The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation offered Olam International a USD 120 million unsecured corporate loan, which will go to supporting Olam’s supply chain and improve its market access. The IFC hopes the loan will help some of the 40,000 smallholder farmers who supply Olam.
Nestle reported a 3% organic growth in the first three months of 2018 partly thanks to a good performance in Asia. The group announced a USD 7 billion deal to distribute Starbucks coffee and tea in stores around the world. Sales of premium coffee are reportedly faring much better than traditional roasted coffee with Nespresso grabbing only 1% of the single-serve coffee market in the US. Petcare was among Nestle’s fastest growing segments in the US, particularly natural products. AMD is also expanding its pet business and recently inaugurated a USD 35 million animal nutrition premix factory in Illinois.
Keystone Foods LLC, who supplies chicken nuggets to McDonald’s, is for sale as its Brazilian parent company Marfrig Global Foods is looking to reduce its debt and finance the purchase of a beef packaging firm in the US. Cargill and Tyson Foods Inc are among the interested firms, according to sources who suggested that a USD 3 billion deal could be signed within the next few weeks.
Farmers in the US are worried about China’s unwillingness to discuss the trade deficit. Some Chinese officials reportedly think the economy is strong enough to take the US head-on in a trade-war. On the other hand, an agribusiness expert argued the face-off have created trading opportunities for grain exporters who could benefit from the added volatility.
China is hoping to use new gene editing technologies, like Crispr, to take the lead in gene editing and develop better crops. Syngenta, the Swiss firm recently purchased by ChemChina, is building a research center in Beijing. The CEO said the government was very supportive.
The country spent about twice as much on agricultural research than the US in 2013. Experts think tools like Crispr could disrupt the industry, previously dominated by US firms like Monsanto and DowDuPont because they do not rely on adding foreign DNA, which means regulation could be lighter.
The USDA is still working on the guidelines that will clarify how food firms have to disclose the presence of genetically modified food in their products. The agency published a draft proposal, ahead of the July 29 deadline, although some details are missing, such as whether genome editing will fall under the “GMO” classification. The USDA did suggest that the term “bioengineered” could be used instead of “GMO”.
Still on the topic of GMOs, a US columnist claims that if you are anti-GMO, you’re anti-science, too. He notes that the scientific consensus clearly suggests that directly modifying genes instead of doing it through slow selective breeding has no consequence for our health. Going further, he draws a comparison with climate-change deniers and anti-vaxxers to argue that denying the truth about GMO could have a real human cost. A new book by an early anti-GMO activist, called “Seeds of Science: Why We Got It So Wrong on GMOs” is due in June.
A recent study argued that efforts to reduce the carbon emitted during the production of agricultural goods needed to be complemented by efforts to reduce emission linked to food consumption in large cities. It suggested implementing better solutions to manage distribution, localised production and waste management. Another study by the Changing Markets Foundation argued that the sustainability certification schemes for palm oil and fish did little in terms of protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable agricultural practices. It claimed that the certifications had to lower their standards in order to capture most producers.
Last Friday, the WHO published its recommendation for trans fats and saturated fat consumptions, 15 years after its previous recommendation was published. The agency says the fats should represent less than 10% of total caloric intake to lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Human Reproduction published a study suggesting that women who consumed fast food regularly would take longer to conceive. However, experts noted that like most food studies, researchers had to rely on the subjects remembering what they ate during the month before their pregnancy, which limited results.
Remember last year’s French butter crisis? Well, prices are still going up as supply problems have not been addressed, according to bakers, who are worried about their dwindling profit margins.
This report prepared by ECRUU