Barnett Sporkin-Morrison is an Advisor from The Alternative Protein Show run by Olivia Fox Cabane across the United States of America. Barnett specializes in Agriculture economy, including consumer and producer decision making. He combines his life experiences with an academic leaning towards transaction cost economics/new institutional economics and interaction sociology. The Alternative Protein Show was a big hit in January, …
Food for thought at New Zealand AgriFood Week
The future of New Zealand’s food story was shaped this month as thousands walked through the gates of this year’s New Zealand AgriFood week, in association with ASB. ‘Food for Who?’ is the theme of this year’s event which runs from 11-16 March in Palmerston North, and is delivered by the Central Economic Development Agency (CEDA). ASB as the main …
Focusing on the need for farming change
The first woman to stand for director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says she wants to transform how richer countries farm animals, though she kept clear of suggesting any decrease in the global herd, writes Eloise Gibson. French civil servant Catherine Geslain-Laneelle is the European Union’s candidate to lead the international body coordinating efforts to fight hunger, which …
Meet ProteinTECH 2019’s Keynote Speaker: Shama Lee
Shama is reimagining the food system with innovative engineering. Starting with meat, her breakthrough startup Sunfed uses clean technology to make delectable meat without the animal. Shama’s goal is to create healthy and nourishing end-to-end food systems from the soil to the water to the human that is globally scalable. Food is the foundation of human health, and the largest …
Dairy boom has coincided with decline in water quality: rivers unsafe for swimming
It has been a classic summer in New Zealand: hot days, barbecues on the beach and lazy afternoon games of cricket. But dozens of beaches, rivers and lakes have been closed to the public owing to pollution from farming. According to a recent poll, water pollution is now New Zealanders’ number one concern: 82% of respondents said they want tougher …
Is the future of meat animal-free?
Advances in cell culture research are moving the commercialization of clean meat closer to reality, potentially yielding significant benefits in the areas of food safety, food security, and sustainability. What is clean meat? And why is this field emerging now? Clean meat (also called cultured meat) is the term for genuine animal meat grown by farming cells directly rather than …
Morning Star Farms will be 100% plant-based by 2021
MorningStar Farms is making moves! The leading vegetarian brand, a subsidiary of Kellogg Company, just announced a landmark commitment to making their entire product line fully plant-based by 2021. The transition will effectively take 300 million egg whites out of the equation annually. Mel Cash, head of global marketing, plant based protein at Kellogg Company, stated, “This will also help …
Putting down new roots: Taupo Beef and Lamb shares progressive views from the paddock
Our farming systems stand on the precipice of intense change. The task of how to feed a growing population that is set to reach 10 billion people by 2050 in the face of climate change, resource scarcity, and land degradation has forced innovation to spur. Scientists and technologists have blown the whistle on traditional farming methods and subsequently, new systems …
Alternative protein reports published
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and Plant & Food Research have released their joint report: The evolution of plant protein – assessing consumer response. The report was commissioned to assess consumer responses to protein and highlight the potential impacts to the New Zealand agricultural industry. New Zealand’s social, environmental, and economic well-being is linked to New Zealand’s ability to …
Impossible Foods launching in Singapore
Foodies in Singapore will soon have more veggie options to look forward to with the launch of Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat in March. Following an earlier launch in Hong Kong, the United States start-up late February announced the roll-out of its product to Singapore, with a variety of dishes available at eight partner restaurants. This comes after the company unveiled its …
Gordon Ramsay Adds Vegan Impossible Burger to His Menus
Singapore is set to welcome another vegan meat product to its shores, Business Insider reports. The vegan movement in Singapore is growing. Late last year, it was reported that “vegan activities” in the island nation had increased by 140 percent. The island recently became home to Beyond Meat and Omnipork, two brands making plant-based meats that closely resemble their animal-based …
Plant protein food developments accelerating
A new food technology conference in Auckland is focused on potential threats and opportunities from rapidly developing alternative proteins. The speed of change for other protein sources for food products is vital intelligence for local producers. Science leaders say changing consumer trends offer a huge commercial opportunity for our farmers. “New Zealand farmers have faced challenges from the removal of …
Food battle brewing, but not on supermarket shelves
Since the year started, almost every week so far, we’ve seen media coverage announcing yet another new protein-based food product hitting supermarket shelves. While the stories are hyped by media portrayal of backlash from farming groups, it masks the reality of what is actually happening in consumer food markets. While it is not visible to most of today’s food shoppers, …
Science key to plant protein success
An upcoming food technology conference in Auckland on alternative proteins for food production will debate whether it’s a market challenge or a massive new opportunity for local producers. Science leaders here say the changing global consumer trends bring a huge commercial opportunity for New Zealand agriculture. “New Zealand has strength in protein isolation and manufacturing technologies developed through our dairy …
Plant proteins and food exports: More depth to industry than meets the eye
TV news and social media highlight Impossible Burgers going global, and Vivera plant-based steaks are flying off Tesco’s shelves in Britain. True to form they have focused the public’s attention on threats to our agriculture exports. The issue is also being highlighted, in much more technical depth, in a national industry conference – ProteinTECH – running on 24 July in …
Food technology and money speeding up change
An upcoming conference in Auckland on alternative proteins offering consumers new food choices will include a debate on whether new plant-based proteins will disrupt traditional meat producers’ markets or simply bring more cheaper food choices to the masses. Last week in Britain, ahead of expectations, Tesco and Dutch-based plant food company Vivera jointly announced the immediate stocking of 100% plant-based …
100% plant-based steaks set to hit supermarket shelves
Breakthrough: Dutch company brings first plant-based steak to Tesco supermarkets Dutch food manufacturer, Vivera has just announced, as the first company in the world, it will bring a 100% plant-based steak to market. Vivera has already started production and expects to produce several million pieces in 2018. With current production of over 1 million meat replacements a week, they are …
Plant-based proteins growing faster than predicted
What do Millennials prefer on their plate? Will they eat … less meat … or meat-less meat? Meat-less meat here in New Zealand and in key export markets … What’s the trend? The speed of technology change in alternative proteins for food is now attracting increasingly positive comments from high profile leaders across the agriculture and food export sectors. A …
Serious potential for food production changes with protein technology
The speed of technology change in alternative proteins for food is now attracting increasingly positive comments from high profile leaders across the agriculture and food export sectors. A national conference in Auckland in July is set to bring new information for sector leaders. In this burgeoning field of food technology disruption price points are changing fast. These changes bring opportunities …
New ProteinTECH conference is on the money
The new conference, ProteinTECH 2018, is planned for July 2018, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Synthetic meats and alternative protein sources are a hot topic around the globe currently, and the Innovatek team plan to open up discussions about the impact this will have on the New Zealand food and agribusiness sectors. Federated Farmers …