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Backing food product claims with evidence

Four of Australia’s peak research agencies have joined forces to develop a new isotopic data platform that will support the verification of Australian agricultural and food product claims and environmental credentials. Isotopes are unique chemical signatures or ‘fingerprints’ that can be used to tell us where our food comes from and how it was grown. Accurate isotopic data is used as evidence to verify a product’s credentials or provenance for better market access, including addressing demands for low-emission or deforestation-free commodities in Europe. The collaboration, co-invested with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), brings together Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the National Measurement Institute (NMI) to connect disparate and siloed data into a single national collection. Speaking at the International Conference on Food Analysis in Melbourne, CSIRO’s trusted supply chains expert Dr Nina Welti said there’s a wealth of valuable public isotopic data held within each organisation that needs to be brought together to tackle Australia’s export challenges. “Isotopes not only tell us about food production, they also help us to better understand environmental factors such as soil nutrients and groundwater flows,” Dr Welti said. “Connecting these rich databases in a way that’s trusted and shareable is key to supporting research for the public good, as well as commercial outcomes for Australia’s agriculture, food and water systems. “It’s also about ensuring the long-term utility of data so that it can be used to build further trust in supply chains well into the future.” Another key driver is enabling equitable access across industry to verification tools. The collaboration, led by CSIRO through its Trusted Agrifood Exports Mission, is connecting datasets and insights across the supply chain to improve and grow Australia’s access to overseas markets. Agricultural and food export trade […]

Infor nets 7-year SaaS deal with New Zealand seafood giant Sealord

Infor CloudSuite F&B to play a crucial role in steering Kiwi success story towards gains in sustainability, cost efficiency and supply chain traceability Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that Sealord, one of the largest seafood companies in the Southern Hemisphere, has selected Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage (F&B) and Infor Supply Chain Planning (SCP) in an initial seven-year, multi-tenant SaaS agreement to enhance productivity, improve forecasting and better measure sustainability. The cloud-based platform provides day-one functionality gains as well as continuing to adapt and improve into the future. As an asset-intensive business, Sealord is also looking to incorporate a stronger and modernised asset management solution to cater to its end-to-end requirements. These include purchase and commissioning, maintenance and asset management, and tracking from both land and sea-based users. Along with reducing risk and improving efficiencies across the business, Sealord’s focus on promoting positive sustainability practices resulted in the selection of Infor CloudSuite, built specifically for their F&B industry, to establish specific carbon and other sustainability measures, such as sea temperature and plastics usage monitoring, to enable and improve reporting, management, and progress on sustainability goals. Sealord CIO Matthew Dodd said Infor was selected as it was an ideal fit as a strategic partner. “Infor has incorporated deep industry-specific features that are purpose-built within Infor CloudSuite F&B which align with Sealord’s business processes and operations. This results in a close fit solution out of the box. Ultimately, we were looking for a strategic long-term partner to work with, so not only do we value the decades of Infor development that have resulted in strong food-manufacturing capability, but we also appreciate that Infor and Sealord share similar visions for people and culture,” Dodd said. “We needed to address growing business and security risks associated with our legacy systems. Infor will […]

Fonterra completes reset, announces annual results and long-term growth plan out to 2030

Annual Results Summary Total pay-out for 2020/21 season: $7.74 per kgMS Final 2020/21 Farmgate Milk Price: $7.54 per kgMS 2020/21 dividend: 20 cents per share, comprised of 5 cent interim dividend and 15 cent final dividend Reported Profit After Tax: $599 million, down $60 million* Normalised Profit After Tax: $588 million, up $190 million# Total Group normalised EBIT: $952 million, up $73 million# Net debt[1]: $3.8 billion, down $872 million Debt to EBITDA ratio: 2.7x improved from 3.3x Full year normalised earnings per share: 34 cents * 2020 financial year included the gain from the divestments of DFE Pharma and foodspring® # Normalised numbers reflect the underlying performance of the business. Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited today announced a strong set of results for the 2021 financial year, reflected in a final Farmgate Milk Price of $7.54, normalised earnings per share of 34 cents and a final dividend of 15 cents, taking the total dividend for the year to 20 cents per share. The results come as Fonterra moves through its business reset and into a new phase of growing the value of its business. CEO Miles Hurrell says the last three years have been about resetting the business. “We’ve stuck to our strategy of maximising the value of our New Zealand milk, moved to a customer-led operating model and strengthened our balance sheet. “The results and total pay-out we’ve announced today show what we can achieve when we focus on quality execution and an aligned Co-op. “I want to thank our farmer owners and employees for their hard work and commitment over the last few years that has got us to this position. Together, we’ve shored up foundations and done this despite the challenges of operating in a COVID-19 world. “Although the higher milk price and tightening margins put pressure […]

From the ‘Should Have Seen it Coming File’…

Australia has just competed a new trade deal with the UK including agricultural products, which includes a removal of all tariffs. The UK will export to Australia cars, Scotch whisky, biscuits and ceramics. The deal makes up for EU imports lost (due to Brexit) being made up by Australia. Its a decent win for Australia and was settled after keeping the British meat producer in mind. It is also a deal keeping in mind the UK’s aim of joining a wider Asia-Pacific free trade agreement. This on top of the pressure Australia has been under by standing up to China (for the world!), losing billions of dollars of product exports – including wine – being blocked by that country. So well done Australia! Then – almost predictably – the NZ prime minister at Mystery Creek Fieldays, Hamilton had a say about all this. She said ( words to the effect) that her government was taking negotiations with the UK slower, so that we get a proper deal? Is she saying Australia hurried theirs by coming up with an Agreement with zero tariffs? These are the words of a person who worked in a fish and chip shop in Morrinsville. These are the words of someone who continues to confirm the inferiority complex that NZ has with Australia. Did she want to be invited to the G7? Damien O’Connor has just arrived in London to talk trade deals with his UK couterparts – let’s hope they come up with something similar.

CropLife Asia 2021 AGM had Regional Food Supply Chain & Farmer Resiliency Center Stage

Croplife Asia 2021 AGM kicks off with election of Board of Directors The CropLife Asia 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) brought together plant science industry leaders from across the continent. This year’s edition of the annual gathering included a unique focus on how the global pandemic has impacted various aspects of the regional food supply chain as well as the official presentation of the newly-elected Board of Directors. The 2021 Board consists of: – Mr. Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro – President, CropLife Asia (BASF) – Mr. Alexander Berkovskiy – Vice President, CropLife Asia (Syngenta) – Mr. Jens Hartmann – Treasurer, CropLife Asia (Bayer) – Mr. Peter Ford – Secretary, CropLife Asia (Corteva Agriscience) “It is an honor to lead CropLife Asia at such a consequential time for our region and industry,” said Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro, President of CropLife Asia. “The challenges we face in Asia are daunting. While our region remains home to the highest number of hungry and undernourished, farmers are facing increasing pressure from pests, weeds, disease and the impacts of climate change. The far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated the strain on food production and distribution. “Plant science has an important role to play in making our food supply chain more resilient, but it’s only part of the solution. On behalf of CropLife Asia, we look forward to working with food and agriculture stakeholders across the region to meet these growing demands.” In January of this year, the United Nations (UN) released a report titled Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition. Among the findings of the report was new data reflecting a troubling lack of food security among children and the most vulnerable parts of society in Asia. Specifically, nearly two billion people in Asia cannot afford a healthy diet, […]

Fonterra lifts 2020/21 Farmgate Milk Price range

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited today lifted its 2020/21 forecast Farmgate Milk Price range to NZD $7.30 – $7.90 per kgMS, up from NZD $6.90 – $7.50 per kgMS. The midpoint of the range, which farmers are paid off, has increased to NZD $7.60 per kgMS. Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell says the lift in the 2020/21 forecast Farmgate Milk Price range is a result of consistent strong demand for New Zealand dairy. “We’ve seen Global Dairy Trade (GDT) prices continuing to increase since February when we last updated on our forecast Farmgate Milk Price and then this week there was the 15% increase in GDT prices. “It’s very much a China demand led story but there is also good demand for New Zealand dairy across South East Asia and the Middle East. “China’s strong economic recovery, following the initial impact of Covid-19, is flowing through to strong demand for dairy and we’ve seen this through sales during the Chinese New Year. “China’s local milk supply is being used in fresh dairy products and they are looking to us to provide longer-life dairy products – in particular, whole milk powder which has a big influence on the forecast Farmgate Milk Price. “Customers know we are continuing to get products to market, despite the challenges in the global supply chain and they are looking to us for this reliability. We’re also seeing customers want to buy more of our products than usual to help mitigate the risk of global supply chain delays.” Hurrell says today’s lift in the Co-op’s forecast Farmgate Milk Price is good news for New Zealand farmers and the wellbeing of rural communities. It would see the Co-op contribute more than $11.5 billion to the New Zealand economy through milk price payments this […]

Kiwi tech startup creates export opportunities for food manufacturers

A new freight consolidation service is set to make it easier for Kiwi food retailers to enter export markets and remove the need for intermediaries. In a first for the country, start-up business Jetkrate will offer a small parcel, freight consolidation service which allows consumers to purchase goods from Kiwi businesses and have them shipped to an Auckland address – where they are repacked and sent as one package to any offshore market. The new service aims to replace the daigou (personal shopper) channel which uses personal shoppers to purchase commodities from local retailers and ship them to customers in China as well as reduce the cost of freight for ex-pat Kiwis living overseas. Varun Khetrapal, Jetkrate co-founder, says the daigou channel is inefficient and lacks transparency. “There are two major barriers to Asian consumers shopping directly here for products like Manuka honey, dairy, wine and woollen clothing. “The first is not all NZ retailers ship overseas or if they do, the shipping costs become prohibitively expensive if customers are buying across multiple businesses. “The second is about trust; in the same way New Zealanders might struggle to identify suitable online retailers to buy from in a country they have never visited, Chinese buyers rely on personal shoppers to select a supplier on their behalf. “The new consolidation service removes the shipping barrier and makes it easier to get goods overseas once purchased – that allows the retailer to concentrate on building confidence levels across their customer base. Khetrapal says they plan to introduce a more formalised structured model, providing retailers with a clear route to this market which has a transparent and robust supply chain. “The new model we operate under will bring retailers and consumers closer together and will allow them to see the pricing of the products […]

New analysis highlights dairy’s economic contribution

The dairy sector is encouraged by today’s GDP results that emphasise New Zealand’s economic rebound amid Covid-19. The dairy sector is playing a key role in a stable economy, contributing nearly one in every four dollars earned from total goods exports and services in the year to September 2020. Recent Sense Partners analysis, for DairyNZ and DCANZ, shows the sector is delivering $20 billion in export value. “Today’s GDP rebound may be a short-term benefit from the recovery in retail spending, wage subsidy and a hot housing market. So, it is important we don’t forget to focus on export-led growth moving forward,” said DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle. “Dairy’s sustained economic contribution is a key factor in the country’s Covid-19 recovery, but tourism will also become increasingly important again as borders open. Importantly, dairy sector growth is supporting wage growth in regional New Zealand. “Dairy provides long-term stability for our communities. Export earnings translate to well-paying jobs, but also support farmers and dairy companies to purchase more than $22.5b worth of goods and services from other industries,” said Dr Mackle. At a community level, in 2019 the dairy sector accounted for more than 5 percent of GDP in seven regions – and more than 10 percent in four of those. West Coast has the greatest GDP from dairy, at 16 percent. “In dollar terms, this equates to dairy contributing more than $100 million to GDP in most regions – including nearly $2 billion in Canterbury and $2.5 billion in Waikato. This is especially significant because of the limited scale of other high-value export sectors in rural New Zealand.” The dairy sector is a significant employer in many districts, accounting for up to one-third of jobs in Waimate, and as many as one in four jobs in South Taranaki and […]

Research finds meat consumers prefer local

The country of origin is the number one characteristic consumers use when choosing meat, and they mostly prefer their own local products, a new Lincoln University study shows. This emphasis on locally grown meat was identified in new research* by Dr Nic Lees and Joshua Aboah. Dr Lees said the results had significant implications for New Zealand meat exporters, as in many markets New Zealand is competing with local products. “In these countries we need to provide consumers with a reason to choose our products rather than their locally produced beef or lamb. “Traditionally we have been able to compete by selling at a lower price. He said while the research showed that price is an important factor, there were other areas New Zealand could focus on to compete. For example, Dr Lees said, the fourth most important factor for consumers was the type of production system. “New Zealand has an advantage here because of our natural, grass-fed farming systems. “There is an opportunity to take greater advantage of this, however this requires communicating these attributes directly to consumers.” In the research, they sought to determine the most important indicators of quality that consumers use in their purchasing decisions, and analysed the results of 47 recent research articles on the topic. There were some exceptions to the “local products first” finding in countries where their consumers do not having confidence in their own food safety standards, such as China and Brazil. *Consumers use of quality cues for meat purchase: Research trends and future pathways https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0309174020300966?via%3Dihub

Turbulence in the meat industry detrimental to consumer confidence

Following the news (June 3rd) that Brazilian labor prosecutors have filed a petition with a local court demanding the closure of a JBS SA pork plant due to the outbreak of novel Coronavirus, a decision that is still pending according to news reports. Carmen Bryan, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her commentary on how this could impact consumer confidence: “The challenges JBS are currently facing from Covid-19 are shared across the entire meat sector worldwide; meat processing plants are quickly being labelled as hotspots for the virus and, should this continue, it could deter many consumers from purchasing such products. Confusion around how the virus is spread and where it came from reinforces what we are already seeing as cautionary behavior from some consumers, and may lead them to opt for alternative meat offerings. “It’s worth noting that, as of week 10 of GlobalData’s weekly Covid-19 tracker survey, published on June 3rd, 73% of Brazilian consumers are concerned about the safety of product packaging* – and such concerns will also translate to production further down in the supply chain, particularly as people demand more transparency from brands and operators. Across different sectors, Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of adapting operations to guarantee people and product safety in the face of the crisis – something that the meat industry continues to strive to achieve.”

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