A total of around 275,000 visitors came to Grüne Woche in Berlin. Despite the rail strike, the trade fair therefore only recorded a slight decline in visitors compared to 2023, when around 300,000 guests came to the exhibition grounds.

"Grüne Woche was a strong start to a year full of events," says Dr. Mario Tobias, CEO of Messe Berlin GmbH. "In 2024, Messe Berlin will attract numerous national and international guests to the capital with four more leading trade fairs and events."

Visitors to the trade fair showed a keen interest in buying. They spent over 150 euros per person at Grüne Woche. This represents an increase compared to the last event in 2023. Over 1,000 coaches from all over Germany travelled to Grüne Woche. Around 2,000 media representatives from 28 countries were accredited this year. The city of Berlin also benefits from the additional income generated by day visitors - particularly in the hotel, catering and retail sectors.

The German government was once again well represented at this year's Grüne Woche. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry for the Environment were on site at the trade fair with their own special shows. A total of eight federal ministers attended Grüne Woche 2024 in person: Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, was joined by Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Steffi Lemke, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Christian Lindner, Federal Minister of Finance, Lisa Paus, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research and Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport.

Numerous minister presidents of the federal states and leaders of the parties represented in the Bundestag took separate tours to find out more. The high-ranking guests also included Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture.

The 16th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) took place in the CityCube Berlin under the motto "Together for a world without hunger". Around 2,000 international representatives from politics, business, science and civil society took part from 17 to 20 January and discussed innovative projects and solutions together.

The political highlight of the GFFA was the 16th Berlin Agriculture Ministers' Conference, at which Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir met with his counterparts from around 65 countries and representatives of more than ten international organisations. In their final communiqué, the agriculture ministers pledged to drive forward the urgently needed transformation towards more resilient and sustainable agricultural and food systems.

15,000 schoolchildren turned the exhibition centre into Germany's largest school class. As part of the young generation school programme, they were able to find out about current topics relating to agriculture, nutrition and horticulture. Lots of dust and noise awaited the teenagers at the successful première of the new young generation hub training hall. Numerous exhibitors had prepared a practical hands-on course for 90 skilled trades.

In the representative visitor survey, around 9 out of 10 people who visited the trade fair privately were (very) satisfied with their visit and would visit the Grüne Woche again. An equally high proportion rated the range of products and services positively. The special shows such as the Flower Hall were well received by visitors.

The response from regional exhibitors from the federal states was particularly positive. They were able to score points with the food retail trade with their diverse regional specialties. Several hundred buyers visited Grüne Woche to find products for future product range expansions and to hold numerous performance discussions.

Two specialist awards honoured innovative achievements in the agricultural and food sector at Grüne Woche. As part of the Startup-Days, ten young companies pitched promising products and business ideas from the agricultural technology and food sectors. VANOZZA was the winner with its vegan cheese. The young talent award went to Hivesound with an AI-controlled monitoring system for beehives.

Every year, Grüne Woche and the trade magazine Lebensmittel Praxis, together with media partner top agrar, honour sustainable regional concepts from the food trade with the Regional-Star Award. In the Innovation category, the company "Antonius gemeinsam begegnen" in Fulda won with its Emma spreads. In the retail cooperation category, the prize went to the "E-Center Schneider" from Bayreuth. First prize in the processing category went to "Edeka Südwest Fleisch" from Offenburg. First place in the industry competition in the marketing category went to "Rewe Stenten" from Aachen with the "Aachen Liebe" campaign.

The 89th of Grüne Woche will take place from January 17 to 26, 2025.

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