By John Foster, President, Wolf & Associates

I recently attended Biofach Trade Fair and Congress in Nuremberg, Germany—not my first time at the event but my first in my role as President of Wolf & Associates. What struck me most was how the organic system actually functions when viewed in its entirety – globally.

Biofach is often called the world’s largest organic trade fair, but its real value lies beyond scale. It is one of the few places where all features of the global organic system are fully visible at once: retail goods, ingredients, services, multilingualism, regulation, deeply interconnected participants – sustained by trust between people who, in many cases, have never met and may never meet again. Spending time there has a way of recalibrating one’s perspective.

One thing that became clear immediately is how the U.S. market looks from the outside. The United States represents more than 40 percent of global organic demand, yet it is easy—especially when working domestically—to lose sight of how dependent that demand is on imports. Walking the halls at Biofach, that dependence is not abstract. It is visible in conversations, in relationships, and in the quiet confidence of suppliers who understand how much of the U.S. organic marketplace relies on their work. Whether we recognize it or not, organic consumption in the U.S. is supported by a global network of producers, processors, exporters, certifiers, and logistics partners operating within shared standards. That reality deserves more attention than it often receives, and I plan on calling that out more in the future.

Another observation surprised me in its simplicity. English functions as the primary language of trade across the organic sector. Over several short walks of the exhibition floor, I heard well over a dozen languages spoken—sometimes within the same conversation—but English was consistently the bridge. In a sector defined by regulatory nuance, that shared language can reduce friction and misunderstanding in meaningful ways. For U.S. operators, this often is a quiet but significant advantage—one that shapes access, influence, and outcomes, even when we are not consciously aware of it.

Finally, Biofach reinforced something I have long believed but felt more acutely there: organic certification is inherently international. Even those of us who operate within U.S. borders are part of a global system of equivalency, interpretation, and credibility. Organic integrity does not stop at national boundaries, and neither do the expectations placed on those responsible for upholding it. Inward looking certification bodies will ignore this at their peril.

As I step more fully into my role as President of Wolf & Associates, these observations matter. They will continue to shape how I think about our work, our responsibilities, and our relationships—both at home and abroad. Organic may be practiced locally, but it is sustained globally. Remembering that changes how we show up.