The Covid-19 pandemic exposed serious gaps in globalized agricultural food supply chains, spanning from globalization to security, from safety to risk management, and from field to fork.
AgriBusiness Forum 2021 focused on overcoming these challenges in line with the CAP2021-2027 and EU Recovery Fund strategies, aiming to promote the “green” and “digital” transition and assess the impact of climate change.
AgriBusiness Forum serves as an inclusive platform to shape a robust, comprehensive, and coherent dialogue on viable, sustainable, traceable, and resilient agricultural food systems in Greece and worldwide, considering global and national emerging trends and constraints, including the “One Health” approach.
The 4th International Conference of AgriBusiness Forum was held on October 6–7, 2021, in Athens, Greece. The conference emphasized “Transitioning Food and Agricultural Systems to the Green and Digital Age.” It featured 9 high-caliber sessions, 45 focus areas, and 50 speakers from Greece and around the world.
The conference was attended physically by leading businesses, financial services, innovative farmers, policymakers, researchers, and academia. ABF2021 was also offered online by reducing registration fees. AgriBusiness Forum is committed to advancing knowledge for digitizing the agricultural food value chain and digital transformation and serves as a key platform to enhance innovations and integrate partnerships for viable, sustainable, traceable, and resilient agricultural food systems in Greece and beyond.
The conference opened on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, by Mr. Giannis Balakakis, Chairman of the Agricultural Work Forum Organizing Committee and President of the Geo-Routes Institute, and Nabil Gangi, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The conference featured 50 distinguished speakers from various fields, including significant participants from Turkey.
In the second session, titled “Building Modern Rural Economies by Empowering Women Entrepreneurs,” topics discussed included challenges women face in accessing markets, risk management in the agricultural sector, Green Entrepreneurship and Digital Platforms, and Women Entrepreneurship. The session was coordinated by:
- Fatma Dirkes, President of the European Banking and Financial Services Training Association and Vice President of Frankfurt School of Finance
- Ilia Tamarashvili, Director General of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment
- Nardane Kuşçu, Founder of Narköy Organic Farm
- Tülin Akın, Founder of Tabit Information and Communication Technologies Inc.
- Marina Tosheska, President of the Rural Development Association of North Macedonia
- Meral Güzel, Director of UN Women Partnership
- Alia El-Yassir, UN Women Representative for Europe and Central Asia