Fruit Logistica Future Lab

The event schedule for Fruit Logistica, the leading trade fair for the global fruit trade which takes place in Berlin on 5-7 April 2022, provides information on every link in the value-added chain and helps you make better business decisions.

The topic of sustainability, especially with regard to cultivation, packaging and transport, effects of the climate crisis on producers, digitisation of agriculture, and changing flows of goods are just a few of the complex challenges faced by the international fruit trade.

Substantiated responses and innovative, solution-based approaches will be presented and discussed during the Fruit Logistica’s comprehensive, supplementary expert programme.

Fresh Produce Forum
5-7 April 2022 · Hall 27
Simultaneous translation into German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish
Current and major topics that affect the entire value-added chain are discussed at the Fresh Produce Forum. Across ten one-hour sessions, participants can learn about the main challenges and explore solutions with international experts. The international fruit trade plays a massive role in feeding people every year. Fruits and vegetables are crucial economic factors for many countries. Yet social developments and global events, like the pandemic or the climate crisis, are always redefining the framework and require new responses. The Fresh Produce Forum is an important tool for overcoming these challenges. For example, customer behaviour of the future is closely examined, intelligent transportation logistics solutions are searched for, the protection of climate and biodiversity for future banana cultivation is analysed, and advanced smart technology for retail is presented.

Logistics Hub
5-7 April 2022 · Hall 26
Conference language is English
In five interactive sessions, the Logistics Hub will reflect on the past two years and try to cast a new light on some familiar topics. The global economy, which has been rocked by the pandemic, has picked up speed. But it may take longer for the effects on the supply chain for perishable goods, including the shortage of durable equipment, to be resolved. It seems that exporters’ interests in fresh goods, and shippers’ interests in general, have never been so disconnected as they are now, whereby the shippers are caught in the middle and the traditional cold storage sector is waiting in the wings with its own interests and supply chain challenges. All parties have to meet in person in order for the system to function as normally as possible. Fruit Logistica is the ideal forum for this.

Future Lab
5-7 April 2022 · Hall 2.2
Simultaneous translation into German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish
Healthy diets, regional products, avoiding food waste, and reducing the quantities of packaging materials are all becoming increasingly important to consumers. These topics are also being discussed by the speakers at the Future Lab. Gustav Nyström from the research institute Empa explains how to add value to residual products from the fruit and vegetable trade, in which highly effective cellulose fibres are extracted and sprayed onto fresh fruits as a protective coating. This is supposed to extend their shelf life and thereby reduce food waste. Salifaktur GbR is the first German company to commercially cultivate halophytes for the food service industry and wholesale. Everybody talks about asparagus, but what about sea asparagus, also known as samphire? Julian Engelmann’s presentation on the product’s regionality addresses its cultivation and potential. There is, of course, another topic to discuss: Assessing fruit crops via sensors, monitoring, and ensuring the quality of (organic) foodstuffs until the formation of a global trade network for a product.

Tech Stage
5-6 April 2022 · Hall 9
Simultaneous translation into German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish
The challenges faced by the fruit trade are manifold and often impossible to overcome without engineered solutions. From processing technology to cultivation methods, to greenhouse technology and watering systems that have a major impact on yield, developments are advancing rapidly in all areas. It is thus all the more important for those involved in the industry not to miss the critical processes and to set the course for the future at the right time. The Tech Stage is the perfect platform for this: Tevel Aerobotics discusses trends in global agricultural technology, among other things, and the role played by artificial intelligence and robotics. The supply chain specialist Tive addresses the challenges of transportation, and explains how perishable goods arrive at their destination on time and unscathed. And Moleaer uses the example of chemical-free water treatment to show how foodstuff production can be made even more sustainable and resource-friendly.

Start-up Day
7 April 2022 · Hall 9
Conference language is English
The Tech Stage becomes the Start-up Stage on 7 April. Young companies can present their business models and discuss new technology as well as their visions for the industry’s future. Digital farming, smart robots, supply chain management, the next generation of vertical farming, harvest monitoring in greenhouses with a fully automated flying drone – the topics are extremely diverse and cutting-edge.