The Third Edition of the European Food & Agribusiness Seminar (EFAS) will be held in Rome from 18 - 21 October 2009. EFAS is the only executive seminar of its kind in Europe that offers top-ranked executives in the global food system to interact with each other on the current and future challenges of the industry. The seminar is based on real-life business cases and has been developed along the lines of the successful agribusiness seminar of Harvard Business School. In each case the CEO or a senior executive will be present to receive and discuss the comments and suggestions of the participants. Registration for the seminar is now open.
This seminar will be organised by Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre) in collaboration with Prof. Ray Goldberg, Emeritus Professor of Harvard University. It will contribute to the needs of top executives in the food industry and related organisations when exchanging thoughts about the constantly changing market and the rapidly advancing technological developments. This year the global economic, financial and food crisis will have an impact on how is looked at the global food system as a whole as well as at the individual case studies. EFAS is the only platform in Europe where an exchange of ideas of this kind can take place in this way, and on this level.
This year, attention will be focused on a number of interesting companies in light of which the expected developments and the possible future strategies will be discussed. In the first place, this will feature the Japanese company Kikkoman, the world’s largest producer of soy sauce; a company established more than 350 years ago and so one that has already withstood very many changes and difficult periods. The second example will be Perdigão, the largest meat processing company in Brazil, that, each year for the last 15 years has achieved a growth in its annual turnover of more than 15 percent. Other companies that will be discussed include a successful Portuguese retailer (Jerónimo Martins), the main producer of agricultural machinery (John Deere) and an innovative and leading California table grapes producer (Grapery), realising a win-win relationship for all in the value added food chain. Moreover, three Dutch-based companies will be included in the program, and focus attention on the extremely successful conversion of a chemical company into a producer of functional foods and food ingredients (DSM), a megamerger of two giant producers of dairy products in order to strengthen their position in the market (FrieslandCampina), and a fast-growing company entirely devoted to the production of private label fruit juices and soft drinks (Refresco).
The EFAS program will be led by Dr Aalt Dijkhuizen, Chairman of the Executive Board of Wageningen UR. More information is available on the seminar website www.efas.wur.nl.