Almeria, Spain (July 1, 2024) — On June 17-21, the International Seed Federation (ISF) attended the 34th Annual Conference of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA). This event gathered 350 participants from academia and the food retail industry, focusing on innovation and sustainability to ensure food security.
ISF and seed companies Gautier Semences, Sakata, and Semillas Fitó sponsored the conference’s Student Case Competition, which asked 150 students worldwide to explore the seed industry's role in delivering innovative and sustainable solutions for human and animal feed. Over 26 teams worked intensively for eight hours, presenting their findings to industry representatives at the Business Forum.
ISF would like to thank all the talented young leaders who joined the competition, and congratulates the winners for each category:
- Early career professionals: Food HQ (New Zealand)
- Graduate: Purdue University Life Science (United States)
- Undergraduate: Illinois State University (United States)
At the conference, ISF Sustainability and Value Chain Manager Ben Rivoire delivered the keynote address of the panel discussion, "The Seeds of Disruption: Re-imagining Genetics and Novel Agrifood Ecosystems," with panelists Eduard Fitó, President of Semillas Fitó and Antonio Villaroel, Director-General of ANOVE. They were joined by downstream value chain players from Unica Group, a food distributors cooperative. This dialogue was moderated by Jack Keeys of the IFAMA Young Board.
