Focus on the future as 6th Global Feed & Food Congress brings global leaders to Bangkok in March 2019

Jan 14, 2019

Bangkok – An exceptional line-up of speakers from around the world will join the upcoming 6th Global Feed & Food Congress (GFFC), which will take place in Bangkok from Monday 11 March to Wednesday 13 March 2019. Held at the exclusive Shangri-La Hotel, the GFFC theme ‘the Future of Feed & Food – are we ready?’ examines the global challenge to provide safe, affordable, nutritious and sustainable animal protein sources through innovative solutions to feed 9 billion people by 2050.

Organized by the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) with technical support provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and in collaboration with VIV worldwide, the 6th GFFC is a global platform where top-echelon representatives of science and industry, governments and intergovernmental organizations will gather to discuss the main issues confronting the global chain from feed to food.

In March 2019, confirms IFIF Chairman Dr. Daniel Bercovici, the GFFC “will be the meeting point for world-class experts and executive level stakeholders from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas from the feed & food chain.”

Staging the 6th GFFC in Thailand places it at the heart of a fast-growing region for the feed and food sector, Daniel Barcovici points out, while the focus on the future of the feed to food chain is timely, given the imperative of finding innovative solutions to feed a growing world population.

Programme highlights

Delegates will participate in sessions that range across important worldwide and regional themes, including the digital revolution in agriculture, sustainability, feed & food safety, nutritional innovation, global regulations & policy, and markets & trade.

Dr. Sorravis Thaneto, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Livestock Development will join Dr. Bercovici to open the Congress together with Dr. Berhe Tekola, Director of FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division and Pornsil Patchrintanakul, President of the Thai Feed Mill Association.

Details of the full programme can be found at www.gffc2019.com. A flavour of it comes from the plenary sessions on sustainability. Professor Ermias Kebreab of University of California-Davis will speak about how to reduce our global footprint and feed the world, followed by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) director-general Dr. Jimmy Smith on the future of farming and food. Are insects the future? Tarique Arsiwalla, 1st Vice President of the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed will look at the role of insects in sustainable agriculture.

Will the digital revolution change agriculture? David Hunt, CEO of Irish agricultural computer vision company Cainthus will provide his views, while Professor Daniel Berckmans of the University of Leuven in Belgium tackles the subject of precision livestock farming. Marieke de Ruyer de Wildt, Founder of The Fork, will explain how blockchain technology can accelerate food integrity.

A global leaders panel including Joe Stone, enterprise leader for Cargill Animal Nutrition, and Alltech CEO Dr. Mark Lyons will discuss the future of feed and food at the Wednesday 13 March closing session of the Congress.

The agenda also will cover feed and food safety along the value chain and the interactions between animal nutrition and health, with leading guest speakers from Asia, Europe and North America. Codex in relation to feed/food safety issues is among topics scheduled for Wednesday 13 March, as is the way in which global standards translate to national regulations and the convergence of technical requirements for assessing feed ingredients.

As well as leading into the show dates of VIV Asia at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre, the 2019 Global Feed & Food Congress is followed directly at its Shangri-La Hotel venue on Thursday 14 March by the 12th International Feed Regulators Meeting. It is an invitation-only event, organized by IFIF in collaboration with FAO, offering regulators and feed industry professionals from across the globe the opportunity to exchange thoughts.

Early-bird Hotel discount ending soon

There is still time to register to attend the 6th Global Feed & Food Congress using its website www.gffc2019.com. But the organizers are urging everyone to act quickly in order to secure an important discount. Delegates must register by Wednesday, 16 January 2019 if they want to obtain the special GFFC accommodation rate offered at Bangkok’s exclusive Shangri-La Hotel.

About GFFC

The Global Feed & Food Congress (GFFC) series was launched in 2005 by the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to provide a global platform for scientists, industry, governments, civil society and intergovernmental organizations to come together to discuss critical issues of food and feed safety, technology, innovation and sustainability. The tri-annual Congress has established itself as the leading global event of its kind and was last held in Antalya, Turkey, in 2016. For more information please visit http://www.gffc2019.com/.

About IFIF

The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) is made up of national and regional feed associations, feed related organizations, and corporate members from around the globe, representing over 80% of the feed production worldwide. IFIF provides provide a unified voice and leadership to represent and promote the global feed industry as an essential participant in the food chain that provides sustainable, safe, nutritious and affordable food for a growing world population. For more information on IFIF please visit www.ifif.org or contact Alexandra de Athayde, Executive Director, at info@ifif.org.

Issued by: IFIF