EBDA in February 2023
Demeter Egypt participated in the Agriculture conference
The conference was organized by the agricultural section of the Goetheanum from 1.-4.February 2023. Angela Hofmann and Hend Hany from Demeter Egypt (EBDA) joined the Agriculture Conference 2023. The topic was “Reflections on Biodynamic Agriculture as a Cultural Impulse Towards the 100th Anniversary of Biodynamics”. The conference has daily open spaces, workshops and artistic courses during the 4 days besides the main panels and lectures during the day.
Data visualization workshop
The EBDA team attended a workshop about Digital Visualization at Heliopolis University organized by Organic Egypt project. It was a workshop for promoting the team, unfolding the potential of the employee, keeping the team updated with all the technology trends, and developing their skills. Learning more about producing different types of charts and graphs.
Preparations for a livetalk Tedx Tagmoaa with Justus Harm
Justus Harm will be one of the speakers at Tedx Et Tagamoa at AUC, telling the inspirational story of the Economy of Love .The script shared how the Economy of Love is a transformational tool that can change the agribusiness sector in Egypt.
Social Initiative Forum!
Social Initiative Forum “COP27 Follow-up” took place at Heliopolis University on the 8th of February and was dedicated to the exploration of opportunities for better climate change management in three main fields: regenerative agriculture, education, and business. The panelists represented different organizations including USAID, the British Council, the University of Sadat City, Technical University Košice in Slovakia, National Bank of Egypt, Center of Organic Agriculture in Egypt, Agri Soft, Sekem, Elsewedy Electric, Redcon Construction, Lobby Egypt and the Egyptian Clothing Bank. During the forum, they presented real-life examples of climate actions across multiple sectors. The discussions raised such topics as:
which role education plays in climate action, how to support the theoretical knowledge of students with practice, the importance of new technologies in education, and how research projects can find solutions to real-life challenges.
how climate change will affect the future of the private sector, the importance of media in raising awareness for businesses to discover current challenges and develop in the right direction, and which initiatives and nature-based solutions businesses can already adopt in their work. why regenerative agriculture is an ultimate solution to climate change, hunger, and economic crises, the role of carbon credits in the transition to regenerative agriculture practices, and how microfinance and modern technologies can support farmers.
Producers Trust Visited the EBDA
The Economy of Love team was honored to host Gabriel Morgen, a CTO development at Producers Trust. He visited the EBDA and SEKEM farms to develop the data entry system of the EoL farmers and to help our team. He visited many farms in Ismailia and Sharqia to observe the work system of the farmers and engineers. Providing them with innovative solutions to facilitate the process of registering EoL farmers.
EBDA participated in the “ From waste to good taste event for sustainable fashion“
On 23,24,25 February 2023
Demeter Egypt supports an event called “ from waste to good taste event for sustainable fashion event“ for three days raising awareness about organic cotton and sustainable fashion ,eol carbon credits. Participated in a panel discussion called industry and sustainable and Dr. Maximilian Abouleish focused on the role of the farmer in mitigating climate change and the true cost of buying one t-shirt.
EoL Biodiversity scheme and progress
The Economy of Love biodiversity team did pioneer research at Sekem Wahat farm and a neighboring EBDA farm.
-Different biodiversity monitoring methods were tested and evaluated.
-Many new insights were gained into how biodiversity farms can be assessed for the calculation of biodiversity credits. The team is excited about the progress and are looking forward to further developing the biodiversity tool.
EBDA Projects’ Progress
- Proposal for Wahat green heart project with nicolas & victor was submitted to Organic Egypt.
- 2 workshops with the farmer were done for the Regionalwert project to collect data for the performance tool adjustments.
- Farm 4 climate project preparation for the upcoming workshop in Wahat and an activity report was submitted for the project partners.
- Desalt project farm visits and following up with responsible agronomists in Mizan farm.
- Preparation house proposal in SEKEM farm.
Three new members joined the EBDA !
With Eng. Attia Sobhy and Three Egyptian land owners total area 117 acres in Suess, Alex desert road and el-fayoum region. They heard from him the vision and mission of the EBDA, its history and services for converting farms into organic and biodynamic farms and about the demeter & EoL standards and regulations. They registered with him and now they are officially members of the EBDA.
A visit to beni-suef to visit several farmers there (Danone)
The EBDA team was in Beni Suef to meet the Danone farmers to give them an awareness session about organic farming and the Economy of Love. Additionally, to conduct research about the capacity.
Economy of Love in Biofach 2023 !
BIOFACH is the biggest exhibition for organic products worldwide, where the opportunity for networking with international stakeholders is significant. The Organic Egypt team attended this year with a lot of scheduled meetings and sessions which had displayed many interesting and insightful topics related to advocacy and marketing. It was a great chance to meet stakeholders from African organic movements like Kenya Organic Agricultural Movement (KOAN), Heritage Foods Africa, also meeting IFOAM and CIHEAM Bari representatives to share experience about organic agriculture movements.
A one-day training program for RDNA suppliers
EBDA organized a one-day training program for RDNA suppliers. This training is designed to help RDNA suppliers better understand and get to know the advantages of the various services of EBDA. This training covered the basics of the EBDA consultancy program and training system and more as well as there was a session for explaining the Economy of Love standard and its criteria, its services and the benefits of it. Moreover, with Eng. Attia Sobhy, the EBDA agricultural consultant, explained the biodynamic regulations and its criteria so that farmers and producers can get demeter certified and EoL certification as well. Eng. Naglaa Ahmed explained the EoL regulations, services and its microloans for supporting registered farmers. Eventually, they both explained how EBDA registered farmers so that they would be able to convert from conventional to organic and biodynamic agriculture.
