Building trust in supplier relationships - researcher from the department presents her findings at the German Association of Natural Foods and Natural Products (Bundesverband Naturkost Naturwaren e.V.)

On 22.02.2024, our colleague Maren Busch presented the results of her practical study on building trust in supplier relationships and the role of fair trade practices in times of crisis as part of a web seminar organized by the Bundesverband Naturkost Naturwaren e.V. (BNN).

Resilience in the organic food industry is not a matter of course - which is why the BNN event series "Resilient supply chains in the organic food industry" is dedicated to precisely this topic. 

The challenges are clear: volatile price developments and cost increases require robust business relationships based on mutual responsibility and trust. But how can we build trust and what influence does fairness have as a principle of action for the organic movement?

Together with Karin Artzt-Steinbrink, Chairwoman of the FairBio Association and Managing Director of Upländer Bauernmolkerei, Maren Busch led the discussion on trade practices that support the development of trust from the perspective of the organic food industry suppliers and processors interviewed. Conclusion: if organic food retailers want to maintain domestic products in a competitive market, they need to strengthen the position of agricultural producers and processors in the supply chain. This requires trust on many levels.

Links to the study:

Busch, M., Mühlrath, D. & Herzig, C. (2023) Fairness and trust in organic food supply chains. British Food Journal, Vol. 126 No. 2, pp. 864-878. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2023-0394

Busch, M., Mühlrath, D. & Herzig, C. (2023) Supply relationships under pressure: A review of fair trade practices and their influence on trust building. In: Bibic, V. & Schmidtke, K. (ed.): One Step Ahead - einen Schritt voraus! Contributions to the 16th Scientific Conference on Organic Farming, Verlag Dr. Köster, Berlin. https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/50666/