The coronavirus postponements and cancellations continue.
Today the organizer of Seeds & Chips, a large European event focused on food and agricultural innovation, announced it has been postponed.
The event, which takes place in Milan, had its hand forced in large part due a country-wide lockdown imposed by the Italian government. This week the Italian government imposed a ban on all non-essential travel to and around Italy as well as a temporary banning of public events through April 3rd in an effort to contain the coronavirus.
“This is an announcement that we would never have wished to write but, sadly, as a consequence of the ongoing public health risks caused by COVID19 and according to what is laid down in decree of The Presidency of the Council of Ministers, on March 9th, 2020 – imposing restrictions on people’s movements and banning all public events and initiatives to prevent the outbreak of the COVID19 – we have decided to postpone our Summit” said Marco Gualtieri, Founder of Seeds&Chips.
While the travel restrictions are currently through April 3rd, that didn’t give S&C much time. There was also no guarantee the restrictions wouldn’t be extended even closer or through to the event’s dates (May 18th-20th).
As someone who puts on events, I understand how disappointing this must be for Gualtiieri and the Seeds&Chips team. The event, which I attended last year, is one of Europe’s biggest food and ag innovation events and usually has hundreds of speakers and thousands of attendees.
The group is currently considering alternatives around rescheduling a new event in Milan in September. S&C also puts on events in Australia and has one planned for Rwanda later this year and, as of now, those are still on as planned.
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