Steve Alaerts, director of Foodcareplus, has recently been nominated and elected to the Board of the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) and is designated as chairman of their Supply Chain Council. IFPA, a trade association, represents global fresh produce and floral companies. They advocate, connect and guide to enhance members’ prosperity.
Foodcareplus, specializing in integrated international market access and logistics services for the fresh produce and food industry, is a long-standing member who has substantially contributed to the IFPA events and initiatives.
During his three-year chair term, Steve Alaerts plans to foster more vital collaboration between the various fresh produce supply chain actors, including service providers and carriers, and bring the relevant global logistics perspective.
Steve comments about how he intends to contribute during his tenure: “In my capacity as chair, I’ll work with the IFPA team and the Supply Chain Council members to build the fresh produce supply chain of the future. How? Primarily by evolving from the current paradigm characterized by adversarial relationships among stakeholders into a knowledge-sharing platform.
Secondly, we should increase awareness about understanding the fresh produce industry. Finally, we must facilitate the exchange of critical data amongst recognized specialists, whether or not brought together in a cross-company collaboration.”
These areas for improvement will allow us to evolve towards a collaborative model with mutual respect and understanding for each other’s business.
This joint effort will deliver value to IFPA’s members, resulting in less waste, more secure monitoring, better margins for growers and maximizing returns for all stakeholders.
Besides Steve’s chair, Foodcareplus will, as an active member, contribute to the IFPA Sustainability Areas of Focus being “Food Waste / Food Loss” and “Climate/Carbon/GHG emissions”. We support these objectives in our long-term approach and daily operations. Therefore, Foodcareplus also endorses IFPA’s Ethical Charter. After all, this fits entirely into the sustainable strategy and corporate social responsibility that Remant Group is firmly committed to. How we take this to heart and the concrete actions are on our website.
