INDUSTRY EVENTS

SAFEF and its Associate Member, ROCKWOOL, held a Webinar on “Precision Growing by Grodan” for SAFEF Members on 3 May 2023 to share how Grodan’s growing media solutions in urban farming can potentially enable farms to grow more with less.

The webinar enabled participants to understand how Grodan’s stone wool, as a growing medium, increases crop yield and quality while reducing resource usage, and how the principle of Precision Growing enables sustainable production of tasty, healthy and safe fresh produce for consumers.

The webinar was attended by 11 attendees from 3 companies. A poll conducted at the end of the webinar showed that all the respondents rated the webinar “Good” or “Excellent”, as they saw the usefulness and relevance of Grodan’s growing media solutions to urban farming.

SAFEF, Urban Solutions and Sustainability Innovation & Enterprise Office, and Singapore Food Agency jointly organised the inaugural Agri-Themed Workshop on Sustainable Farming which brought together a diverse group of over 80 like-minded stakeholders, including growers, researchers, technologists, solution providers and policymakers, to promote the ecosystem in R&D capabilities and explore the latest innovations in farming technologies.

Held on 6 April 2023, A*STAR, Republic Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic delivered informative presentations which enabled participants to gain useful insights on agritech capabilities and recent innovations that can support precise, sustainable and resilient urban farming; improve plant quality and yield; and reduce harvest time. Participants also actively participated in the roundtable discussion, facilitated by A*STAR’s Operations and Technology Roadmap team, sharing challenges and opportunities to improve farming operations and business.

A poll conducted at the event showed that most of the respondents found the workshop useful and relevant to their business, and most of the companies were keen to attend future workshops to learn more about agriculture technologies and explore opportunities for collaboration.

SAFEF and Republic Polytechnic (RP) co-organised a Workshop on the Latest Innovations in Agriculture Technology, Aquaculture Technology, Analytical Solutions & Food Innovation, on 1 March 2023 at RP. The event included a guided tour of The Greenhouse, Aquaria, Sustainable Technology & Analytical Research Laboratory, and Food Innovation & Analysis Laboratory to give participants a first-hand look at RP’s facilities and the opportunity to sample RP’s capabilities in food innovation. Attended by 17 participants from 7 organisations, participants found out how RP’s capabilities, facilities and collaboration opportunities can help in supporting agriculture and aquaculture including analysing and innovating farm produce to potentially benefit the farms’ operations and business. A poll conducted at the event showed that all the respondents rated the usefulness and relevance of RP’s capabilities to their business as “Good” or “Excellent”, and over 70% of the organisations are interested to find out more about how they can tap on RP’s capabilities.

After a 2-year hiatus due to COVID-19, SAFEF brought back its annual Chinese New Year gathering to celebrate CNY and usher in the lunar new year together with the SAFEF Family.

Joining in the celebrations at SAFEF’s CNY ‘Lo Hei’ Lunch on 3 February 2023 was VIP Guest – SAFEF Patron Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment & Manpower.

SAFEF’s Members have been very busy ensuring that their customers get their Chinese New Year supplies in time, especially this year, when en masse get-togethers are once again permitted.  We therefore thank all our Members who made the extra effort to take some time off their busy schedule to join our Directors and senior management from Singapore Food Agency to wish everyone a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year filled with joy and good fortune!

World Aquaculture was held in Singapore for the first time from 30 November to 2 December 2022, with the involvement of countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

SAFEF was pleased to participate under the Singapore Pavilion alongside 12 SAFEF Members who took part in this major international trade show to showcase their latest aquaculture technologies to visitors from around the world.

The event was attended by over 3,500 trade visitors from 82 countries.

More than 130 farmers and industry associates from 33 organisations came together to celebrate SAFEF’s 5^th Anniversary on 22 November 2022 at Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium! Special guests included Dr Koh Poh Koon, SAFEF Patron & Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) & Manpower, who was the Guest-of-Honour for the event; Mr Desmond Tan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office & Deputy Secretary General of National Trades Union Congress; SAFEF’s Governing Council, as well as invited guests from MSE and Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

Mr George Huang, SAFEF Chairman opened the event by thanking SMS for his unstinting support as SAFEF’s Patron since its inception in 2017, MOS for his active engagement with the industry during his stint at MSE, and everyone for their spirit of mutual respect and collaboration.

In his Keynote Address, SMS Dr Koh commended SAFEF on being steadfast in its mission to promote, elevate and transform the industry for the future; congratulated SAFEF on its achievements over the past 5 years; and announced the launch of an industry guide for sea-based farms which was co-developed by SFA and relevant government agencies with contributions from SAFEF. SMS also announced that SFA is working with SAFEF and the industry to launch two new Alliances for Action (AfA) – one to look into demand and supply aggregation of local produce, and another to build greater mindshare for local produce through consumer education and branding.