Stories About Agriculture
Found 509 stories. Page 19 of 26.
Supply Chain Traceability Key to Fulfilling Sustainability Promises
SUPPLY CHAIN - Consumers these days want to know that when a business says that it is producing something ethically and sustainably, that it can back up such claims throughout its entire supply chain. After all, a business’s claims to operating sustainably are only partly fulfilled when it can’t confirm the sustainability of its raw materials or other products involved in production. So customers increasingly expect businesses to make sure their supply chain is as committed as they are to principled behaviour.
BASF launches Maglis, a new online platform to help farmers improve crop management
PRESS RELEASE - Limburgerhof, Germany – March 3, 2016 – Today, BASF has launched MaglisTM, an online agricultural platform set to become a key partner in helping farmers manage their crops. With the platform, farmers will be able to gather, interpret, and monitor a range of crop-related data that will support them in making better decisions on how to grow and market their crops. The launch took place at the Commodity Classic agricultural convention and trade show, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Hershey Partners with Blommer Chocolate and Olam Cocoa to Build Health Center in Cote D’Ivoire
PRESS RELEASE - Access to basic health care is critical for the wellbeing of rural West African cocoa communities. To help meet the need, The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) partnered with cocoa suppliers Blommer Chocolate and Olam Cocoa to fund and build a community health center in Cote d’Ivoire in the town of Teapleau on the Western side of the country. Cote d’Ivoire is one of the largest cocoa-producing countries in the world.
Trending: GAR, Astra International Fulfilling Palm Oil Supply Chain Promises
SUPPLY CHAIN - Two powerful palm oil companies are fulfilling promises related to accountability in their supply chains and bolstering their sustainability.
With 3D Ocean Farming, We Can Eat Sustainably While Restoring Our Oceans
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - How does one move from a career as a commercial fisherman to becoming the winner of the 2015 Fuller Challenge, one of the most prestigious sustainability prizes? Bren Smith, founder of Thimble Island Ocean Farm and executive director of the non-profit GreenWave, snagged the US$100,000 prize for his 3D ocean-farming model, which aims to address the range of most pressing sustainability issues in the fishing industry: degradation of marine ecosystems, climate change mitigation and resilience, depleting fish stocks, and a decline in local fisherman jobs.
Could Growing Food in Gravel Be Pay Dirt for Sustainable Agriculture?
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - A new age in gardening is dawning: Geological agriculture, aka gravel gardening — a completely soil-less way to grow all kinds of crops in sedimentary rock.Leading the charge is To Soil Less, a family business founded by former management consultant Richard Campbell in 2011.
RSPO Introduces Voluntary Advanced Add-On Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil
SUPPLY CHAIN - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has released new voluntary criteria that expand on its existing Principles & Criteria (P&C) for sustainable palm oil production.
Walmart's Smallholder Food Sourcing in China, Nicaragua Offer Multiple Lessons for Stakeholders
SUPPLY CHAIN - Policymakers can learn about how the transformation of agricultural markets is likely to affect the poor in the developing world by studying Walmart, says a new report from the Global Food and Agriculture Program at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.Small Farmers, Big Retailers: Are New Sourcing Strategies a Path to Inclusion? examines Walmart’s food sourcing strategies in two markets — China and Nicaragua — to draw lessons for governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and companies trying to meet the growing demand for food from rapidly growing urban populations.
5 Steps Every Food Retailer Should Take to Eliminate Food Waste
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Campaigners for action on food waste have had much to celebrate recently. The Rockefeller Foundation launched YieldWise, a $130 million initiative to tackle loss between farm and market and demonstrating how the world can halve food loss by 2030. This coincided with the launch of Champions 12.3, a collaboration of 30 executives and ministers united in their dedication to meeting SDG target 12.3.
Trending: Companies Turning to Big Data, Microbes to Help Increase Crop Yields
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Farmers in the United States could soon benefit from two new ways to increase crop yield that were announced this month.CropClimate is the latest use of big data to benefit agriculture. The web platform uses climate-, soil- and crop-modeling to link the effects of environmental conditions, weather and crop yield history and field management to develop more resilient crop production systems, reports Environmental Leader.
Mars Partnering to Improve Ag Development, Nutrition, Food Safety in India
COLLABORATION - Malnutrition remains a significant global problem despite corporate and charitable efforts to fight it. Malnourishment results in the deaths of an estimated 2.6 million children each year – about a third of global child deaths. An estimated 221 million people in India are chronically or acutely malnourished – over 17 percent of the country’s population. Nearly half of children in India are underweight and/or are too small for their age.
Trending: This Week in Upcycling – Champagne Packaging, Rice Waste, Yoga Mats
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING - Upcycling is a great way to use waste to create new products and take the world one step closer to a circular economy. These companies are some of the latest to creatively incorporate the practice to optimize products while utilizing a variety of waste streams.
What Now? How Businesses Are Rallying to Action After COP21
COLLABORATION - As evidenced by the unprecedented private-sector engagement in COP21 earlier this month, businesses globally get that they need to innovate (and improve!) their products, services and business models to combat climate change, resource scarcity and unpredictable futures. Aside from the alignment of 195 nations on a climate-action agreement, what did all the talk at COP21 amount to from a business perspective? A lot of initiatives that push forward change and collaboration. But is it all smoke and mirrors, and toothless pledges, or is there real action brewing?
CI, Starbucks Aiming to Make Coffee World's First Sustainably Sourced Agricultural Product
COLLABORATION - Conservation International (CI), in partnership with Ceres and industry leaders such as Starbucks and Keurig Green Mountain, have announced a call to action to make coffee the first sustainably sourced agricultural product in the world. The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, launched last week at COP21 in Paris, comes as ministers gather to write a new climate agreement and as momentum builds for businesses to take direct action to combat climate change.
The Dairy Industry’s Next Competitive Advantage: Saving Money and Building Better Products with Climate-Friendly Cows
SUPPLY CHAIN - A penguin and a cow walk into a bar. The cow says, "We have a problem. Every year cows emit so much methane into the atmosphere - the equivalent of fifty-times more CO2 than the entire country of Switzerland! It's killing our image. We don't know what to do." The penguin pondered for a moment and replied, "Maybe it's something you ate."
Danone, Nestlé Lead on Zero Deforestation Commitments, But Many Firms Lagging
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - Danone, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble and Unilever continue to lead the corporate sector in making and living up to zero-deforestation commitments, but many firms have yet to make public sustainability commitments, according to a new ranking by the Global Canopy Programme.
What Really Matters is FiFo – Fish-in, Fish-out
SUPPLY CHAIN - Global food security is all about sourcing enough protein, on a genuinely sustainable basis, for a population in excess of nine billion people in the second half of this century.
Palm Oil Giant Commits to Help Indonesia Through Peatland Rehabilitation, Traceability
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - On Monday, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, launched a peatland rehabilitation project in Indonesia and committed to 100 percent traceability to mill by the end of 2015.
Local vs Global: How AB InBev Is Helping to Change the Debate
SUPPLY CHAIN - Here in Idaho, we’re the number one barley-producing US state. But how much of that barley (and the profits from it) remains in the state, or even in the region?This is the type of question advocates for sustainability ask. We want to buy local and help sustain our local businesses. We want fresh farm produce delivered to our local businesses—such as Co-ops—where we buy the produce and help these farmers grow more crops. The local business profits, the farmer profits, and hopefully, our health is bolstered by environmentally conscious growing practices the farmer employs.At first blush this might not be obvious, but the barley question is a big deal. Here’s why:
Indonesia in Crisis: Fires Releasing More Emissions Than the Entire U.S. Economy
BEHAVIOR CHANGE - Fires are raging across the 3,000 mile length of Indonesia, destroying tens of thousands of acres of forest. More than 127,000 forest fires have been detected so far this year, which is expected to be the worst on record. Visibility in some cities has been reduced to 30 yards by noxious orange haze. There have been more than 500,000 cases of acute respiratory illness and at least 19 deaths.