Tia has worked in the field of organic and international agricultural trade for over 20 years. She got her start in organic by founding the first ever Fairtrade organic chocolate company (Camino) and has held senior roles with Fairtrade International, the fairtrade certification organization.

Tia is currently the Chair of the Organic Technical Advisory Committee with CFIA, a voting member of the Organic Standards Technical Committee, the organic representation on the Agile Regulations Agriculture Canada Roundtable and the lead on organic data with the Government of Canada.

Viv Williams - Chief Executive Officer, Organic Aotearoa NZ

Viv has extensive experience in the food sector across both private and public organisations. Most recently, Viv was Head of Strategy & Business Development at Ceres Organics. As well as leading strategic planning, she was responsible for their Bulk, Produce, Health & Beauty and Export business units along with their store in Ellerslie.

The experience gave her an excellent appreciation of the challenges faced by local and international organic value chains. Prior to this, Viv worked at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise leading the East Asia Food Programme, and at Nelson based Wakatu Incorporated as GM International for their Kono (food basket) business units.

Shumpei Iida - Director, Agriculture & Food Division, JETRO

JETRO, or the Japan External Trade Organization, is a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

Shumpei joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) in 2006 and has worked for The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in London since 2020, promoting foods and beverages from Japan in the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.