Looking Towards a Better Future

We started off the day with a very lovely continental
breakfast at the Guennewig Hotel in Bonn, Germany. After breakfast we loaded the bus and headed for the office of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement,
or more commonly known as IFOAM. We were greeted there by Mr. Thomas Cierpka, director of member relations and human resources. He spoke to us about the growing presence of organic food in the global market due to the increase of demand by consumers. He believes that we have the potential to feed the entire population with just organic products.
His presentation was interesting because it was in direct contrast to what we
heard from other companies who support genetically modified organisms like ADM,
Monsanto, and BASF to name a few.

Following his presentation we hopped back on the bus and drove to Tonisvorst, Germany for lunch and a tour of the Metro future store, Real. Their French chef served lunch, and man was it delicious. We split into two groups in order to tour the future store without disrupting customer flow. They have an incredible amount of innovations ranging from interactive projection games and self-checkout aisles to robots to a grocery list on your phone. The robot was named Ally and she was quite friendly. The new inventions that they have implemented within their store have allowed for less returns and higher profits and quicker checkout times. After the tour concluded some of the students returned to the store to experience the different types of shopping first hand.

Tonight we were treated to a traditional German dinner by executives from OSI/Esca Foods.  Some of our more daring IBIP-ers branched out to try the pork tar tar and found that it was suprisingly enjoyable.  We also were able to enjoy a good conversation with the executives.

One of the highlights of the day was the 19th birthday of one of our fellow students. She recieved the Gruben Gold beer from the restaurant/brewery where we dined; Our busdriver also kicked off the night with a group dance party on the bus.

Hopefully our future as we leave for the Netherlands will be just as wonderful as the past week has been.

Posted by Anthony Rhodes, Katie Lorge, Hania Solecka, Matt Wassman