VALOR partners attend the Future Food and Beverage Forum

Last week, VALOR partners attended the Future of Food and Beverage Forum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The forum brings together professionals from across the food and beverage sector, including farmers, traders, investors and policymakers, focused on innovation and industry trends.

Here is what VALOR partner Yujie Zhang (Wageningen University & Research) had to say about her experience at the forum:

"Attending the Future Food and Beverage Forum was a valuable opportunity to connect our research with real-world business practice. As a researcher working on the economic value of pollination, I had the chance to speak directly with companies in the food and beverage sector about how they perceive pollinators (or biodiversity more broadly), what motivates them to take actions, and what still makes it difficult in practice.

It was encouraging to hear that several leading companies are already taking practical actions regarding pollinators, such as creating bee hotels and bee corridors. One company also shared that although pollinators were not initially a major focus for them, they became more aware of the issue because the farmers they work with only care about pollinators. Another interesting observation was that some companies are already using tools such as ENCORE to assess nature-related dependencies and impacts.

But at the same time, for most companies, biodiversity remains difficult to measure, and the direction of action is not always straightforward. Several conversations highlighted that making biodiversity visible in decision-making often requires translating it into the language of finance, risk, and business value.

This is exactly where I see an important gap, and where VALOR can contribute: by helping translate knowledge on pollination and ecosystem services into practical insights that companies, investors, and policymakers can act upon."

Yujie Zhang (Wageningen University & Research)

To help bridge this gap, partners at Wageningen University are also running a survey exploring companies' awareness, attitudes, and practices related to wild pollinators. Learn more.