global conclusion
The partners of the MED BIO Distri Net two-year project have been working in order to accompany companies engaged in the processing and distribution of organic products.
A comprehensive economic analysis of the sector has been carried on through both a quantitative and a qualitative research in all participating regions.
- The quantitative analysis involved 17.302 companies in the six regions, out of which 1.285 have been identified as operating with organic products.
- The quantitative research has been carried on interviewing 310 companies operating in the processing and distribution of organic products and identified as common constraints to their development quality control, marketing (including packaging) and innovation issues.
It is the first time in Europe that such a comprehensive and trans national analysis is carried on. Its results have been widely diffused through 7 regional conferences attended by a total of 412 professionals involved in the production, processing and distribution of organic products. Amongst the 45 external speakers at these conferences, 15 were representatives of regional governments, 6 experts from University and organic certification bodies, 3 representatives of associations and 19 companies operating in the processing and distribution of organic products who shared their knowledge and experience with the participants.
The www.med-bio.org web site has been made available since 1.06.2005 and will remain on line till 31.12.2006.
From 1.06.2005 to 12.06.2006, the site registered 4.348 connections from 2.640 single users, for a total of 24.096 page views with an average of 5 pages per visitor.
The pilot action carried on by the partners was focussed on the organisation of a training session joined by 33 companies on three subjects previously identified :
- quality control
- eco-packaging
- marketing of organic products
The experts dealt with the following basic issues :
- new conservation processes
- the eco-impact of packaging
- identification of customers' needs
- evaluation of marketing promotions return.
This training, organised in Barcelona in March 2006 during the fair Alimentaria, has been positively evaluated by 85% of the participating companies.
The European dimension of this pilot action allowed the participating companies from different countries and sectors to develop useful contacts, exchange of views and experiences and possible future business relations. In order to guarantee a comprehensive trans national approach, even the experts involved in the training have been selected in France, Italy and Spain.
Following the pilot action, the partners identified a methodology to reproduce this experience at regional level, as part of a more comprehensive local action on the organic sector.