Field Notes Issue 642 Field Notes Issue 642 Field Notes Issue 642

In Aotearoa New Zealand, King Country shearer, Sacha Bond, set a new world record in the solo women’s eight-hour strong wool lambs, shearing 91 more lambs than the previous record. Palmerston North start-up, Kinda, the (animal-free) cauliflower ice-cream maker, is doing a capital raise, with their first step towards commercialisation via a partnership with Hell Pizza underway. Entries are also now open for the Fieldays Innovation Awards for the June 14-17 2023 Fieldays.

Across the ditch, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) have developed Australian Good Meat Education resources, which are now available for the 2023 school year, to educate students on the red meat and livestock industry.

Internationally, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations reports international food commodity prices continue to decline for the tenth consecutive month, with vegetable oils, dairy and sugar driving the FAO Food Price Index decline. Fonterra Co-operative Group continue to launch new products into markets with their global Anchor brand, in an exclusive innovation partnership with 7-Eleven, they have just launched two new products into 14,000 stores in Thailand.

Horticulture industry’s strategy document aims to double farmgate revenue to $12b - NZ Herald [2 February, The Country]

The horticulture sector has unveiled a comprehensive strategy action plan to increase farmgate revenue to NZD$12 billion by 2035 through the enhanced production and sales of fruits, vegetables, and nuts in both domestic and international markets. The plan, developed through close collaboration between the industry, government, Māori, and scientific community, will be overseen by a yet-to-be established governance group tasked with its implementation.

Tags: Horticulture, Economics & Trade

Feds survey shows farmer confidence hits a record low [7 February, The Country]

A Federated Farmers survey of over 1100 farm businesses shows low farmer confidence, with 65.2% of respondents rating current economic conditions as bad and 81.8% expecting conditions to worsen. Climate change policy and the Emissions Trading Scheme topped farmers' concerns, followed by debt, and regulation and compliance costs. The survey also revealed a sharp decrease in farm profitability, with only 28.4% reporting a current profit. Only 5.4% expect their production to decline, with 24.1% expect spending to increase, a decrease on July’s survey results.

Tags: Farmers & Producers, Rural Communities

Global red meat trade flows set to remain firm in 2023 [6 February, Farming UK]

The red meat market will be unstable in 2023 due to supply and demand issues. The world's beef demand is forecast to remain unchanged, while production is expected to reduce by 0.3%. Global pork production is expected to rise 0.3% as Asia recovers from African Swine Fever. Australian lamb processors may become more active in export markets due to tight supply from NZ. 

Tags: Trade & Exports, Red Meat

Further food price rises could cause up to 1 million additional deaths in 2023 [7 February, The Conversation]

The global food market is under pressure due to high energy and fertiliser prices, export restrictions, and increased demand. This has caused food prices to soar globally, with the UK seeing 16.8% inflation in the year to December 2022. A study by University of Edinburgh senior lecturer, Peter Alexander, found the combined effect of the global conditions could cause food commodity prices to rise by 81% from 2021 levels. Sharp increases in the cost of fertilisers lead to reduction in their use, and therefore lower yields and increase food prices, which may result in up to 1 million additional deaths. 

Tags: Food Security, Regulation 

Rebellyous Foods raises $9.5M to build its plant-based chicken tech [6 February, Food Dive]

Plant-based chicken nugget maker Rebellyous Foods has raised USD$9.5 million in an equity round to build its production technology. The company’s aim is to produce plant-based products at the same price or lower than animal-based products. Despite a slowdown in sales growth for some large plant-based food brands, Rebellyous remains optimistic about its future success. 

Tags: Alternative Proteins, Food Innovation