The protein shift has landed in New Zealand – what was merely a promise from offshore is now here. Our protein industry is evolving and our industry is no longer talking about what might be, could be or should be possible, but is taking steps to ensure its position in a consumer-driven world. Proteins can be derived from a wide …

Change is coming and farmers can either take it by the hand or it will grab them by the throat. The magnitude of this change meant farmers have to begin planning to avoid future pain, environmentalist Guy Salmon told dairy farmers at the Waikato Small Milk and Supply Herds group conference at Lake Karapiro. “If we don’t, it’s going to be much more difficult to make those …

We don’t know who discovered water but it wasn’t the fish. A fear of water taxes is gripping farming and here is how I expect pastoral farmers to respond if it becomes a reality. Firstly, there will be a new interest in soil surfaces. Farmers want soils that absorb water rapidly and release it slowly. That isn’t going to happen …

The Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Mumbai and The Good Food Institute India are partnering to set up the world’s first government research center for the development of clean meat. India is a key market in the global food system We’ve written before about why India is a crucial market for plant-based and cell-based innovation: our population will account for …

Shaun Hendy, Director of Toha NZ, will be presenting on Science, but not as we know it! “For the last century, science has been dominated by government with very little role for the public or communities in selecting, funding or participating in the science that gets done in their backyard. The rise of new technologies and citizen science are set …

A “bunch of really smart guys” are setting out to put the top of the south at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence technology. The Nelson Artificial Intelligence Institute has flown under the radar but the team behind it are quietly working on or eyeing up potentially world-leading aquaculture and marine projects, including understanding and hopefully stopping whale strandings. Institute directors Brian …

As chief executive of a two billion dollar agriculture sector business I have the job of trying to figure out how we make the transition from a traditional farming business, which has been New Zealand’s backbone for over a century, to a new, yet to be fully defined, farming future. But before we look to the future, here’s a bit …

Radical action is needed to combat increasing rate of environmental damage to water sources, land, biodiversity and marine life, report shows. Degradation of the world’s natural resources by humans is rapidly outpacing the planet’s ability to absorb the damage, meaning the rate of deterioration is increasing globally, the most comprehensive environmental study ever undertaken by the UN has found. The …

Blinc’s recent Sustainable Protein event, focused on how we ensure Healthy People along with a Healthy Planet, laid out the challenges in this complex area. What is clear is that we don’t have all the answers. It will be important as we work on these to consider the unintended consequences of diets we recommend or of the new regulations and …

Impossible Foods is widely known for its vegan “bleeding” beef-like Impossible Burger, available at major restaurant and fast food chains across the U.S, including Burger King. According to a new report from the company, Impossible Foods could be setting its sights on another market: the fish industry. In its 2019 Impact Report, Impossible Foods states, “our platform has never been burger-specific. …

Bennie is the Executive General Manager of Life Health Foods, and will be presenting at ProteinTECH 2019! Bennie will share insights on what is motivating New Zealand consumers to choose more plant based foods, drawn from new local research. Hendricks will discuss consumer attitudes and drivers of lifestyle and food decisions and how this varies between different consumer groups. Concluding …

Vegan diners awaiting Ikea’s new plant-based “meatballs” don’t have long to wait. Furniture giant Ikea is close to finalizing its new item, with in-store testing planned for this fall before a global rollout in summer 2020, managing director for Ikea food services Michael La Cour said in an interview. That’s faster than the trials originally scheduled for “early next year.” …

Beef produces more carbon than any other meat, yet we still can’t get enough of the stuff. But can drastic changes in how we farm and eat turn things around? Rebecca Cole didn’t have a typical childhood. Though she grew up in the 1970s, her family home lacked electricity. Their wooden house was tucked in a rural town in southern …

Could Nelson become a Blue Zone, with one of the healthiest populations on Earth? With a bit of encouragement, Nelson pharmacist and plant-based whole food enthusiast Hannah O’Malley hopes we can.  The famed Blue Zones are based on a 2005 National Geographic article which identified seven places on the planet where people live longer and with lower rates of chronic …

From bleeding to nut-based “fake meats”, from “mylks” to mycelia: the plant-based protein market is rapidly evolving, and predicted to be worth USD$5.2bn by 2020 (an 8.4% growth from 2015). Europe will represent 39% of that meat alternative spend, despite representing only 26% of the world’s grocery revenues across all food and drink, so significant is European demand for meat …

After months of trialling different products, Burger Fuel thinks they’ve nailed it. The burger chain has launched their new Beyond Beleaf burger, containing one of the Beyond vegan patties which by all accounts looks, tastes, and smells like its meaty alternative. For $10, the Beyond Beleaf burger contains the vegan party, vegan provolone cheese, vegan aioli, salad and relish on …

The expansion of Fonterra’s Eltham site has reached a key milestone, with the first individually wrapped slices of cheese now coming off its new production line destined for supermarket shelves around the globe.  The new line is part of a $32 million project to bolster the site’s cheese capability, doubling the amount of the world-renowned sliced cheese that can be …

It’s been a big month for environmental news. Earlier in May, the UN revealed the most comprehensive health update of our planet to date. The results were painful, yet unsurprising – one million species are at risk of extinction, the biomass of wild mammals has fallen by 82 percent and land degradation has starved the productivity of 23 percent of global …

Aucklanders will once again be able to recycle their soft plastics with new onshore processors giving bags and wrappers second lives as farming and gardening products. The Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has set up recycling bins at 37 locations at selected Countdown, The Warehouse, and Huckleberry stores across Auckland. The scheme was suspended in December …