Cargill could partner with ADM, Bunge and Amaggi to bid for the Brazil’s Ferrogrão railway concession, a 1,000km railway linking grain regions to the port of Miritituba. A Cargill official explained that it would reduce logistics costs by avoiding the poor quality roads, as well as providing an alternative port to Santos and Paranaguá in the south. A Chinese state-owned group is also planning to bid.
Almost all of the 239 locks in the US waterways systems are past their “Use By” dates. The American Society of Civil Engineers has said that this is resulting in delays for almost half of the ships that use the waterways. The Ohio River has seen its worse jams ever this year with at one stage over 50 miles of ships at a standstill, many of which were carrying grains. The resulting extra costs meant that the US has struggled to compete with South American grain, causing losses all across the supply chain. Some of the locks are slowly being replaced. (Original source: Reuters)
Olam is working on building an online marketplace to allow small-scale farmers to sell their products directly, as well as to source farm inputs and find financing. The company’s CEO explained that this is part of “Olam Direct”, a program designed to leverage its network of small farmers (some 4.3 million of them) and offer them value-added services. The program also offers better traceability to end buyers. The group already has over 100,000 farmers from 21 countries registered in its Olam Farmer Information System mobile app, which uses big data and artificial intelligence to help farmers improve efficiency, quality and traceability.
In the US, Cargill’s head of Corporate Affairs has called on farmers to take an active role in policy making, explaining that the US threat to withdraw from trade agreements such as the NAFTA could have a disastrous effect on the country’s farm economy. She said that trade fed the world, and drove productivity and economic growth.
Barter transactions supplied over half of farmers’ crop financing in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state this year, the first time in almost a decade that barter has such a key role. The research agency Imea explained that as a result of low margins and poor revenues, trading groups and agriculture product resellers have little choice but to exchange their crops for the necessary farm inputs. (Original source: Reuters)
Nestle has announced that it has bought Canadian group Atrium, its fourth acquisition in the last few months, and another step in its strategy to become a “nutrition, health and wellness” company. Atrium makes vitamins and nutritional supplements with sales mostly in the US. Some sources said that Nestle might also want to buy the German equivalent, Merck. (Original source: Reuters)
France has kept its place as the Most Food Sustainable Country in the Food Sustainability Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The EIU estimates that France loses only 1.8% of its total food production each year thanks to its anti-waste policies. The UAE was at the bottom of the index with an estimated 1,000kg of food wasted per year person each year. The UN FAO estimates that one third of all global food produced each year is wasted.
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