Grounded showed its stuff at Biofach 2022, and the world took notice

In 2022, over 24,000 visitors from 137 countries attended BIOFACH’s 2022 summer event in Nuremberg – to source the best organic products, learn about the latest innovations and explore over 2,000 exhibitors. The passion of the 24,000 trade visitors was palpable. Grounded was excited to share the fruits of our labour with the who’s who of the organic world – and to not only connect with large and small buyers, but also with input and logistics providers, funders, competitors and even certification bodies. Personally meeting existing and new partners was of immense value and we’re already looking forward to BIOFACH 2023.

The Grounded stand exhibited organic spices from Trianon Spices in Tanzania, and organic honeybush tea from the Langkloof Honeybush Company in South Africa. Alongside it was Grounded Ingredients, which showcased a long list of other exciting regenerative ingredients, like organic buchu, baobab oil and rose geranium essential oil. It was inspiring to connect with likeminded companies that play various roles in the organic value chain, and who share our challenges and vision to create a better system. Over the four-day trade fair, our colleagues welcomed hundreds of guests, had countless productive exchanges, shared stories about our work, our impact, the landscapes in which we operate, and importantly, sent many home with wonderful samples.

Here’s a taster of what was on offer at the Grounded stand.

Trianon Spices is an impact-focused spice processing and exporting company that specialises in cinnamon, black pepper, clove and cardamom.

All of their spices are sourced from small farmers located around the beautiful rainforests of the Uluguru and East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania and are fully traceable to the farm level. Spices from mainland Tanzania are intrinsically high quality thanks to ideal growing conditions, and are still farmed organic by default, lowering chemical contamination risk. They are often overlooked in favour of spices grown off the coast in Zanzibar or Madagascar, but nonetheless offer clients an excellent alternative sourcing region.

The Langkloof Honeybush Company strives to serve the world’s finest honeybush, today and in the long run through sustainable wild harvesting and regenerative cultivation practices. They focus on maintaining the high quality of their tisane, while ensuring compliance with their sustainability guidelines. Together with farmers, they are working to further develop sustainable cultivation methods.

Honeybush has a honey-like scent and flavour and secondary notes that are wonderfully diverse depending on the species, provenance, harvesting, handling and processing.

Grounded Ingredients bridges the gap between conscious brands and regenerative producers in Africa by offering simple customised sourcing for brands of every size. They focus on supplying high-value, non-perishable ingredients to brands committed to responsible sourcing. Their current ingredient list consists of a wide range of teas, herbal teas, spices, roots, dried herbs, dried fruit, beeswax, carrier oils and essential oils.

Although Grounded focuses on scaling regenerative agriculture in Africa, and therefore concentrates most of our efforts here on the continent, successfully scaling regenerative agriculture in Africa depends on the market support of the rest of the world. The market has to fairly value our effort, and attending international trade fairs like BIOFACH is a vital part of achieving this positive feedback loop. It was inspiring to meet with potential customers, traders, and other buyers in the industry who value the work being done “on the ground” and want to form part of changing the unsustainable dominant agricultural system.

BIOFACH was a wonderful way to showcase our operating companies, actively engage the global market and make our mark. It can be lonely work out there, but networking and connecting with other organisations and businesses that share our vision and values gives us new energy to continue this work we believe in. We look forward to strengthening these ties and becoming a firm fixture at future BIOFACH trade fairs and in the industry.