Ángeles Parra, director of BioCultura: "The pandemic has multiplied the demand for organic food"

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36 years ago, a handful of Catalan activists came to Madrid to propose to Mayor

the innovative idea of ​​a Fair of Ecological Products.

Among them was

(Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 1960), who over time would take the helm of BioCultura, supported by the great Vida Sana family. What started as a sample of responsible consumption alternatives ended up curdling into a critical mass that allowed organic food to take off throughout our geography. With a presence in six cities, the pandemic slowed the organic growth of the fair, which this year held its first "online" contest. Ángeles Parra trusts that this reinvention will consecrate BioCultura as "a living manual for change", now that it is the "millennials" who pull the car and make visible "this economy that has been in the making for decades."

How has the pandemic affected the bio sector?

Has growth slowed or, on the contrary, has there been a greater environmental awareness? The pandemic has multiplied the demand for organic food.

People are worrying a lot about having a strong and resilient immune system.

And this is largely achieved with an organic, local, seasonal and healthy diet.

Hence, the sector's indices do not stop growing, despite the crisis.

At the time of confinement, many small producers had a very bad time.

But those who have survived are recovering well and have created "anti-Covid19" strategies to broaden their expectations ... Large distributors have seen demand increase, and organic food is already everywhere.

But at the same time, due to the deep crisis, many people have less purchasing power and think about it a lot when it comes to spending.

Why are "green" products more expensive? They are not more expensive from a health, environmental and social point of view, but basically much cheaper.

But right now conventional production is "superbonded" by national and international legislation, false myths in the media, the distorted law of supply and demand ... There should be laws that penalize products that are harmful to nature and For humanity, industries should be forced to internalize the cost of what they pollute.

Ugh, if all this were made conventional products, they would be very expensive!

On the other hand, I verify every week that organic ovolacteo-vegan food is cheaper than conventional food.

You change your chip, you buy more in season and looking at the offers, you produce more at home (do it yourself), you buy directly from the producer, etc.

And, in the end, the result is more than positive.

The McKinsey report on consumption patterns reveals in fact how demand has exploded in our neighboring countries in the last year. Are we becoming more European? "Bio" products are already in many mainstream supermarkets, and that has skyrocketed consumption .

I remind you of a quote from

, partner at McKinsey & Company: "Food retailers that take effective measures to face major changes, such as the growth of the online channel or consumer interest in healthy products, have an opportunity unique to gain market share "... The fight or the positioning of the greats in a new battlefield has already begun: the bio.

For example,

has achieved 40% penetration in Spanish households over the last five years and already occupies second place in the organic market share.

However, the highest position on the podium goes to

They have been betting on organic products for 30 years in France;

It has more than 2,000 products on its shelves.

They even have several establishments exclusively dedicated to organic products in Madrid and Barcelona.

Paradoxically, in the last year the consumption of online products and the purchase in proximity stores has simultaneously skyrocketed. Who will win in that pulse? It remains to be seen.

We live in a very complex world.

The consumption of organic food is growing and there are also many people who continue to eat more and more processed products.

Increase local consumption while

continues to dominate.

Everything happens at the same time.

Both large and small are already for sale online.

On the other hand, the large distribution has launched very creative campaigns, even bordering on insult.

What at first glance might seem negative has a positive aspect: the specialized sector has to continue re-inventing itself. There is also that pulse between the long-awaited return to "normality" and "what was before is no longer valid for us." Will he win this time? We, of course, are not left with what was before, which is what has led us to this disaster, or with what is now.

New paths will have to be found.

In order to face the great challenges that we have, it is necessary to relocate the economy, decarbonize it, green it and provide it with common sense.

Avoiding usury and speculation and transnational monopolies is crucial.

More important still is creating control tools for life-threatening science and technology activities.

Without a "precautionary principle", whatever the field, all innovation should be prohibited: especially in fields such as genetic modification or the chemical industry.

And what has been the impact of 2020 on Bioculture, with that precipitous transition to the virtual by Covid? To us, to Vida Sana / BioCultura, this year of 2020 has limited us a lot, like so many people around the planet.

We do not know, yes, if it will be for better or for worse.

Faced with the impossibility of holding physical fairs, but faced with the need to continue talking about everything that interests us, we have taken a turn towards the virtual, waiting for us to return to the old "a-normality".

BioCultura On has meant an attempt to fight against all odds so as not to stop promoting the ecological.

But we are happy, some sixty exhibitors have participated in this first virtual fair and more than 170 activities have been held with experts in all subjects related to organic food, organic cosmetics, ethical finance, sustainable fashion.

For many, the first edition of BioCultura in 1985 was the germ of an unstoppable revolution ... Something similar could happen with BioCultura ON, which was held from January 21 to 23.

Where were you at the first edition of Biocultura? I was in Madrid, when I was 25 years old, crazy about changing things and creating a more beautiful world.

It was the first seed that was planted in Spain for a paradigm shift that we are still forging today.

Our idea was to be wherever we were called to do honest work and for the common good.

And we had a meeting with the old professor, Don Enrique Tierno Galván, where we expressed our concern about contaminated food and the environment.

He offered to help us with a proposal for the future, and that's where the idea for BioCultura came from.

And what was the secret to reaching a critical mass and turning it into a popular phenomenon, with more than 100,000 visitors in four days? The success lies in the fact that BioCultura is something extraordinarily activist and rebellious, but we do it with joy, with good humor , With a desire to live.

BioCultura is a living manual for change, at the same time it is a true shuttle for companies and projects, a hotbed of ideas, solutions, It is organized by a non-profit NGO that is the Vida Sana association, and that gives us everything credibility.

We do not seek economic benefit, we are free to say and to summon whoever we want to report what is being done wrong.

We do not marry anyone ... Well, yes, with the beauty of the world that we have and that we do not want to destroy.

And what we discovered is that we are not few, that we are more and more "bioculturers"

. However, the online edition has brought you closer to South America and young people.

Are new doors opening? The profile of the average consumer of organic food has changed a lot, and these changes are accelerating by leaps and bounds.

Before, it was a mature woman, mother and / or grandmother, the one who pulled the cart, never better said, from the organic sector.

Now, the majority are "millennials".

The public is getting younger and younger.

All this is also manifested at the fair, of course.

And yes, with the virtual fair we have reached more public in Latin America, but there is still a lot to do in that field.

Will the next appointment be face-to-face again? We are already there.

It will be held, God willing, in July in Barcelona, ​​as always at the Palau Sant Jordi.

We will adopt all the necessary measures to be able to carry it out with guarantees of success in all senses.

Do you think that 2020 can be in the end a point of reflection and turning point?

Will the connection between health and the environment finally be made? There is no doubt that we are at a very special moment in human history.

More and more people are discovering why we have come this far, what is behind the pandemic and what are the greatest dangers that threaten our species and all others.

The great challenges we face have their origin in the action of the human being.

We must radically change course.

If we don't, a great disaster, which we are already seeing, is guaranteed.

If the system does not change course, we, at least, can change ours by opting for a respectful and simple way of life.

The climate crisis is already recognized by all.

However, it makes me sick to listen to politicians when they talk about creating solutions to adapt to climate change. Adapt?

How long are we going to keep making mistakes?

When are we going to wake up to change things in the bud?

I despair, but I still think that we still have time to save ourselves in our world.

Who makes up the great Vida Sana family? We are many people working for many years.

Some are gone, others continue, and people who have contributed a lot have also joined.

Currently we are 14 people.

Each one has their own perspective, but by far the things that unite us, everything that we converge on, prevail.

works, and very hard, in everything that is the educational field, of training, of new projects.

.. they are in everything that is administrative and commercial.

deals with new technologies.

are in charge of our information media, such as The Ecologist or El Ecomensajero Digital.

takes our communication, a great task, without which we would not be known so much "if you do not communicate, you do not exist".

Elena Sordo, our nutritionists and coordinator of the Mamaterra children's festival,

Ah!

And myself, Angeles Parra, coordinating all the activity and directing this fantastic team.

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