Cargill has extended its sustainable cocoa program to Indonesia and plans to take preventative measure to turn ailing crops into high cocoa yielding money-spinners.
The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform is making headway in preventing cocoa and coffee crop losses, improving supply and yields for manufacturers.
Barry Callebaut has announced that it will collaborate with Rainforest Alliance to train members from five farmer cooperatives in Cameroon to produce certified cocoa.
Demand for cocoa is expected to climb 30% in the next 10 years creating a 25% shortage of current supply, according to North American cocoa processor and chocolate ingredients supplier Blommer Chocolate Company.
A division of the World Bank has acquired a stake in cocoa trader Armajaro Trading to support sustainable farming practices and improve traceability within its supply chains.
An African-financed, FAO directed trust fund will provide resources needed to drive sustainable food production across the continent and the oil sector will play a crucial role, according to FAO’s director-general.
Chocolate manufacturers will face a serious cocoa supply shortage unless they work to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and allow them to invest in sustainable production, according to an academic.
A federal judge has again upheld a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule that US raw almonds must be pasteurized in order to mitigate risk of salmonella, after organic almond growers challenged the rule.
Global confectionery supplier Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is injecting US$4.4m (€3m) into its Ivory Coast cocoa programme as the country tries to recover from its recent civil turmoil and an EU ban on one of the region’s most important exports.
Confectionery giant Mars predicts a major cocoa shortage by 2020 and reveals harmonization of global cocoa certification programmes to ensure meaningful income hikes for farmers is one of its sustainable cocoa project goals.
A new education and training scheme in Ghana that aims to develop the country’s cocoa supply chain is the “first of its kind” for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), says the firm.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is to source UTZ certified cocoa for the first time, after Nigeria was granted sustainable recognition for its beans.
Cocoa farming has been a contributor to deforestation and degradation in West Africa due to limited fertilizer use as well as outdated crop husbandry methods, claim two research groups in a newly published study in Environmental Management.
The recent Ghana-Liberia agriculture pact is unlikely to have a major impact on the global cocoa industry; whereas Nigeria is a region to watch, according to Euromonitor.
The delivery of Cargill’s first UTZ Certified beans from Vietnam marks an important milestone for the company in its bid to establish the region as a new origin country for cocoa, said the ingredients giant.
Caobisco has announced its support for Environmental Justice Foundation’s (EJF’s) call for a global ban on Endosulfan, an insecticide that EJF claims is “highly toxic”.
A breakthrough in cocoa genetics by a collaboration involving Mars, USDA and IBM will accelerate research into the production of trees that can better resist drought, disease and pests, and has met with an enthusiastic welcome from leading cocoa scientists...
There’s a perfect storm building for food prices. You don’t have to scan the horizon to see the signs; the clouds are developing all around us - at a faster rate than anyone expected.
Everybody wants food to be safe - but the recent slugging match over how best to protect US consumers from E.coli-tainted meat highlights whether legislation or self-regulation is the answer to mending the country's flawed safety system.
Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate is aiming to have 10,000 tonnes of UTZ-certified cocoa available for the market in 2010, as the first two Ivory Coast cooperatives achieve certification and others are expected to get there soon.
Prices for key commodities used by food manufacturers may have eased since their peaks last year, but the cost of cereals and vegetable oils in the near term will remain far higher than pre-2008, projects the OECD.
Mars has pledged that its entire cocoa supply will be certified as sustainably produced by 2020, through a multi-year, multi-country deal forged with the Rainforest Alliance.
Africa needs to grow and export more organic produce to help tackle issues of food security and sustainability and help meet global demand which continues to grow, according to a UN agency report.
Global grain markets are facing breaking point because of drought and mass urbanisation in China which is diverting land-use away from crops, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Leeds.
Who likes pesticides? Misunderstood by consumers and misrepresented by pressure groups, pesticides are a soft target for legislators. The latest blow to that soft target could have hard consequences for the European food industry and for developing countries.
The World Cocoa Foundation is offering a guide to the cocoa industry on sustainability principles that focus on equitable profit, labour standards and environmental issues.
Scientists for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed two new sugarcane varieties which they have shown to increase yields when grown on Florida’s sand soils.
“Four legs good, two legs bad.” When the pigs take over the land in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, they have no hesitation; any creature with four legs is beyond reproach and any human is bad, mad and dangerous to know.
A snack bar which can stay moist and chewy for up to 24 months
without the need for artificial preservatives has been developed by
scientists in California.
A naturally epoxised oil from Ethiopia's vernonia weed could
provide food and drink processors with a safe and sustainable
substitute for the resin used to line packaging.
A French chocolate industry body has recognised CIRAD for its
pioneering work within the cocoa commodity chain and its
groundbreaking research into cocoa.
The value of the UK agricultural industry's gross output including
subsidies directly linked to product increased by 2.5 per cent to
£16.9 billion while intermediate consumption rose by 5.4 per cent
due in part to the rise in...
An innovative Australian scheme to recycle thousands of tonnes of
fish processing waste could dramatically cut down the need for
landfill space, save food processors money and, in the end, produce
a useful product.
This year's Czech harvest has been hailed as the best since 1993,
producing almost nine million tonnes of crops, showing that the
farming industry has recovered well from a poor 2003 and the
disastrous floods of 2002 - just in...
Law makers, consumer groups and industry continue to clash over the
use of GM ingredients in the European food chain, but a major
UK-based food science body asserts this week that genetic
modification has the potential to offer strong...
Measures to soften the impact of poor cereal harvests in Europe and
boost the grain market were introduced by Europe's agriculture
commissioner this week.
The UK's Cereals Industry Forum is to receive a £1.4 million
government grant over the next three years in an effort to improve
efficiency and competitiveness in the grain chain.
Vietnam's burgeoning cocoa industry received a significant boost
last week after the US government confirmed it would provide $4
million (€3.4m) in development aid.
