GrainCom Events SA was established in March 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. The company’s three partners consist of Mr. Dan Basse, principal of Chicago AgResource, who is a well-known expert in the grain and oilseed industry, Mr. Gert-Jan van Noortwijk, who was a grain trader and broker in the past and in 2017 was the president of the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) and Mr. James Dunsterville, who was a grain merchant, the founder of AgriNews and Agflow and the GlobalGrain event.
The partners of GrainCom Events SA, with more than 140 years of experience in the grain and oilseeds industry, responded to the market’s need to hold a new event “from the industry to the industry”, and thus the first GrainCom event was held in 2021. Now, after three successful events, 2024 GrainCom is about to be held.
The GrainCom Team’s Approach Is to Anticipate the Future of the Grain Industry
James Dunsterville, Executive Director of GrainCom Conference firstly said about the main goals of GrainCom Conference: The goal of GrainCom Events SA partners is to hold an informative and forward-looking event. In fact, due to the increase in the speed of changes in the grain and oilseeds industry, the category of future prediction has become very important. Therefore, by inviting senior experts to provide their valuable opinions about the future of the industry (from farm to table), we are looking for better performance in this industry.
Added to this, participants in the grain industry also want to have a friendly opportunity for networking, discussion, and meeting old and new friends, and GrainCom is definitely an excellent platform for these purposes.
GrainCom Panels, a Microscope for Predicting the Future
Regarding the way of choosing topics for the GrainCom conference, he said: The GrainCom team tries to choose topics for the presentations and panels that are not only related to the current state of the world but also look at the future perspective. Nothing stays the same for long. It is important for delegates to gain completely objective views from senior industry experts as well as from the wider field, particularly those involving geopolitics and policy.
Today, companies’ activities must comply with many laws and regulations such as compliance, sustainability, sanctions, etc., so it is important for representatives to be well aware of these issues. Therefore, every year we try to take a creative approach and ensure that the content of the presentations and panels is the best in their field.
Geneva; a City to Change the Formula of Influencers in the Grain Industry
He went on to evaluate the relationship between the GrainCom conference and international forums and said: The GrainCom conference will be held in Geneva, in other words, in the hub of the grain and oilseed industry. In fact, it is a city where international companies, including merchants and services, are located. Therefore, industry participants from other countries come to Geneva not only for the GrainCom conference but also with the knowledge that they can meet the main international influencers of the industry.
GrainCom is a very broad combination of representatives from various industry sectors around the world. In addition, the GrainCom team tries to use international experts as much as possible for the presentations and panels.
GrainCom; the Meeting Point of Consumers and Merchants
The executive director of the GrainCom conference answered whether this conference had an impact on the interaction of grain traders with the market of grain consumers and countries in the Middle East, including Iran, and said: Yes, it has been very effective because one of the important aspects of GrainCom is networking. The industry is like a big family, and for that reason, conference delegates welcome meeting old friends and making new connections.
Today, the attractive markets for producers, traders, and services are the consumer countries of the Middle East and North Africa. They mainly source their goods from the Black Sea region and Geneva, and thus GrainCom is the meeting point for consumers and suppliers (traders). Due to the fact that it is difficult to find stable and reliable suppliers, it has caused a challenge for consumers, who have been provided an opportunity to participate in this discussion by attending GrainCom.
Panel of Grain Consumers; the Most Attractive Panel for Global Traders
He further reminded: GrainCom has a special panel for consumers, and the theme of GrainCom 2024 is, “To what extent do new consumer trends affect the purchasing strategy? Are we moving beyond feeding people and paying more attention to nutrition, quality, sustainability, safety, traceability and localization?” We have also welcomed iranGrain to present a special panel on Iran and we hope more countries will do so in future GrainCom events.
GrainCom Continues to Be One Step Ahead of Global Trends…
At the conclusion of the upcoming GrainCom conference and its role in the development and promotion of the global network between all parts of the industry from farm to fork, he said: It is important to understand that the partners of GrainCom Events are not event managers, but each has an independent activity in the grain and oilseeds market. Therefore, GrainCom is completely managed from an industry-to-industry perspective. We are keen for GrainCom to continue and even expand to other regions, but only if there is demand. There are many conferences out there and we do not see the need to hold a conference just for the sake of having an event!
We are keen to maintain GrainCom as a global event and perhaps even inspire the development of a changing industry, not only in how product and supply is changing in terms of location and food type (more pulses, less grains), but also includes how the demand and diet of consumers is changing. That is, while maintaining the activity of the global network, we try to be one step ahead of the trends, and finally, all the developments in the grain industry happen based on the consumer’s wishes.
