{"id":1505,"date":"2019-06-13T07:57:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T07:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2019-06-13T07:57:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T07:57:05","slug":"commodity-conversations-weekly-press-summary-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/2019\/06\/13\/commodity-conversations-weekly-press-summary-74\/","title":{"rendered":"Commodity Conversations Weekly Press Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US President signed an <\/span>executive order<\/span><\/a> this week to simplify and accelerate the process to approve genetically modified livestock and seeds. According to the order, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) need to set up \u201ccommon sense regulations.\u201d Earlier, the US Department of Agriculture had already proposed to significantly <\/span>relax genetically engineered rules<\/span><\/a> in a bid to make it cheaper for companies to develop new crops and for farmers to have more options. The idea was that companies would no longer need the FDA and EPA approvals for genetically engineered crops that are similar to crops that could be made through traditional breeding – leaving it up to the companies to determine whether this was the case or not. <\/span><\/p>\n

An area where US farmers do want more regulation, on the other hand, is to <\/span>limit foreign ownership<\/span><\/a> of US land. As of 2016, the USDA estimated that some 2.3 million acres of land was in foreign hands, including 190,000ha under Chinese investments. However, some say the numbers are inaccurate and could be higher. This is also expected to be an issue in the presidential race with at least one candidate proposing to ban foreigners from buying farmland at a federal level. <\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with <\/span>Forbes<\/span><\/a>, Cargill\u2019s recently appointed chairman of Asia Pacific (the group\u2019s first board-level executive not to be based in the US) said that Asia was increasingly important as a home for food grown in the US where yields are growing faster than consumption. He said the group was focusing on developing \u201cAsian run\u201d businesses and was looking to build more partnerships with both governments and private organisations. <\/span><\/p>\n

Cargill\u2019s <\/span>Aqua Nutrition<\/span><\/a> is 43% on track to being entirely Marine Stewardship Council certified, a goal it has set for 2025. The division, which produces almost 5% of the world\u2019s aquafeed, managed to reduce its freshwater usage by 15% and its greenhouse gas emissions by 6% in 2018. Cargill also managed to cut CO2 emissions from its chartered <\/span>shipping fleet<\/span><\/a> by 12.1% in 2018, on track to reach 15% in 2020 and part of the International Maritime Organisation\u2019s target of a 50% reduction by 2050. The head of the ocean transportation business said, however, that \u201cwe must do more.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In the US, Cargill has launched several high-protein low-carb <\/span>meat snacks<\/span><\/a> after a survey showed that almost everyone snacks during the day, with some people eating 4-5 snacks a day. Close to half of those surveyed are looking – and ready to pay a premium – for healthier options. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wilmar<\/span><\/a> is looking for opportunities in China\u2019s struggling animal feed market – in part due to the African swine fever – to invest in building new soybean crushing plants. A source said the strategy was to focus on poultry feed instead of hogs as chicken demand is growing faster. The group could also be looking at setting up an oilseed plant in Vietnam. In Australia, Wilmar, which is Queensland\u2019s third largest rail network owner-operator, has installed cameras on all the <\/span>sugarcane trains<\/span><\/a> so that footage can be used in case of an accident with pedestrians. <\/span><\/p>\n

Via its Prize for Innovation in Food Security award, <\/span>Olam<\/span><\/a> is investing in Innovation Mapping for Food Security (IM4FS), a technology that is being developed to help small farmers work out which is the best crop to grow on a field at a given time. Olam\u2019s CEO said this was exactly the kind of technology required at a time of climate change and biodiversity loss. <\/span><\/p>\n

Global chocolate producers are likely to miss their 2020 deadline to eradicate <\/span>child labour<\/span><\/a> from their supply chain, the fourth time they miss the deadline after trying in 2005, 2008 and 2010. A report in the Washington Post said that none of the main chocolate producers could guarantee that their supply chain was child labour free and that they felt the existing certification agencies were insufficient. Part of the problem is that traceability from farms is a major challenge and that small farms often found a way around the certification criteria. Similarly, most companies\u2019 \u201c<\/span>no deforestation<\/span><\/a>\u201d pledge by 2020 deadline is going to be missed, with Greenpeace estimating that 50 million ha of forest has been lost in the last 10 years. However, with the Global Forest Watch platform launching a real-time platform using satellite imagery to track deforestation, \u201cthere are no more excuses,\u201d the organisation said. They added that companies like Cargill and Louis Dreyfus are already using it for a wide range of commodities, including beef. <\/span><\/p>\n

A new <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> found that the average adult in America ingests at least 50,000 microplastic particles every year through food, with actual numbers likely to be close to three times that amount. The worst is for those who drink <\/span>water from plastic bottles<\/span><\/a>, which have 22 times more microplastic than tap water. No one really knows how bad the plastic is, however, and some scientists say the risk could be overplayed. But better be safe than sorry – the <\/span>Canadian government<\/span><\/a> is apparently going to ban single-use plastics by 2021. That would include straws, cotton swabs and single-use cutlery, among many other things. Plastic is also a major issue in <\/span>organic farming<\/span><\/a> which uses more plastic mulch to compensate for not using weed killers. One organic farmer in the US said that the plastic film used on a 30-acre plot would spread over 58km in a straight line, all of which ends up in landfills later on. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last but certainly not least, a Mongolian NGO is re-introducing the traditional guard and <\/span>shepherd Bhankar dog<\/span><\/a> which was phased out during the Soviet era. The number of livestock in the grasslands has increased threefold in the last 17 years in part because herders want to anticipate the loss of animals to predators. This, in turn, accelerates desertification. Bhankar dogs are such a source of pride that some families who had moved to the city are reportedly being convinced back into herding life just to be given one. Check them out <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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