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For the first time in its 169-year history, Louis Dreyfus will receive funds from an outside investor as the chairwoman agreed to sell a 45% stake to ADQ, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. The deal included a long-term contract to supply commodities to the UAE which could make Dreyfus “the champion of food and agri-supply in the Middle East”, a consultant noted. Louis Dreyfus has been looking for partners for a while to repay some of its debts and had engaged in negotiations with Glencore and Bunge.

This would not be the first time a government fund invests in a major agricultural trade house, as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings is the majority owner of Olam International while the country’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest shareholder in Bunge. Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated efforts by countries dependent on food imports looking to be more self-sufficient. Abu Dhabi’s investment in Louis Dreyfus will be accompanied by a series of partnerships to study the production of food in desert climates. NanoRacks announced that it will create a space research center in the desert country to develop agricultural practices in extreme weather conditions. 

Unilever suggested that it was in no hurry to resume advertising on Facebook and Twitter, as the firm left the social media platforms back in July. A director explained that alternatives like Snapchat, Pinterest and YouTube were showing promising results. Unilever is also launching its first pet care products, starting with a launch in Brazil – the second-largest pet market after the US. For its part, Nestle is betting on the rising demand for environmentally-friendly pet food and is launching a line of Purina made with insect proteins. 

Data published this week confirmed that Brazil’s carbon emissions were up 9.6% on year in 2019, mostly due to the accelerating deforestation. The country was able to reduce emissions in 2004-12 and keep them stable in 2018. Brazil has a great potential to reduce its emissions, although the current government is not expected to push for the right policies. In addition, the new US President is not expected to prioritise trade negotiations with Brazil. The Democratic President-elect is expected to follow the EU’s example and include provisions to protect the environment in any new trade deal which could put Brazil at a disadvantage. The US could also join the list of importers looking to impose tariffs on countries or products linked to deforestation, a Brazilian lawmaker said.

A new study published in the Science Journal estimated that agricultural emissions alone are on track to stop us from meeting the climate goals under the Paris Agreement. The main reason is the increase in consumption, both on the individual and global levels, along with a shift towards more animal-based products. At the same time, a study conducted in Ireland showed that current policies were not effectively addressing rising rates of obesity and other non-communicable diseases. 

Experts argue that a lower food consumption overall, along with a lower consumption of meat, would address both climate and health problems. This is increasing the appeal of a meat tax. The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) argued that if food producers were unable to voluntarily act to reduce the consumption of meat by 2025, the government should step in with a tax. A professor said such a tax would highlight the link between planetary and human health. 

Another popular idea is to implement labels outlining the carbon impact of food products. Restaurant chains in the US are experimenting with the solution, while food producers are also looking at the idea. Some suggested this could create a whole new type of diet, possibly called “climatarians”. The concept is not so straightforward though, as Tesco found out when it shelved its plan back in 2012. Measuring the carbon impact of food has become simpler since, but nuances remain that will be hard to convey on a label. For one, the seasonality of ingredients used is key to measure the carbon impact. 

With Thanksgiving approaching in the US, restaurants are preparing to honour to new President by focusing on what he has called “the best sandwich in America”: Capriotti’s Bobbie sandwich with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It almost sounds as delicious as the famous “moist-maker”: Monica Gellar’s Thanksgiving left-over sandwich. 

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Meat packers in the US are investing millions to accelerate the automation of plants. The CEO of JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, explained that labour shortages have been an ongoing issue for the industry even before the pandemic, but current health and safety issues have been an accelerator. A food scientist told Deep Dive that some of the challenges, however, include the need for robots to be able to distinguish colours. Besides, animals have significant “biological variations,” meaning that two chicken can have different wing sizes, something which is very difficult for robots to handle. To make sure they don’t miss out on any new technology, Cargill’s Protein and Animal Health said they are working closely with innovators in Silicon Valley. 

Taking it a step further, Tyson obtained a waiver from the USDA allowing it to use its own staff and a system of cameras and computers to partially replace federal inspectors at its beef plant in Kansas. The USDA already eased inspections in the poultry and pork sectors over the past few years, with an analyst telling Reuters that this would allow inspectors to focus on more complicated issues like animal welfare and food safety. Some activists warn, however, that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show foodborne diseases are on the rise.

Tyson also rolled out infrared body temperature scanners at all of its plants to slow the coronavirus spread. On the other hand, two whistleblowers have accused JBS of making employees without health insurance pay USD 100 for a COVID-19 test. A legal expert argued that the company should have covered the costs.  

A failed trial by Walmart suggests that not all automation is useful. The company announced it would stop using the autonomous shelf-scanning robots it had been trying out for the past 3 years to monitor inventory.  Walmart said that the robots were awkward for shoppers and that they were not adapted to the massive shift to online shopping. While this may be good news in terms of jobs, the CEO of Unilever warned that the worst of the economic impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt. He urged companies to invest in upgrading the skills of their workers to anticipate massive job losses. 

Nestle bought the remaining stake in meal delivery company Freshly last week for USD 950 million and a potential USD 550 million earnout. Freshly is currently delivering over 1 million meals every week, which should increase threefold following the acquisition. An analyst said that Freshly will allow Nestle to deliver more of its products directly to consumers, a growing trend across the industry. 

ADM, meanwhile, identified five major food trends as the world adjusts to the pandemic. It found that consumers are increasingly looking for nutrition which is good for both “the body and mind,” notably with a focus on nutrients that are good for digestion. Sustainability and transparency are also a growing concern, ADM noted. 

Major beverage companies are in a race to design a paper bottle that can replace the existing plastic bottles. Coca-Cola announced its first paper bottle prototype, although it still contains a liner and closure made from recycled plastic. It is now working on a prototype that doesn’t have the plastic liner. The company, as well as competitors like Pepsi, hope to roll out paper bottles next year. The timing is right: scientists in Australia estimate that there is 14.4 million mt of microplastics at the bottom of the seas, twice as much plastic as there is on the oceans’ surface. One researcher explained that “The deep ocean is a sink for microplastics,” all of which risked showing up further down in our food chain. 

The Michelin Guide, too, recognised the importance of a sustainable food supply chain when it launched the Michelin Green Star back in June. Some seven chefs have already been awarded for their “sustainable gastronomy.” In France, however, chefs are warning that the new lockdown measures could drastically transform the country’s culinary landscape as standalone establishments struggle to cope and threaten to close. France’s gastronomic heritage needs to be protected by UNESCO, one of the chefs argued.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Extreme and unpredictable weather conditions across the world, combined with supply chain disruptions and stockpiling caused by the coronavirus, are pushing up the price of many essential crops. The US, Russia and parts of the EU are facing extremely dry weather, while Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have seen crops destroyed by storms and floods. The situation is even more complex when you factor in the sharp drop in the commercial flights which usually collect weather data. Meteorologists warn that they are struggling to make weather forecasts as a result. 

At the same time, China is maintaining its buying spree. The country is expected to issue additional corn import quotas to replenish reserves and meet feed demand for the growing hog population, according to sources who said COFCO was already benefiting from an additional quota. The surge in Chinese demand is also helping other trade houses like the US-based Scoular. The 128-year-old group has reported a spike in sorghum shipments since the Phase One trade deal was signed in February. And ADM sold the first shipment of US rice to China. The California-grown rice was unloaded in China this week and marks the culmination of a decade of regulatory and political work.

The food sector is in a much better place to deal with further coronavirus waves as it has set up systems to shift the food usually delivered to restaurants and caterers to retail stores. Besides, the head of ADM highlighted that being a global company provided clear advantages to deal with a worldwide pandemic. Highlighting ADM’s 118-year history, he mentioned: “That’s what our company does: it adjusts constantly”. Health experts are not so confident about the meat packing sector in the US, however, despite claims by JBS and Perdue Farms that they are prepared for further outbreaks. The major risk factor remains the speed of processing lines, while most plants are still running at the high rates authorised by an emergency decree.

While the first wave of stockpiling was categorised by a focus on comfort food and trusted brands, Nestle noted that consumers were now focusing on healthier purchases. The firm’s health-science unit reported better than expected sales thanks to a growth in demand for vitamins, minerals and supplements. Unilever reported a similar trend and has been working on making some of its products healthier. To be sure, people are still buying comfort food and Unilever revealed that sales of at-home ice cream had fully offset the drop in out-of-home sales.​

Not to be outdone, ADM’s health department said it would increase the production of probiotics five-fold thanks in part to the expansion of a factory in Valencia, Spain. Bayer, meanwhile, signed a USD 4 billion deal to buy Asklepios BioPharmaceutical. The gene therapy firm is looking to use a harmless virus to deliver “genetic repair kits”. 

Further out in the field of future food science, the debate is growing on whether lab-grown meat will ever be able to compete with traditional meat or its more direct rival, plant-based meat. Sceptics highlight that cost and perception will remain the main challenges for widespread adoption. Nonetheless, some firms are reportedly making lab-grown beef patties for just EUR 9, compared to the EUR 250,000 it took for the first experiment in 2013. The sharp drop in cost is similar, or even faster, than the scaling of the Internet and other digital technologies. One analysis suggested that Moore’s Law could be a good way to predict the future of the sector. 

The head of Impossible Foods certainly has a strong opinion on the subject as he argued that cultured meat is “never going to be a thing. I’d put any amount of money on that.” The cost involved makes the technology much more suited for therapeutic use, he added. Nonetheless, some 80 start-ups are currently studying lab-grown meat and one hopes to launch seafood products made from fish cells in mid-2021. Another group, Israeli-based Aleph Farm, is focusing on using its cell-based 3D bioprinting meat platform in space. After a successful test on the International Space Station, the firm is now partnering with space agencies to develop a solution suitable for Mars. 

Some promising progress is also being made to make traditional meat production more sustainable. Aemetis announced that it had started producing biogas from the methane collected at two dairy operations. The renewable natural gas is then processed into fuel ethanol at a Keyes, California, plant. The group hopes to expand the project to 17 dairies next year.

Amid all this talk of potential food disruptions, Oreo fans can rest easy as Mondelez built a vault to protect the cookie from disasters, including an asteroid that is expected to pass close to the Earth in November. Called the Global Oreo Vault, the facility is built right next to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway. 

This summary was produced by ECRUU

The EU’s agriculture ministers agreed this week that 20% of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget which will kick in 2023 should be used for environmentally friendly farming. However, the proposal still has to be voted by Parliament and environmentalists complained that the amount was much too low and translated into massive ongoing subsidies for traditional agriculture. The EU Parliament is also due to vote on a bill proposing that terms such as “sausages” and “burgers” could only be used for products containing meat, even when used with words such as “style” and “like.” An analysis by the BBC said this would take the 3-year old ban on terms like “soya milk” and “vegan cheese” one step further. 

The WWF, meanwhile, is advocating moving away from the meat vs plant debate towards a “Planet-based diet.” The idea is to focus on consuming foods that are produced locally and sustainably while providing us with our nutritional needs. The organisation points out that biodiversity loss is caused by different factors depending on the geography and that advocating for a vegan diet doesn’t make sense everywhere in the world. To help us make the right choices, the WWF designed a Planet-Based Diets Impact and Action Calculator. 

Going local is not on top of governments’ priorities right now, as they focus on ensuring they have sufficient food supply. An analyst explained that consumers and supermarkets have switched from “just-in-time” inventory management to “just-in-case”  in the anticipation of supply disruptions due to the coronavirus. The Bloomberg Agriculture Subindex rallied 20% since June as countries such as China, but also in the Middle East and Africa, stepped up purchases. The additional demand is helping farmers, notably in the US where producers have also benefited from higher buying from China under the Phase One trade deal. Another element contributing to the income of US farmers is the record high USD 51 billion in federal aid they will have received this year, an analysis by Reuters showed. The aid should amount to about a third of farm income in 2020, which will overall be higher than in 2019. 

Danone, which lost a quarter of its market value in 2020, could divest from businesses worth as much as EUR 500 million (USD 592 million) in revenue, as well as downsize some units by up to a third, the CEO said. Bloomberg Intelligence suggested that the company didn’t have much of a choice but to shed assets, arguing that Danone was “way behind the curve.” He added that this would not be enough and the group may need to sell more businesses, including some of its water brands. 

This is exactly what Nestle is doing. Sources say that the group is looking for bids for its North American water brands which have been losing market share. Analysts estimate that the brands could be sold for anywhere between USD 3-5 billion. On the other hand hand, the CEO said he is planning to keep premium brands like Perrier and San Pellegrino. 

The Coca-Cola Company said the coronavirus had contributed to accelerating its portfolio review. It announced it would stop producing a number of drinks, such as Coca-Cola Life, to free resources for higher-margin products. The virus also fast-tracked changes that were taking place in the group’s marketing strategy – an official explained that they were now focusing on more “meaningful” advertising. 

The CEO of Unilever warned, meanwhile, that more and more companies were making sustainability commitments to appeal to consumers without any plans to stick to them, also known as “woke-washing.” Ironically, he made the comment just as Greenpeace accused Unilever of “greenwashing.” The NGO conceded that the group has been vocal about becoming more sustainable but argued it needed to do much more. 

A study looking at several carnivore species in the US Midwest found that predators were getting close to half of their food from humans, by eating through garbage, foraging fields and even eating pets. One of the scientists told Wired that the presence of corn in their systems revealed the source of their food, explaining that “Human foods look like corn, because we give corn to everything.” 

Going back to the subject of eating locally, the coronavirus-led surge in gardening has caused a shortage of Mason jars in the US. Many people have used the time at home to plant food stuff which they have been canning for preservation, causing the shortage in canning containers. A jar merchant called it “Sourdough 2.0.”

This summary was produced by ECRUU

The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this week for its work on “bettering conditions for peace”. The award comes as the agency recently warned that the coronavirus pandemic will double the number of acutely food-insecure people and the Nobel Committee highlighted that food and violent conflict often interact as part of a vicious circle. Researchers, however, argued that the link between food assistance programs and peace is not so straightforward, as food aid can in some cases exacerbate armed conflicts. The WFP’s work will need to go hand in hand with conventional peace-building efforts, experts argued. 

Food assistance programs have been evolving to better reflect the economic reality of agricultural development. The WFP and others are increasingly donating cash instead of food in order to encourage the local production of food crops. Besides, some argue that ending systematic hunger is a worthy goal in itself. In response to the prize announcement, Cargill said it would match the USD 1 million donation offered to the WFP by the Nobel Committee. 

In Brazil, the less-talked-about Pantanal region is suffering from fires that have destroyed 22% of the whole area since January, a NASA scientist estimated. The destruction and uncontrollable fires were caused by a complex combination of drought, more ranchers clearing land, bureaucratic inaction and climate change. Even the fires in the Amazon are affecting the region by limiting the amount of water available. 

As the deforestation rate in Brazil keeps accelerating, experts doubt whether or how food corporations will be able to completely monitor their supply chain. One investigative piece looking at COFCO’s soy supply chain in the Cerrado highlighted a lack of transparency. Moreover, COFCO only pledged to monitor its direct soy supply chain entirely by 2023, without mentioning indirect suppliers. In response, COFCO said it was also looking to monitor indirect suppliers, just as observers noted that the Chinese group recently received a USD 2.3 billion loan linked to its sustainability performance. 

France announced new restrictions on the use of glyphosate as it prepares for a full phase-out by 2021. A few days later, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU nations were indeed allowed to ban pesticides or regulate their use even if they are allowed at the EU level. Activists hope this will encourage more member states to impose their own bans. 

Going further, civil groups are looking to ban the production and exports of pesticides in the EU. Some 41 pesticides banned in the EU were exported by the bloc in 2018 to countries with weaker environmental laws. Lawmakers argued that exporting dangerous pesticides was not only hypocritical but could also lead to pesticides being imported back into the EU via food imports. 

After glyphosate, Bayer and BASF are now fighting to maintain the authorisation to use dicamba in the US. The herbicide was found to drift to neighbouring farmlands and Bayer has already paid USD 400 million to settle legal claims. The two German groups are now saying that dicamba can be mixed with other products to stop it from spreading. 

The IEA commented that the global demand for oil will not peak but plateau by 2040, in part because some of the changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic could actually encourage oil consumption. Regardless, some food activists have now turned to another concept: peak meat consumption, as they note that growing environmental concerns could lead to an overall long-term decline in meat demand. Some were quick to point out key differences between oil and meat, however, like the fact that sustainably produced meat can actually help the environment by sequestering carbon or improving soil health. 

In the same vein, the World Sustainability Organization launched a certification program to ensure that plant-based seafood is sustainably produced. The segment has huge growth potential especially in Asia, the organisation noted, as it highlighted the importance of building trust with consumers surrounding the environmental benefits of plant-based alternatives. 

Beyond the environmental credentials of plant-based alternatives, the sector is facing a bigger challenge when addressing potential nutritional advantages, as many products are being criticised for being highly processed and high in additives. Nevertheless, experts explained that consumers these days are more focused on taste and protecting the Earth. In the long-term, some say plant-based meat should merely act as a tool to help people cross-over to a conventional plant-based diet which can have significant nutritional advantages. 

In the meantime, food and drink producers are looking for creative ways to deal with the immediate consequences of climate change. The wildfires in California, for example, are giving grapes an unwanted smoky flavour, making it unsuitable to make wine. In response, one winery is using the grapes to make brandy which should benefit from the smoky aromas. Whether the idea works will only be known by the end of 2021 as the brandy is still undergoing its ageing process. 

This summary was produced by ECRUU