13 May 2026
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
How to deal with New GMOs in Non-GMO feed and food chains
Summit Aims of the International Non-GMO Summit 2026
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Provide answers: How can Non-GMO labelling continue to prosper after a deregulation of New GMOs? (with a particular focus on cost-efficiency)
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Secure/support stability of existing Non-GMO markets (= keeping Non-GMO producers in business)
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Explore potential of Non-GMO markets in a landscape of coexistence with New GMOs
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Explore possible segment extensions – from Non-GMO products derived from animals to plant-based products
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Establish supplier agreements as a key tool to maintain traceability in a market where New GMOs could be present
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Spread the message: Non-GMO and organic business sectors as strategic allies in establishing traceability of New GMOs and preserving Non-GMO quality
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Involvement of the entire chain, from agriculture onwards
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The International Non-GMO Summit 2026 will be hosted and coordinated by the key business associations in the Non-GMO market.
Programme
Moderation: Dr Tanja Busse
08:00 Start of Registration
09:00 - 09:15 Welcome and formal opening
Welcome addresses (by video):
Alois Rainer
German Federal Minister of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity
Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig
Austrian State Secretary for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection
09:15 - 09:30 Keynote speech
Speaker: Tina Andres
Chairwoman of the Executive Board, BÖLW (German umbrella organisation of organic farmers, food processors, and retailers)
09:30 - 10:30 Legal framework conditions and New GMOs on the market: Challenges for the European food and feed sector
09:30 - 09:50 New GMOs legal framework in the EU: State of play
Speaker: Dr Andreas Heissenberger
Unit Head, Team Landuse & Biosafety, Environment Agency Austria
09:50 - 10:05 Why New GMOs are not equivalent to conventional breeding
Speaker: Dr Margret Engelhard
Head of Department GMO Regulation, Federal Agency for Nature conservation, Germany
10:05 - 10:30 New GMOs Market Report 2026: Which crops are present in different markets and in development pipelines?
Speaker: Dr Eva Gelinsky
Freelance scientist, semnar, Switzerland
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 - 12:30 How to exclude New GMOs in Non-GMO value chains?
11:00 - 11:30 Adapting existing Non-GMO standards to exclude New GMOs and their derivates
Speaker: Kerstin Geißler
Head Quality Assurance, Association Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG), Germany
Speaker: Jens Karg
Senior Policy Advisor, ARGE Gentechnik-frei, Austria
11:30 - 11:45 Smart Seed Choices: Minimising GMO Contanimation Risk on Farm
Speaker: Dr Freya Schäfer
Senior Scientist, FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture), Germany
11:45 - 12:30 Excluding New GMOs in value chains: State of play in the development of detection methods
Speaker: Dr Marie-Alice Fraiture
Senior scientist, Sciensano, Belgium (DARWIN Project)
12:30 - 13:45 Lunch break
13:45 - 14:45 Panel discussion: How will practitioners deal with a new EU legislation?
Panelists:
Barbara Endraß
Organic farmer, Co-owner Biohof Endraß, Germany
Martine Boon
Managing Director, GMP+ International, The Netherlands
Yvonne Profanter
Head of Global Communication, Loacker AG, S.p.A., Italy
14:45 - 15:15 Market update: Worldwide supply and demand of Non-GMO soy
Speaker:
Susanne Fromwald
Director Strategic Partnership, Donau Soja, Austria
Emese van Maanen
Managing Director, ProTerra Foundation, The Netherlands
15:15 - 15:45 Under new legislation: Exploring future potential for Non-GMO labelling
Speaker: Prof Dr Holger Buxel
Professor, FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, Germany
15:45 - 16:00 Conclusion and Call to Action
16:00 Finish with Coffee and Cake
Moderation
Tanja Busse
Author and Moderator
Dr Tanja Busse writes books on agriculture, nutrition and biodiversity and she moderates conferences. She studied journalism and philosophy in Dortmund, Bochum and Pisa. Her latest book, published with Christiane Grefe ("Der Grund") is about protecting our soils.
Web: www.tanjabusse.de
Speakers & Panelists
 Tina AndresChairwoman Executive Board, BÖLW (German umbrella organisation of organic farmers, food processors, and retailers) Tina Andres began her career in the 1990s with the Bioland South Tyrol growers' association. She co-founded the cooperative Landwege eG in Lübeck in 2006. From 2017 to 2021, Tina served on the board of the German Federation of Organic Food and Natural Products (BNN). Since November 2021, she has been the chairwoman of the BÖLW, the leading German organic food industry association. |  Martine BoonManaging Director, GMP+ International, The Netherlands Martine has been Managing Director of GMP+ International since 2024. Before that, Martine built a career at Rabobank, the world’s leading Food & Agri bank and worked as Director of Food & Agri Transition and Sector Management. At Rabobank she created a financing package to accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture and food production. She holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Wageningen University & Research. |  Holger BuxelProfessor, FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, Germany Prof Dr Holger Buxel is a professor for marketing in the food and packaging business at FH Münster University of Applied Sciences. He has over 25 years of market research and product management experience in the food and packaging sector and has conducted several studies on customer and market trends in the business. |
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 Barbara EndraßOrganic farmer, Biohof Endraß, Germany Barbara is an organic farmer and Chairwoman of Germany’s Association for small and medium-sized farms. She studied agriculture with a focus on crop production and breeding at Nürtingen University of Applied Sciences, then took over the farm and became self-employed as an agricultural entrepreneur in 1994. Her focus is on special crops, farming laying hens, rearing young hens and she brings expertise on farm slaughtering and direct and regional marketing. |  Margret EngelhardHead of Department GMO Regulation, Federal Agency for Nature conservation, Germany |  Susanne FromwaldDirector Strategic Partnership, Donau Soja Austria Susanne has worked for Donau Soja since 2012. She started as an expert on standard development and sustainability issues, followed by positions as Director for Standard and Value Chain Development, Executive Director and Regional Director for Western Europe. After an interim position as Secretary General, today she is part of the Senior Management and working as Director Strategic Partnerships with the lead of the Protein Partnership Programme. |
 Marie-Alice FraitureSenior scientist, Sciensano, Belgium Dr Marie-Alice Fraiture has a Bachelor’s in Biology and a Master’s in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology. She completed her PhD through a collaboration between Ghent University, ILVO and Sciensano, with a dissertation entitled Strategies to Detect Unauthorized GMOs in the Food and Feed Chain. Her current work includes the improvement of GMO detection. She is the author of 48 peer-reviewed publications. |  Kerstin GeißlerHead Quality Assurance, Association Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG), Germany Kerstin Geißler completed her studies with an M.Sc. in Agroecology. After working for several years as an auditor and certifier for organic agriculture at a large German organic inspection body, she took over quality assurance at VLOG in 2015. Under her leadership, the VLOG certification system and the VLOG Integrity Programme have continuously developed. |  Eva GelinskyFreelance scientist, semnar, Switzerland Dr Eva Gelinsky is a freelance scientist based in Switzerland. Her clients include Bio Suisse and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. As political coordinator of the Initiative for Non-GMO seeds and breeding (with Lena Hüttmann), she focuses on genetic engineering and patents from a seed and breeding perspective. |
 Andreas HeissenbergerUnit Head, Team Landuse & Biosafety, Environment Agency Austria Dr Andreas Heissenberger, MA, is Head of the Team Landuse & Biosafety at the Environment Agency Austria. He has worked for more than 25 years on regulatory and scientific aspects of genetic engineering at national and international level, including labelling and traceability. He has co-authored several studies in this field. He is a member of the Austrian delegation to the EU council working group on new genomic techniques. |  Yvonne ProfanterHead of Global Communication, Loacker AG, S.p.A., Italy Yvonne Profanter is Head of Communication at Loacker, leading the global communication strategy since 2015. A native of South Tyrol, she is passionate about the role authenticity, transparent sourcing, and sustainable innovation play in shaping consumer trust. Prior to Loacker, Yvonne built 15 years of international experience in marketing and brand strategy across FMCG and luxury, with leadership roles at P&G and Wella. |  Freya SchäferSenior Scientist, FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture), Germany Dr Freya Schäfer is a researcher and project coordinator in organic seed and plant breeding, focusing on EU-wide seed policy and knowledge transfer for a resilient organic farming sector. This talk will show how smart seed sourcing and variety choice can dramatically reduce the risk of hidden GMOs in fields and value chains, turning the choice of seeds into a powerful safeguard for ensuring Non-GMO. |
 Emese van MaanenManaging Director, ProTerra Foundation, The Netherlands Emese van Maanen is the Managing Director of the ProTerra Foundation. She has a strong background in the international agricultural sector, having developed and led raw material procurement, CSR and sustainability for large agricultural cooperatives. Emese is an agricultural engineer with additional university degrees in science, international trade and economics. |
About Us
ARGE Gentechnik-frei (Platform for GMO-free Food Products) has been a pioneer in the Non-GMO sector for 25 years. Founded in Austria in 1997, ARGE Gentechnik-frei is Europe’s most widespread Non-GMO labelling system, with several complete production segments (dairy, poultry, eggs) labelled “Ohne Gentechnik hergestellt”.
Donau Soja is a European, multi-stakeholder and non-profit organisation supporting the European Protein Transition with a particular emphasis on sustainable, deforestation-free, Non-GM soy production. The organisation is based in Vienna, with regional offices in Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova, supported by more than 330 active members in 32 countries and 24 European governments.
The European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA) is the voice of the Non-GMO food and feed sector at the EU level. It secures and supports the expansion of Non-GMO production and advocates for the strict regulation of old and new GMOs in order to keep untested GMOs from entering the EU food and feed chains.
The ProTerra Foundation is a Dutch non-profit organization, founded in 2012, that creates a global network of companies that support more sustainable agricultural practices in the food and feed supply chains. The ProTerra Foundation holds the Non-GMO ProTerra certification standard and related audit methodology.
The German Association for Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG) provides a platform for the exchange of information in the production and marketing of "Ohne Gentechnik" (Non-GMO) food and animal feed. VLOG assigns the "Ohne GenTechnik" seal for food and the "VLOG geprüft" (VLOG verified) seal for feed.