Hørkram CEO dressed up as a bee at the fair: "We need to understand that we are clearly exceeding the planetary boundaries"

A woman in a striking black and yellow striped bee costume was running around among the guests at the Hørkram fair in Fredericia.

In the costume was Vivi Kjærsgaard, sustainability and concept product manager at Hørkram. She wanted to draw the attention of the guests at Messe C to the serious biodiversity crisis that food production is contributing to, which, in her opinion, does not receive the attention it deserves.

"The bee is an important part of the story about sustainability and biodiversity, and the fact that food production is the biggest cause of our global environmental problems, if we don't just focus on the climate crisis," explained Vivi Kjærsgaard during a break between the presentations she gave on sustainability from a small stage under the common headline 'Fill your shopping basket wisely and create tempting, green buffets'.

"It's about understanding that we are clearly exceeding planetary boundaries with consumption that is completely off course. If everyone on Earth consumed as much as we do in Denmark, we would need 4.7 Earths," said Vivi Kjærsgaard, shaking her head so that the bee's antennae started to sway back and forth.

"Precisely, the bee is an important part of the story about how important it is that we buy some raw materials and support production that better takes care of our nature. That's what organic farming does," she said.

Products of side streams beat the real thing

The Southern Jutland dairy Naturmælk is one of the Danish companies thinking sustainably by launching products that contain side streams from their own and other companies' production, which would otherwise end up as food waste.

The products are tested at various fairs, which thus function as foodlabs, and Nelly Riggelsen, sales and marketing manager at Naturmælk, experienced that many of the guests at the Hørkram fair preferred the new drink over Naturmælk's authentic chocolate milk, which is produced at the sister dairy Øllingegaard.

Alexander Junge Nørskov, who is deputy head at Engelsholm Folk High School near Bredsten, was not in doubt:

"It tastes really good, and there is more depth in the flavor than in regular chocolate milk, so I prefer the new drink," said Alexander Junge Nørskov, who is a scout leader in his free time.

He ended up being so pleased with the new product that he took a couple of bottles home for his scout troop.

"Using side streams is a challenge we need to take on, and customers want to buy products where they can feel that we've thought it through," said Nelly Riggelsen, who expects Naturmælk to launch the still-unnamed drink around the turn of the year.

It all shouldn't be about climate

Precisely, the work of organic producers to better utilize side streams from food production is a shortcut to reducing environmental impact.

"I think that organic farming will definitely be an important part of future solutions to several of our current environmental challenges," said Vivi Kjærsgaard, who regrets that many currently talk about sustainability and climate without mentioning organic farming.

In her view, it is dangerous to focus only on elements like climate.

"While we are focused on optimizing according to climate impact, we risk losing sight of some other important factors like biodiversity and the desire for clean drinking water without pesticide residues. That's something we really want to communicate to our customers, but it is difficult to convey because it is very complex," said Vivi Kjærsgaard, who emphasized that the biodiversity crisis is just as important as the climate crisis.

Today, organic products contribute about a quarter of Hørkram's turnover, meaning that the nationwide foodservice wholesaler sells organic foods worth more than 1.2 billion DKK annually. Sales are growing, but according to Vivi Kjærsgaard, Hørkram does not have a specific target for reaching a certain percentage of organic products.

"For us, it is more important that organic farming continues to be part of the debate and awareness about sustainability," said Vivi Kjærsgaard, who had set up a small stage next to the Organic Association's dining label stand, which during the fair was visited by many professional kitchens.

Despite the impressive bee outfit, she had to admit that her presentation on sustainability and CO2 footprint struggled to compete with a huge hall filled with tastings.

The dining label cannot stand alone

In the effort to increase organic foodservice sales, Vivi Kjærsgaard highlights The Organic Dining Label as an incredibly important tool for the transition of the country's professional kitchens.

But it cannot stand alone, and she believes that politicians should help promote organic farming by creating guidelines for how public procurement should ideally be composed.

"It would especially be a big advantage if politicians explicitly addressed organic farming and said that a certain percentage of public procurement should be organic," said Vivi Kjærsgaard.

Regarding private households, she does not believe that ordinary consumers can be expected to understand what their consumption does to the land we live on — but that does not exempt them from reducing their emissions.

"We all need to be aware of how much the composition of our purchases matters, and we definitely need to eat much more plant-based. Because, in reality, there are not many grams of animal products per day that we need to stay within planetary boundaries. If only we could change our diet to follow the dietary guidelines, we would reduce CO2 emissions by 31%. We need to stop consuming resources as if it’s a one-way street where we can just draw from nature because the stock can be depleted. The planet cannot sustain what we are doing now," said Vivi Kjærsgaard.