THE NEXT ECONOMY -
AkzoNobel and agro-industrial cooperative Royal Cosun have partnered to develop novel products from cellulose side streams resulting from sugar beet processing.
The partnership will combine Royal Cosun's specialist knowledge in separating and purifying agricultural process side streams with AkzoNobel's expertise in the chemical modification of cellulose.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Robots farmers; intelligent crop monitoring; vertical city farms; algae- or lupine-based ingredients; and sustainable methods for growing, nutrient extraction and waste valorization – if the latest crop of F&A Next finalists is any indication, all of these could be revolutionary new components of our food and agriculture systems in the near future.
COLLABORATION -
An estimated 3,300 acres on oat farms that supply oats for Honey Nut Cheerios will soon provide new dedicated, flower-rich habitat for pollinators. General Mills is partnering with the Xerces Society, a pollinator and wildlife conservation organization, to plant wildflowers on the supplier farms by the end of 2020.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Do Europeans have unreasonable expectations for the agriculture industry? New poll results suggest that 91 percent of consumers think food should remain affordable, but just 54 percent think that farmers should be able to use pesticides to keep prices down.
CLEANTECH -
Late last year, devastating fires engulfed 2 million hectares of land in Indonesia, impacting the health of 43 million people around Southeast Asia, and emitting as much greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as Brazil does in a year. They were driven by years of rampant, unregulated deforestation, chiefly for the expansion of paper pulp and oil palm plantations.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
One of the world’s largest palm oil companies, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), has published a 4-year plan to trace its entire supply to the growers’ plantations. Earlier this year, GAR mapped its entire supply chain to 489 individual mills, and plans to build on that progress by achieving 100 percent traceability to plantation for all of the palm oil purchased and processed by the company by 2020.
CLEANTECH -
This week, both the World Resources Institute (WRI) and MorningStar Farms — producer of veggie burgers, sausages and other faux meat items beloved by vegetarians across the U.S. — have unveiled research asserting that the average American could cut their diet-related environmental impacts by nearly half just by eating less meat and dairy.
WASTE NOT -
Fetzer Vineyards, a leader in regenerative winegrowing, is revolutionizing the way U.S. wineries conserve water, announcing today that it will install the BioFiltro BIDA® System at its Mendocino winery. In doing so, Fetzer — a certified B Corp — will become the first American winery to use the closed-loop biological wastewater treatment system to process 100 percent of its winery wastewater.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Six years after NGOs released a scathing report on Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Group, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) decided to suspend IOI last Monday.
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.
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.
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.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Two powerful palm oil companies are fulfilling promises related to accountability in their supply chains and bolstering their sustainability.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.