During the international tomato conference, which is taking place from 13-15 April in Antwerp, various interesting subjects will be discussed. "At the moment a large amount of the speakers are already known and the emphasis on these days will be of research (science) and the commercialisation of tomatoes. The speakers for the scientific part will be announced in February. So the programme will continue to develop over the next few weeks," says Ilse Ceulemans of LAVA.
Wednesday 13 April
On Wednesday 13 April Philippe Binard of Freshfel will talk about the production and consumption of tomatoes in the EU. In the afternoon there will be parallel session, both on research and commercialisation. Speakers from different production regions in the EU will look into the trends of tomato production when it comes to segmentation, differentiation, marketing and commercialisation methods. These countries and people are already known: Belgium: Raf De Blaiser (LAVA), France: Marie Deredec (Prince de Bretagne), The Netherlands: Arne van Aalst (Prominent), Scandinavia: Olle Olofsson (Svenska Odlarlaget), Spain: Jan van der Blom (Coexphal).
Thursday 14 April
There will also be parallel session on Thursday 14 April with the topics research and commercialisation. Here Rony Neufkens of Colruyt Group and Ward Verberck of Metro will gives speeches. Other national and international retailers will also give their opinions on the segmentation and sales methods from the view of the consumer. The question is: what are the consumer's desires in the area of tomatoes?
The food service sector will also speak. The use of tomatoes in the past and the future will be discussed. In the afternoon there will be speakers from the companies Autogrill Europe, Elvea, Starmeal and Reynolds. In the afternoon people will also be able to listen to how sustainability and fair trade influences the production, marketing and commercialisation of tomatoes. The following companies will present on this: Vredeseilanden, Res Sense and Test Aankoop. At the end of the afternoon, trend watcher Adjiedj Bakas will gives his views on tomatoes. Then visitors can enjoy a dinner at Radisson Blu.
Friday 15 April
On the last day of the tomato conference, people can chose between two different tours. On the first tour you start at BelOrta in Sint-Katelijne-Waver. Then the group goes to the Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt and a number of cultivation companies are visited in the afternoon. The second tour goes to Veiling Hoogstraten. The group will also stop at a testing station here. After lunch various growers will be visited.