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Louis Dreyfus announced that their group chairperson, along with her family trust Akira, had secured the USD 900 million needed to buy out the shares of other family members thanks to a loan – the terms were not made public. The plan is for her to take ownership of most of the company to grow it further. She said she was also opened to “strategic partnerships,” which was taken to mean that outside investors would be welcome. In Brazil, Louis Dreyfus’ Biosev sugarcane milling group is looking to sell more mills. Biosev posted a net loss of BRL 156 million (USD 41.53 million) in the quarter ending September, although the CEO is hopeful that sugar and ethanol prices will recover next year.

Bunge and Atvos (previously known as Odebrecht Agroindustrial) are two of the groups investing in boosting sugarcane output in Brazil. Bunge built a seedlings centre at its Sao Paulo sugar mill which will double production by 2020 and serve its eight plants. Similarly, Atvos said it was prioritising investment in cane fields and spending at least BRL 600-700 million (USD 171 million) annually in a bid to increase capacity utilisation. The group continues to look for an outside investor and could consider an IPO, the CEO said.

Separately, the Brazilian president-elect clarified that, unlike what had been reported earlier, the agriculture ministry and the environment ministry will not be merged. This came to the relief of environmentalists who had opposed the move. The Brazilian farm sector is also set to benefit from deals signed this week between Cargill, Bunge and ADM and China’s government to export soybean sourced from South America, a sign that China is willing to go pretty far to avoid US origin amid the escalating trade war.

In the US, Cargill is scaling up its blockchain turkey traceability program to cover 200,000 turkeys in 30 states this Thanksgiving, up from 60,000 last year. Interestingly, and unlike many such moves that tend to be consumer-driven, the company said the push came from farmers. Cargill has also tied up with TGI Fridays for its new retail frozen beef patties. It explained that while other groups were trying to create a space for themselves in the retail market, consumers tend to prefer brands they already recognise.

Wilmar International said its net profit rose by 11% on year to USD 407 million in the third quarter (Jul-Sep) on the back of a better performance in the sugar, grains and oilseeds segments. Analysts pointed out that palm oil was a key contributor to the better performance as the segment registered a 93% increase in pre-tax earnings.

In a new campaign against deforestation rolled out this week, Greenpeace put pressure on Mondelez to stop procuring palm oil from suppliers linked to deforestation. The organisation said that, as of 2017, 22 out of the 25 palm oil producers identified as the least sustainable were still supplying the company despite its commitment to eliminate deforestation by 2020. Mondelez reacted to the campaign by saying it had dropped 12 suppliers. It also called on producers to accelerate efforts to improve traceability and transparency in the supply chain.

Greenpeace was also involved in an ad by UK’s Iceland Foods which has gone viral after it was banned from airing on television. The Christmas ad was found to breach political advertising rules because it is about the environment and was originally made by the NGO but it has already been viewed 13 million times on Youtube. Also, close to 700,000 people have signed a petition asking for the ban to be lifted. You can watch it here.

Nestle, which aims to source all of its palm oil sustainably by 2020, teamed up with palm oil producer Sime Darby Plantation to launch a helpline for workers to report issues around labour rights. This was on the recommendation of a report by the Fair Labor Association.

Chocolate producer Lindt & Sprungli also found itself on the receiving end of complaints by environmental and consumer groups – as well as a petition with 70,000 signatures – accusing it of being insufficiently committed to ending deforestation in its cocoa supply chain. As a result, the company published a statement this week saying it was working on implementing an action plan to make sure its supply chain will be free from deforestation by 2025.

The CEO of Danone North America said that consumers’ lack of trust in food companies, especially the major ones, was only growing. He complained that “Big Food” was seen at “Big Pharma” due in big part to scandals around pesticides and GMOs. He hoped that the company’s motto, “One Planet, One Health,” and the recent acquisitions of organic products companies will help people view the group as a “good food company.”

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Last week saw the resurgence of an old but familiar player in commodity trading as the chairman of Continental Grain Co and the descendant of Simon Fribourg, who funded the agricultural giant in 1813, was given a position on Bunge’s board. Continental Grain Co revealed in March that it held less than a 1% stake in Bunge but it has successfully lobbied for the change along with another stakeholder, the hedge fund DE Shaw & Co, who will also be added to the board.
Furthermore, the head of Continental Grain Co will chair a new strategic review that will seek to turn around Bunge’s declining returns, as the firm lowered its projected operating profit for the year to USD 1.2 billion. Commentators noted that this could signal a potential takeover, although others noted that the Fribourgs operate on a longer investment schedule and might seek to sell some assets while strengthening other operations.

Nonetheless, Bunge surprised analysts when it reported strong quarterly results, at USD 365 million, compared to USD 92 million last year. ADM, who was reportedly interested in purchasing Bunge, also reported better than expected quarterly results of USD 536 million, compared to USD 192 million last year. The firm said it had been able to find new markets to compensate for the Chinese tariffs, in part because the demand for US crops was bolstered by droughts in Brazil and Argentina.

While some were hopeful that the US midterm elections could lead to constructive changes, the former White House economic advisor said the success of the Democratic party was unlikely to change the administration’s efforts to curtail China’s trade policies through protectionist measures. Farmers are now bracing for a drawn-out trade dispute, while a recent study estimated that they could potentially lose USD 8 billion in exports because of tariffs, dwarfing the USD 450 million benefit expected from the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

The tariffs are also having an unexpected impact on the Canadian lobster industry. American lobster producers lost their access to China when it imposed a 25% duty, but some have been able to export their lobsters to Canada and then to China and Europe in order to avoid paying the tariffs. Unsurprisingly, the Lobster Council of Canada condemned the move, called transshipping, as it is displacing the demand for Canadian lobsters.

The New Food Economy also published this interesting piece which looks into the oversupply of cranberries. The USDA has agreed to destroy 108,800mt of cranberries this year to correct the surplus and avoid a collapse in prices, just as it did with dairy and blueberries.

Meanwhile, the debate surrounding the safety of glyphosate has moved from Californian courts to Germany, where the environment minister said the country hopes to end the use of the pesticide completely at some point in the future. Glyphosate has received EU approval until 2023 and Germany won’t be able to limit its use before then, however. In response, the head of Bayer CropScience said the firm would keep defending the science which suggests that glyphosate is safe. Back in the US, the Bayer AG CEO said the firm will consider settling some of its cases in the country. The number of lawsuits against glyphosate  jumped to 8,700 after a San Francisco court ruled in favour of a plaintiff, but the CEO explained that the firm was well equipped to defend the cases thanks to its experience with lawsuits against some of its pharmaceutical products.

Nearly 200 lawmakers from 80 countries debated on how to control rising healthcare costs caused by unhealthy diets at the first global summit against hunger and malnutrition. The lawmakers were divided over whether taxes on sugary products and banning their advertisement were more effective than education campaigns. Regardless, food and beverage companies are going ahead and doing their thing. For one, Coca-Cola Australia is offering a new zero-sugar product called Coca-Cola Batch Blends containing artificial sweeteners. Through this, the company is committed to cutting sugar across its portfolio by 20% by 2025 in Australia.

While the science and technology behind agriculture keeps evolving, another potentially significant change is happening: women who work in agriculture are no longer considered a “farmer’s wife” but often run entire successful operations. In fact, women farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers were on average paid more than men in 2017, according to the USDA, making it one of the ten disciplines were females outearn males.

Finally this week, the debate around whether non-dairy products, such as almond or soya drinks, should be called milk has gained humourous contribution in this funny video showing a farmer explaining how to “milk” an almond, starting with how to find its tiny udders.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Louis Dreyfus, Cargill, Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) announced they will be working together as part of an industry-wide collaboration to make agricultural shipping transactions completely standardised and digital. The companies explained that using blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) would significantly reduce costs as well as improve transparency. The process, which has already started in grain and oilseed operations, should gradually be deployed for other commodities.

With this in mind, ADM and Cargill announced a joint venture called Grainbridge, a digital grains marketing platform to help farmers in North America market their grains. Cargill said the platform will be free and will let farmers use technology, such as data analytics, to improve their profitability. The platform is open to other grain companies too which will encourage farmers to use the ADM and Cargill transactions and contracts.

In the US, Cargill announced it developed robots to herd animals at its plants, including cattle and eventually turkeys, in a bid to improve animal welfare as well as to protect workers. The robot was approved by a famous animal behaviourist who said it was “a major innovation in the handling and welfare of farm animals.” The robot doesn’t look much like a human cowboy (you can check it out here) but it will be saying ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’ to move the cows along. In Europe, Cargill announced it launched its Waxy Corn Promise program, an initiative to help it sustainably source all of its waxy corn – a type of corn used to produce starches.

Separately, Cargill Aqua Nutrition said it would not tolerate soy suppliers who violate its code of conduct, including deforestation. The announcement was made after a WWF report said that soybean demand had turned Brazil’s Cerrado area, one of the world’s most biodiverse places, into the planet’s most endangered region. Environmentalists are concerned the situation is about to get worse if Brazil’s newly elected president goes ahead with his plan to merge the ministries of agriculture and the environment. Similarly, the head of Greenpeace in Argentina said that “Argentina is in a forest emergency.” Nearly 25% of the country’s native forest has been cleared, with a big part going to grow soybean. An EU-based NGO said there was pretty much no traceability of soybean in the country.

Mondelez announced it would extend its Cocoa Life program to Brazil, a cocoa-sourcing sustainability program it already operates in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, India and the Dominican Republic. The program will aim to reduce deforestation in the Amazon as well as improve the welfare of farmers through yield improvements, among other things. This comes at a time when IRAdvocates, the human rights advocacy group which is suing Nestle and Cargill for aiding and abetting child slavery in West Africa, said it is planning to attack other chocolate makers, including Mars. IRAdvocates argued that any company sourcing cocoa from the Ivory Coast was complicit in using child labour. Nestle said that the companies that were working the hardest to end child labour were being targeted.

Going back to the WWF report, it also found that the world had lost over half of its invertebrate species between 1970 and 2014 as a result of increasing demand for food, water and energy. The report argued that the risk of water species disappearing was particularly high because of plastic pollution.

Tesco and Nestle announced they joined the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a 91-member initiative which works to eradicate the number of nets and other fishing gear debris in the oceans, estimated to account for 10% of marine debris. Similarly, Danone said that by 2025  100% of its packaging should be ‘circular,’ by which it means recyclable, reusable or compostable, compared to 86% currently.

The concept of ‘circularity’ is also taking hold among those trying to combat food wastage. Researchers from a university in the UK have been looking at ‘circular economic thinking’ from the second world war as an inspiration, such as how to efficiently redistribute unsold food. Further up the supply chain, Maersk announced the second edition of its Food Track program which funds startups that look for technological solutions to the 1.3 billion mt of annual global food wastage.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Nestle and Unilever both reported strong third-quarter sales this week, helped by a strategy to increase prices, or “premiumisation”, as Nestle calls it. The firms pointed to higher oil prices and a stronger dollar as part of the motivations to increase prices, although Unilever said the move could eventually lead to a slight drop in sales volumes. They both expect overall sales to gain around 3% for the full year. Separately, Unilever dropped a plan to relocate its London HQ to the Netherland after investors opposed the move, although it did not comment on how it now plans to restructure after Brexit.

Nestle was also in the news this week because a federal appeals panel in San Francisco overturned the dismissal of a case brought forward by former child slaves who accused Nestle and Cargill of being complicit in forced labour in cocoa fields in the Ivory Coast. The appeals court said the firms took actions to make sure they would receive cocoa “at a price that would not be obtainable without child slave labour”.

Talking of price, the competitivity of US farmers is being put to the test as the trade war is pushing countries to impose duties on US agricultural products. China, for example, imposed a 70% duty on US pork which is a worrying development as the US National Pork Board says the country is “critical” for the industry to survive. Producers in Spain, Chile and Argentina are all reporting a surge in demand, but some still believe that the US will be able to compete by lowering prices thanks to their high efficiency, large-scale and low feedstock prices.

The situation does not look so promising for dairy producers in New York state who have been dealing with an oversupplied market for years, as demand for milk and Greek yoghurt is seeing a steady decline. Farmers are unlikely to lower production and are pushing to find new markets instead, resulting in a lot of waste. The Dairy Farmers of America cooperative reported that some 65,000mt of milk was dumped on farms in the Northeast as of July this year.

In a hope to remedy the situation, the US Trade Representative office said it will begin new rounds of trade talks with Japan, the EU and the UK, a move an analysis argued was vital for some industries. The US is also eyeing Japan, while the US Grain Council reiterated the importance of new pacts for the agricultural sector.

In Brazil, meanwhile, the head of Cargill said that the country’s biggest agribusiness challenge was the poor logistics infrastructure, adding that the situation was getting worse in part because of the high government-fixed truck rates. However, the National Land Transport Agency conceded that transport fees could be below the official freight table rates if all parties agreed and if it was clearly stated in the contract. The statement was made after they found that a large number of trucks were flouting the rules.

An analysis suggested that ABCD companies would have to spend at least BRL 700 million (USD 190 million) each if they wanted to run their own truck fleets in Brazil, which would end up costing them more than paying the 30% increase in freight rate. Regardless, a big part of the USD 1.4 billion Cargill has invested in Brazil over the last 6 years has been in logistics. On a separate note, the Cargill official said that the company is working on having 50% of its global workforce female by 2030.

Two worrying reports on climate change were published recently, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) said data for the first nine months of the year suggest that global carbon emissions will reach a new record in 2018, while the UN published a report saying that energy consumption needs to change drastically to avoid irreversible damage.

On a brighter note, food firms continue their push to develop cleaner and less polluting food. Applegate Farms, owned by the meat giant Hormel Foods, announced that it was investing in plant-based meat alternatives, while a report estimates that the plant-based market is now worth USD 3.7 billion. Food could also help the environment in another more unusual way: by making cement stronger. The IEA estimates that cement causes 7% of total CO2 emissions, but Britain’s Lancaster University found a way to use carrots to strengthen concrete by 80%, thus reducing the amount of concrete needed. Scottish-based CelluComp mixes in cellulose extracted from carrots, which it could also get from trees or most agricultural waste.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Olam’s CEO argued that “the world’s food and agriculture system is broken” during a farmers’ event in India last week. Agriculture accounts for 25% of greenhouse emissions, uses 71% of the world’s fresh water and has already resulted in a 60% decline in wildlife. As such, he said, the world needs to invest nearly USD 50 billion in farm research to combat these problems against the current spend of USD 5 billion. At an event in the Philippines, he argued that companies needed to focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies. Taking Olam as an example, he argued that it made it easier to get loans, reduced risk in the eyes of investors and unlocked opportunities in the fast-growing market for sustainable development.

At yet another event in Singapore, he asked all those involved in the rice supply chain to adopt the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard. He explained that rice fed half of the world’s population but its production was responsible for as many CO2 emissions as the whole of Germany. And because those who consume rice can’t afford a sustainability premium – unlike premium products like cocoa and coffee – it was up to brands and retailers to push for the change and educate consumers by procuring only SRP rice. “We must reimagine the whole supply chain,” an Olam official added. The company was also recently awarded an AGROW award for its involvement in helping small agriculture stakeholders.

Cargill has launched an alternative to fish oil for aquaculture feeds made from canola oilseeds. The company said that the plant-based product provided a much needed alternative source of omega-3 fatty acids to the fish industry at a time of growing demand. It is sustainable as it reduces the use of marine ingredients as well as entirely traceable since Cargill manages the whole value chain. In Ecuador, meanwhile, Cargill inaugurated a production plant which can make 165,000 mt/year of shrimp feed. Called the “world’s most modern shrimp feed plant,” it will contribute 20% of the 800,000 mt/year of feed produced in the country.

In India, the company has launched its first blended oil in the hope of capturing a bigger part of the country’s healthy oil consumption market. It also tied up with Safal, the retail arm of Mother Dairy that sells fresh fruits and vegetables, to sell its bran wheat flour.

In Ghana, Wilmar Africa is urging the government and private farmers to scale up the cultivation of palm oil to help produce its frying oil Frytol. The company currently imports 70% of the palm oil it needs. Wilmar also recently launched a cholesterol-free version of the oil in a bid to win over sceptical consumers, highlighting its health component and the fact that it was made locally.

The Danish Agriculture and Food Council along with the EU is trying to draft a system where a number on the label of a food product would reflect the impact on climate during its manufacturing. The policy would cover meat as well as plant products and would take into account water and land use, feed for livestock and CO2 emissions, among other things.

On a more global scale, seven food multinationals have come together under the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare to promote animal-friendly standards through the global food supply chain. Aramark, Compass, Elior, IKEA Food Services, Nestle, Sodexo and Unilever, which have a combined revenue of EUR 139 billion (USD 165 billion) and a consumer base of 3.7 billion people a day, will ensure animals are not caged, improve standards of chicken and fish welfare, antimicrobial resistance and adopt global criteria for transportation and slaughter.

In Australia, a 2017/18 audit found that half of Queensland’s cane farming businesses were not complying with the fertilisers law made to protect the Great Barrier Reef, according to Right to Information documents. No farmer has faced prosecution for flouting the rules or paid a fine, it said. The government launched a voluntary programme called best management practices under which it allowed farmers to decide the amount of fertiliser they wanted to apply within the legal limits. However, despite spending AUD 1 billion (USD 710.54 million) on this programme, there has been no indication of improvement in water quality, scientists said.

While the food industry has been the focus of sustainable and transparent policies, a Californian startup is hoping to bring the wine industry under the same lens. Ava Winery has managed to synthesise wine using molecular plant science, something they call “clean wine”. The founder explained that the aim was to make expensive wine more affordable, but also to bring transparency to the wine industry. At the moment, the use of a lot of ingredients, including pesticides sprayed on grapes, is not mentioned. The bioengineered wine should also use much less water and land.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Analysts are closely watching Louis-Dreyfus this week as it reported a 37% drop in net income for the first half of 2018, at USD 101 million compared to USD 159 million last year, amid challenging agricultural markets and recent internal reshuffling. The drop in profits was mostly attributed to a USD 65 million loss in soybean hedges, although the new CEO reassured the hedging would mean that returns from the crushing segment would be positive for the whole of 2018.
But the decision to award USD 400 million in dividends for 2016 and 2017 was described as worrisome by some who warned against removing so much equity in a difficult market environment. The dividend payment is part of a move from the majority shareholder who is aiming to increase her share in the firm from 80% to 96% by raising USD 900 million before a December deadline.

Louis-Dreyfus is not the only firm who has been reshuffling its staff recently, as Alvean – the joint venture between Cargill and Copersucar created to focus on sugar trading – confirmed that six more staff members have left since the COO left last month. The firm explained the move as part of an effort to maximise performance.

Agricultural markets have also kept an eye on the Presidential election in Brazil, as the right-wing Jair Bolsonaro won 46% of the vote on September 30, putting him in a good position to win the second round on October 28. Farmers have largely expressed their support for the candidate, as he promised to strengthen land ownership rules and reinforce security for rural producers. Both the soya association Aprosoja and coffee cooperative Cooxupe said most of their members would vote for him.
More recently, his agricultural advisor pledged that if elected, Bolsonaro would lower the fines imposed on farmers found breaking environmental laws and exit the Paris agreement because of the way it aims to avoid deforestation in the Amazon. Meanwhile, coffee and sugar futures have gained some ground following the first-round results, which have also strengthened the Brazilian currency.

While the Brazilian candidate might seek to ease deforestation laws, Wilmar pledged this week to accelerate its effort to reach a no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation (NDPE) palm oil supply chain, following a protest by Greenpeace in Sulawesi. Nonetheless, the NGO said the proposed plan was inadequate because suppliers would not be required to provide maps of their concessions. In response, Wilmar said forcing all its suppliers to provide maps might not be legal, although it pledged to work on a process to reach the goal by 2019.

Wilmar said it would reach a NDPE palm oil supply chain by 2020, which is also the deadline many major food producers have for guaranteeing deforestation-free ingredients. Unilever, Mars and Nestlé all have a 2020 no-deforestation deadline, while Nestlé said 58% of its palm oil supply was already free of deforestation.

Supporters of strong environmental laws highlight the importance of a sustainable supply chain in securing and maintaining preferential trade access. This week has also seen the EU re-evaluate the duty-free access it offers to some countries, as it launched a six months review of the duty-free quotas given to Cambodia and Myanmar because of human rights concerns. Cambodian exports could thus lose duty-free access in the next 12 month, although the Cambodian President remained defiant and defended the country’s sovereignty.

At the very end of the supply chain, Walmart is instructing some of it suppliers to register product information in a blockchain-based data platform, operated by the IBM Food Trust Network. Under the Walmart Food Traceability Initiative, suppliers of fresh leafy greens will have until 2019 to comply. While the move will initially aim to improve the safety of products by avoiding or controlling disease outbreaks, the firm said the platform could be extended to measure and manage sustainability criteria, such as soil health or irrigation methods.

Supermarkets also have to contend with rising concerns surrounding food waste, which is where the Israel-based Wasteless hopes to help, having secured USD 2 million in funds this week. The firm has developed a software which allows supermarkets to vary prices based on the date of expiration of products. A trial in a Spanish shop resulted in a 30% drop in waste and a 6% increase in revenue.

This summary was produced by ECRUU

Cargill’s net income grew to over USD 1 billion in the Jun-Aug (Q1) quarter, up 5% from USD 973 million in the same quarter last year. The company reported good results in the oilseed and beef segments which helped compensate for losses in the sweeteners and starch businesses. The CEO said Cargill would consider making an unusually big acquisition if it allowed the group to grow in the probiotics and prebiotics market. He argued this was a high-value-added segment which was poised to grow with the increasing demand from health-conscious consumers for alternative proteins, especially plant-based meat. With fish consumption also on the rise and limited fishmeal supply, Cargill said it is focusing on improving the quality of feed for fish farming. An aquaculture expert from the group said the quality standard had already improved drastically, adding that “This is our bread and butter.

Cargill is reportedly bidding against Wilmar, among other groups, to buy the assets of Ivory Coast’s bankrupt cocoa exporter SAF-Cacao. In Cameroon, meanwhile, Cargill and Telcar Cocoa paid CFA 2.2 billion (USD 3.8 million) in premiums to cocoa farmers this year based on a CFA 50/kg (USD 0.08/kg) premium for certified cocoa. The companies, which have been conducting training programs to help farmers boost production, said this would go a long way to improving their livelihoods.

Having just secured a USD 1.425 billion revolving credit facility (RCF) to refinance its existing debt, Olam is said to be considering buying North America’s top independent cocoa processor Blommer Chocolate. Olam, which the world’s third-biggest cocoa processor, already supplies cocoa to Blommer and both companies work together on sourcing sustainable cocoa in Ivory Coast and Indonesia. In Gabon, Olam said it had doubled its palm oil production in the first half of 2018 after two plantations were revived. Meanwhile, Cosumar, along with Wilmar, announced it would build Africa’s first vegetable fat factory in Casablanca, Morocco. Expected to be commissioned in 2020, the plant will focus on exporting to the Middle East and the rest of Africa.

September saw the US’ first edition of the National Palm Done Right (PDR) Month, the aim of which was to “Celebrate the Positive Side of Palm Oil.” As part of efforts to reduce deforestation, Nestle will be able to monitor all of its palm oil supply chain by the end of the year thanks to a new satellite technology designed by Airbus and TFT. With this, the group says it will be able to spot deforestation as soon as it starts. Nestle hopes to source all of its palm oil sustainably by 2020, from 58% in 2017. Cargill pointed out that the hardest was traceability all the way to the plantation. As of the end of 2017, the group reached 96% traceability to the mill and 55% to the plantation.

The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will replace NAFTA following an agreement reached by the three countries on September 30. The updated treaty still has to be approved by each country’s legislature, which could take months, while most provisions are not due to take effect until 2020. An analysis, meanwhile, suggested that the new treaty is a reworked version of the previous administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). And while announcing the new treaty, the US President set his sight on two new targets: the protectionist trade policies of India and Brazil, which he called the “toughest” on earth.

Trade relations with China, on the other hand, have not improved which is worrying US soybean producers who are starting their harvest and expect a huge crop. The head of Bunge said producers will start storing as much soybean as they can, possibly even in ground piles, although the move holds some risk as the trade war could go on for a long time. The USDA confirmed the report and revealed that soybean inventories reached their highest level in 11 years on September 1. The Bunge CEO also echoed the view of other large food processors and warned that trade flows might be permanently altered. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, for example, predict that Argentina will quadruple its export of raw oilseed next year.

Meanwhile, the WTO has urged the US and China to resolve their trade issues, as it lowered its global trade growth estimate from 4.4% to 3.9% for 2018, and from 3.7% to 3% for 2019, due to the ongoing trade war. The US is reportedly blocking the appointment of new judges to fill vacancies at the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), while the US ambassador previously described the Appellate Body as a rogue organisation. Of the seven posts at the DSB, three are currently vacant and a fourth vacancy will be created when a Mauritius judge completes his term at the end of the month, leaving the appellate tribunal with the minimum strength of just three judges and potentially crippling the trade body. A former WTO chief trade judge urged countries to unite against the US which he said was acting like a “bully.”

The CEO and CFO of Louis Dreyfus both resigned this week, while the chief strategy officer will become the new CEO. He recently was the head of the group’s Edesia Asset Management. Sources told the Financial Times that the departure was probably due to a disagreement over the investment plans of Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, whose stake in the company is expected to increase to 96.9%, from 80% currently, after buying shares from other family members. The new CEO reassured that the move was not a sign of an internal crisis, as he revealed that the group was seeing better financial results this year, partly thanks to the current trade volatility.

Similarly, Sucden announced that the current general manager will step down in January 2019, although he will still oversee some projects, and be replaced by the head of Sucden Americas.

Not much progress was made in international trade talks this week, as the EU and the US could not agree on agricultural tariffs. The EU previously committed to buying more US soybean, but US politicians now argue that a trade deal needs to account for all agricultural products. The proposal was quickly shot down by many in the EU who said that agriculture was never meant to be part of a deal. EU representatives added that the issue of food standards would have to be addressed first, such as whether to allow US chlorine-rinsed chickens or hormone-reared beef.

Little progress was made with China either, as the US imposed another series of duties without really looking to engage in negotiations with their Chinese counterparts. The head of Cargill warned that a protracted trade war could drastically change the landscape of US agriculture. He mentioned that the US would no longer be seen as a reliable trading partner, while the Chinese were unlikely to back down in order to protect their pride. The whole US soybean industry is at risk, he explained, as Chinese importers can switch to other protein sources.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace activists protested against Wilmar’s palm oil refinery in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The NGO accused Wilmar of breaking its 2013 commitment of ‘no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation’ (NDPE) after it was found to be buying palm oil from producers that have been linked to deforestation.

Indonesia’s president signed a 3-year temporary ban on new palm oil development, three years after the original ban was announced. Local administrations have been instructed to review permits and delay new ones, in part to reduce land rights conflicts between villagers and plantation owners.

Environmentalists welcomed the announcement, which comes just two months after India’s Solvent Extractors Association signed an agreement with the Indonesian Palm Oil Board and Solidaridad which recognised the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) as well as the Indian Palm Oil Sustainability (IPOS) Framework as legitimate sustainability frameworks for palm oil production and trade between Indonesia and India.

Over 70 companies in the UK, including Tesco, Nestle and Coca-Cola, have committed to reducing by half their food wastage “from farm to fork” by 2030 – a waste currently estimated to be close to 10 million mt every year. This is part of a voluntary government initiative asking the companies involved to publish data on wastage as well as action plans.

On a global level, Coca-Cola was also among the companies that committed last week to support the Ocean Plastics Charter, which aims to reduce plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

In California, the Governor gave the green light for the state’s first set of Plastic Pollution Reduction Bills, which include a plan to phase out non-recyclable food packaging.

Another Californian bill requires adopting a statewide microplastics strategy. Microplastics have become all the more concerning after a study found that aquatic insects, which include mosquitoes, carry microplastics which were ingested at the egg stage in water.

This week, the Swiss voted against proposals that could have given Switzerland the strictest food standards in Europe. The proposals were designed to promote ethical and sustainable food through measures such as state support for family farms and higher import tariffs for food. An estimated 1,000 family farms close each year in the country, many of which are traditional dairy farms. If voted, however, the proposals would have resulted in higher food prices.

While the Jury is still out on whether the Swiss event means that people are not willing to pay more for sustainable food, several NGOs have filed a lawsuit against the Pret A Manger restaurant chain in the US. The chain is accused of knowingly misleading customers into believing their food is “natural,” on the basis they will be willing to pay more for it, when in fact traces of the weedkiller glyphosate were found in some of their products.

This summary was produced by ECRUU