I live in the Chicago area, and right around this time each year, a profound greening takes place as spring kicks into high gear. I’m a longtime gardener (ask me about my chili peppers), and these seasonal rhythms fuel my core. I find strength and solace in the soil. There’s a reason why we connect the dots between sustainability and the color green—the fruits of our soil sustain us.

Everything across the food industry continues to grow “greener.” From ingredient cultivation and processing and product packaging (extended producer responsibility is here), to overall snack and bakery production facilities and energy resource management, the industry everywhere is increasingly “green.”

And while it may seem a long way off, the 2025 International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) show is fast approaching. We at Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery are already in full IBIE mode, and the IBIE organizers recently named SF&WB sponsors of the BEST in Baking Awards for yet another IBIE show cycle. We are longtime, enthusiastic supporters of this amazing IBIE show feature, which highlights sustainability advancements across the supply chain, and at snack and bakery companies around the world. We were the first sponsors of this show feature back in 2010 when it was introduced and have carried the torch ever since.

Good ideas love to grow, and what started as a way to honor equipment sustainability innovations expanded in 2019 to include expanded award categories for the supply chain, including ingredients—and we also introduced our first baker awards, honoring achievements at the facilities that put the collective bread into the world’s basket on a daily basis. That pattern of expansion continued for the 2022 show, with more award categories established to honor the good work going on across the supply chain.

Now, for the 2025 IBIE, we are continuing to refine and grow our BEST in Baking vision, with award categories for suppliers, as well as producers (snack and bakery companies):

Supplier categories:

• Automation/Robotics
• Processing Equipment
• Ingredients
• Sanitation Equipment & Technology

Producer categories:

• Plant Efficiency
• Workforce Development
• Product Packaging Innovation (three tiers of awards)
  • Wholesale Bakery, High-Volume
  • Wholesale Bakery, Intermediate
  • Retail Bakery

As usual, all submissions will need to demonstrate clear innovations that have advanced sustainability over the past three years (since the last IBIE show), and each category will feature one “Top Honors” award recipient, representing “best in class” sustainability achievements.

The big news for 2025 is the focus of the Product Innovation awards for producers on packaging, one of the hottest areas of sustainability innovation today—and an area we cover in great detail on my Packaging Strategies brand here at BNP Media, a publication that helps support the 2025 IBIE BEST in Baking Program. Companies across the industry continue to make strides in “greener” packaging, and we will honor these commercialized exemplars of sustainability.

Keep an eye on SF&WB in the coming weeks and months for more on the exciting 2025 IBIE BEST in Baking Program. We have so much fun in store.