https://agrospectrumasia.com/rssfeed/country/pacific pacific https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3509/from-additives-to-spices-cac48-redraws-rules-of-global-food-trade.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3509/from-additives-to-spices-cac48-redraws-rules-of-global-food-trade.html Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:50:16 +0530 Codex and FAO officials detail how updated standards aim to protect consumers without triggering disproportionate trade disruption for export-dependent economies In an exclusive Agrospectrum and NUFFOODS Spectrum interview with global food-standards leaders — Sarah Cahill, Codex Secretary; Lingping Zhang, Food Standards Officer, Codex Secretariat; Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Gracia Brisco, Food Standards Officer, Codex Secretariat; and Hilde Kruse, Senior Food Standards Officer, Codex Secretariat — CAC48 emerges as a decisive moment for Codex amid rising geopolitical fragmentation. The experts reaffirm Codex’s science-based, consensus-driven mandate, which shaped major reforms including additive reviews, aflatoxin updates, pesticide-residue reference guidelines and new maximum lead levels for spices. They underline how improved Codes of Practice, surveillance support and harmonised quality parameters enable consumer protection while minimising trade disruption for export-reliant economies. Looking ahead, they highlight the Codex Strategic Plan 2026–2031, which places digital traceability, climate-risk foresight, and advanced analytical technologies at the core of modernising global food safety governance. Edited excerpts; Codex at a Geopolitical Crossroads The 48th Session saw critical standards adopted across additives, contaminants, and fresh-produce quality. At a time when food systems face geopolitical fragmentation, supply-chain shocks, and rising protectionism, how does Codex ensure these standards remain science-led, globally harmonized, and insulated from political pressure? The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is a Member-driven body with its commitment to a science-based approach to standard setting enshrined in its procedures. Its work is guided by its strategic goals, and its core values of collaboration, inclusiveness, consensus building and transparency. Codex texts are the benchmark for food safety under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) and are relevant to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) where WTO members refer to harmonization with international standards such as the Codex Alimentarius for food-related issues such as labelling. Codex standards play an important role in addressing specific trade concerns or for dispute settlement cases. Wherever you are, whatever you do, safe food is an everyday need. And it is a global commodity. These aspects are integral to every discussion in the Codex Alimentarius Commission. “Together” was also the theme of CAC48, which served to highlight that when it comes to food safety and quality it is only by working together that we can effectively and efficiently ensure food is safe and of good quality.  The GSFA Overhaul: Science, Safety, and Consumer Trust More than 500 food additive provisions were reviewed, leading to revocations and new inclusions. What principles guided the reassessment—particularly for colourants like annatto extracts—and how does FAO ensure regulators and industry transition smoothly to these updated provisions without disrupting product availability or trade flows? All Codex work is conducted following approval by CAC. Thus, the decision for reassessment was taken by Members. In the case of annatto extracts, this decision was based on: The need to align the General standard for food additives with relevant sections of commodity standards. In this case, for example, there was a need to align with the Standard for fermented milks, which does not provide for the addition of annatto extracts in plain milk. Codex texts are developed through consensus by all its Members in a deliberate manner that often spans a timeframe of several years. The national Codex contact points serve as a primary node to disseminate all applicable information to national stakeholders. In addition, FAO provides support when requested by Member Countries to strengthen national Codex structures, thereby enhancing national capabilities in disseminating all relevant Codex texts to national stakeholders. Aflatoxins in Peanuts: New Science, New Responsibilities The revised Code of Practice on aflatoxins integrates updated agronomic science, maturity-stage tables, and roasting effects. How will FAO help producing countries—especially smallholder-dependent economies—translate these best practices into field-level change? Are new surveillance, extension, or capacity-building mechanisms planned? FAO stays ready to support its members needs and will respond to requests by its members for additional capacity building measures correspondingly. FAO and Codex furthermore have published numerous guidance documents, codes of practice and related texts that is publicly available, ready to be used by any other organization that would like to use this information in order to support producers of peanuts. Lead Limits in Spices: Balancing Public Health and Trade facilitation With new maximum levels now set for dried bark (cinnamon) and culinary herbs, exporting nations such as —India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia—face compliance pressure. How does Codex balance the dual mandate of protecting consumers health while ensuring fair practices in trade, in this case, preventing trade disruptions for economies reliant on spice exports? The mandate to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade is the statutory purpose of CAC. This means that, when it comes to food safety standards such as maximum levels for contaminants in foods, CAC will not establish more stringent measures than necessary to protect consumers health so that the measures themselves do not become a technical barrier to trade which may then translate in trade disruption that may impact economic growth and ultimately food security.   Although spices and culinary herbs are consumed in small amounts, as opposed to other foods, it remains important to assess the safety of lead levels in these foods due to the impact of lead toxicity on human health that may include neurodevelopmental effects such as decreases in Intelligence Quota (IQ) and attention span in children, impaired renal function, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, impaired fertility, and adverse pregnancy outcomes and therefore the ALARA continued to apply when CCCF discusses risk management considerations related to health and trade so that while ensuring the safety of the food, this does not imply high rejections rate of lot consignments, at import control point. CCCF does provide support to Codex Members to enable them to comply with MLs, by developing codes of practice, a compendium of risk management measures and practices to assist in reducing food contamination, in this case CAC40 adopted in 2017 the Code of practice for the prevention and reduction of mycotoxins in spices (CXC 78-2017). FAO does have a role to play in assisting countries with the implementation of the CoP, helping them to identify specific risk management measures that may not be included in the CoP, as they are usually overarching texts, that can complement the measures applicable worldwide that are described in these CoPs. The Codex Alimentarius Commission has now adopted MLs for lead in spices and culinary herbs, specifically, dried bark (cinnamon) and dried culinary herbs. The MLs are 2.5 mg/kg for lead in spices, dried bark and 2.0 mg/kg for lead in culinary herbs, dried and will now be added to the General Standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed (CXS 193-1995).  Pesticide Reference Materials: A Quiet but Critical Reform The guidelines allowing extended use of pesticide reference materials beyond labelled expiry dates could significantly reduce laboratory costs and waste. What drove this reform? And how does FAO envision it strengthening residue monitoring systems in low- and middle-income countries where testing infrastructure remains limited? Pesticide residues in food are a subject of particular concern for consumers and in the food trade. To ensure the safety of food, the regulation of pesticide use, and relevant residues, must be enforced and guaranteed. Part of the process of testing for pesticide residues relies on laboratories being able to access what are known as reference materials, or RMs. But these are costly and sold with 2-to-5-year short-term expiry dates, though there is no requirement to find maximum shelf life. This can force laboratories to buy new RMs more frequently than potentially necessary. This leads to additional work and additional costs, and that can hinder how much testing can be done.  The Codex Alimentarius Commission has now adopted guidelines that provide a scientifically sound framework to monitor the purity and stability of reference materials under defined conditions, which, if implemented correctly, may allow continued use of RMs beyond their expiry date - where purity remains within acceptable limits. This reduces recurring costs, minimizes waste, and ensures confidence in the reliability of pesticide residue analysis.  The work on the development of guidelines for monitoring the purity and stability of reference materials of pesticides during prolonged storage commenced at CCPR51 in 2019, when some delegations expressed concerns regarding the limitation of the use of reference materials beyond the expiry date, leading to significant recurring costs for laboratories. As chair of the electronic working group (EWG), India led the work to develop these guidelines. FAO stays ready to support its members needs and will respond to requests by its members for additional capacity building measures correspondingly.  Read more about this work in the 2025 edition of the CODEX magazine   Standard for Fresh Dates: Trade Enablement for Climate-Stressed Regions The new standard comes after a decade of negotiations and is deeply important for date-producing regions across the Middle East and North Africa. How will harmonized quality parameters—size, colour, uniformity, defects—reshape global trade? Can such standards help climate-stressed producers secure better prices in high-value retail markets ? By adopting the new Standard for fresh dates, Codex Members now have an international reference that provides the baseline for international trade of this commodity upon which trading partners can agree on additional quality provisions based on their consumers’ preferences. For producing countries, this opens up trade possibilities across the globe, which, in many cases, will support the livelihoods of small producers, bolster economies and provide a safe, good quality product for consumers worldwide. Castilla Lulo (Naranjilla): Regional Standards as a Strategic Tool This new regional standard reflects the fruit’s cultural importance and emerging trade value in Latin America. What criteria does Codex use to decide when a product merits a regional rather than global standard? And do regional standards serve as testbeds for potential future global adoption? When considering new work proposed by FAO/WHO regional coordinating committees, CAC considers, amongst other things, whether the new work is justified on the grounds that the product in question is significantly traded intraregionally and that there is no significant trade between or within other regions When a commodity for which there is a regional standard, sees increased trade at a global level, the coordinating committee concerned, or a Member, can propose extension of the territorial application of the standard. This involves new work, which has to be approved by CAC. CAC48 approved, for example, new work on converting the Regional standard for laver products (Asia) to a worldwide standard, work that will be carried out by the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP). The Next Frontier: Modernizing Codex for a New Era of Food Risks From AI-driven food systems to precision fermentation, novel ingredients, and climate-linked contaminants, food safety risks are evolving faster than many national regulatory systems. What are FAO’s top priorities for modernizing Codex over the next decade? How will future standards incorporate digital traceability, climate risk modelling, and new analytical technologies? FAO is a parent organization of Codex, together with the World Health Organization (WHO). However, work prioritization in Codex is the remit of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. CAC47 adopted the Codex strategic plan 2026–2031 and CAC48 its monitoring framework. The purpose of the Codex strategic plan and its renewal and renegotiation every five years is to ensure that Codex work is aimed at achieving the most appropriate objectives. FAO has a very long-standing tradition to inform the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies with all relevant information to facilitate forward looking workplanning. FAO continues to offer its support to all its members and the members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission to assist in national capacity building activities to strengthen food control systems, food safety governance and all related aspects. The new strategic plan has as its first Strategic Goal to: Respond to Members’ needs for protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in the food trade in an evolving global landscape, by developing science-based standards and related texts 1.1 Foresight and horizon-scanning activities are used to support the identification of issues likely to impact food safety, quality and trade. 1.2 Scientific advice that addresses the needs identified by CAC and its subsidiary bodies is primarily provided by FAO and WHO and their joint scientific advisory bodies, informed by globally representative data and appropriate international expertise and methodology. 1.3 Scientific advice is used by CAC and subsidiary bodies in line with Codex risk analysis principles. 1.4 Codex standards and related texts are developed, reviewed and adopted in a timely, transparent and inclusive manner. Thus, with reference to FAO’s foresight programme ( https://www.fao.org/food-safety/scientific-advice/foresight/en/ ), Codex will aim to keep ahead of emerging trends Codex work is already addressing some of the key emerging issues and adapting based on Members’ priorities: Digital traceability is already a key topic of discussion in the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS), and work is ongoing to develop texts for the digitalization of national food control systems. CAC47 adopted the Codex Committee on Food Labelling’s (CCFL’s) Guidelines on the provision of food information for pre-packaged foods to be offered via e-commerce New food sources and production systems have been discussed extensively in Codex in recent years. In this context several areas of new work are under discussion which will help define how codex addresses this emerging area moving forward. Changing climate is also impacting food safety and this is also impacting the standard setting work of Codex. For example, the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) elaborated and CAC47 adopted the Code of practice for the prevention or reduction of ciguatera poisoning, in response to the evolving nature of this issue, which is related to climate factors. The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene developed and CAC46 adopted Guidelines for the safe use and reuse of water in food production and processing in response to Members concerns about the need to ensure that in the context of water resource challenges, the safety of food was not negatively impacted. There is a continued emphasis, particularly within CCCF, on the issue of mycotoxins, the threat of which is evolving and possibly expanding as climate factors change. —---- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3493/asias-seafood-exports-in-2025-tariffs-trade-deals-and-market-shifts.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3493/asias-seafood-exports-in-2025-tariffs-trade-deals-and-market-shifts.html Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:35:11 +0530 In 2025, Asian seafood exporters operated in an increasingly complex global trade architecture. The combined effects of tariffs imposed by the United States and European Union, alongside emerging free trade agreements such as CEPA and CETA, created both constraints and opportunities for the region’s leading producers. Unlike previous periods of growth, which relied primarily on volume expansion, the defining feature of 2025 was strategic adjustment. Exporters leveraged certification, vertical integration, and market diversification to sustain revenue and stabilize margins. This article examines the quantitative and structural underpinnings of Asian seafood performance in 2025, with a focus on India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, highlighting revenue resilience, supply chain efficiencies, and policy interventions. It identifies winners and underperformers and explores the mechanisms through which exporters mitigated trade and operational risks. Tariff Pressures: Country-Wise Quantification In India, shrimp and cuttlefish exports were affected by U.S. tariffs ranging between 10 and 15 percent on processed shrimp. Despite a modest four percent decline in volume, totaling 370,000 metric tonnes, export value fell only 1.5 percent, demonstrating the mitigating effect of premiumization. Indian exporters increasingly focused on high-quality, value-added products while CEPA agreements with GCC countries partially offset U.S. market constraints. The EU remained an important secondary market, where tariffs were stable, though sustainability mandates favored ASC and MSC-certified products. Government-backed export subsidies and cold-chain incentives, totaling roughly $80 million, further strengthened competitiveness. Vietnam’s seafood sector illustrates how targeted strategies can offset international trade pressures. Shrimp continued to dominate the product structure, generating nearly $410 million in September, which brought the nine-month export value to over $3.38 billion—a 20.3 percent increase year-on-year. Pangasius also recorded strong performance, with September turnover approaching $191 million and total exports exceeding $1.6 billion over nine months, up almost ten percent. The resurgence of demand from China, the U.S., Japan, and Middle Eastern markets reinforced Vietnam’s position as a leading global supplier of both freshwater and marine seafood. Other segments also performed well: marine fish exports grew to $1.61 billion (+18.5 per cent), squid and octopus reached $550 million (+18.7 per cent), and shelled mollusks rose more than 30 to $192 million. Tuna exports, however, slightly declined to $705 million (-3.2 per cent), reflecting intensified competition in the oceanic fish segment. The U.S. market showed slower growth for Vietnam, with September exports down more than six percent. Nonetheless, nine-month totals still rose 6.8 percent to $1.41 billion. Challenges such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties, along with stringent MMPA requirements, continue to constrain U.S.-bound shipments. China and Hong Kong emerged as dominant markets, with nine-month exports reaching $1.76 billion (+32.1 per cent), benefiting from strong demand and favorable logistics. Japan and the EU maintained steady growth at $1.27 billion (+15.6 per cent) and $885 million (+13.3 per cent), respectively, while South Korea emerged as a breakout market with nearly 50 per cent growth in September and a 13 per cent increase over nine months. ASEAN and Middle Eastern markets also expanded, recording $536 million (+23.3 per cent) and $295 million (+7.6 per cent), respectively, with the Middle East seeing more than 50 percent growth in September alone. Indonesia’s seafood sector leveraged CEPA agreements with GCC countries to expand market access for shrimp and tuna. Customs duty reductions of 3–5 percent directly improved gross margins for exporters targeting Gulf markets. By the end of 2025, GCC markets accounted for nearly 30 percent of Indonesia’s shrimp and tuna export value, a marked diversification from traditional U.S. and EU destinations. Investment in refrigerated shipping increased capacity by 12 percent year-on-year, enabling exporters to maintain product quality, meet CEPA compliance requirements, and improve realized margins by 7–10 per cent. Thailand focused on high-value shrimp and squid, using CETA provisions to facilitate faster EU customs clearance, reducing compliance costs by an estimated seven percent. Cold-chain adoption reached 70 percent for premium products, ensuring consistent quality for EU and Japanese markets.  The country occupied a structurally distinct position within Asia’s seafood economy in 2025—less exposed to sudden market shocks and more anchored in processing-led value creation. Total fishery exports were valued at approximately $7 billion, while imports stood near US$5 billion, reflecting Thailand’s dual role as both a processing hub and a trading intermediary within global seafood flows. Japan remained Thailand’s most important destination, accounting for roughly one-third of export value, followed by Europe at just over one-fifth, and the United States at around 16 per cent. This market mix insulated Thailand from excessive dependence on any single trade corridor, particularly at a time when U.S. regulatory scrutiny intensified across the region.   Market Diversification and Revenue Stability Revenue diversification proved crucial for mitigating tariff and market risks. India derived 38 percent of export revenue from the U.S., 27 percent from the EU, and 15 percent from GCC countries, illustrating a portfolio approach that cushioned U.S. tariff impacts. Vietnam’s revenue was 32 percent from the U.S., 40 percent from the EU, and 10 percent from GCC markets, with EU growth largely driven by certification and premiumization. Indonesia relied on 20 percent from the U.S., 25 percent from the EU, and 30 percent from GCC markets, demonstrating a deliberate CEPA-driven diversification strategy. Thailand sourced 28 percent of revenue from the U.S., 35 percent from the EU, and 12 percent from GCC markets, relying on premium frozen products to maintain margins despite modest volume growth. Countries with multi-market exposure experienced less than three percent year-on-year revenue variation, while single-market-reliant exporters faced fluctuations of six to seven percent. Certification and value-added products enabled India and Vietnam to absorb U.S. tariff pressures, Indonesia’s GCC expansion cushioned revenue variability, and Thailand’s focus on premium EU/Japan markets stabilized returns. Revenue, Volume, and Commodity Performance Export value growth across the four leading countries was moderate but consistent. India achieved $7.8 billion in shrimp and cuttlefish exports, a four percent increase driven by premiumization, CEPA market access, and traceability initiatives. Vietnam’s nine-month exports surpassed $8.3 billion, reflecting strong performance in shrimp, pangasius, marine fish, and mollusks. Indonesia reached $4.5 billion (+3 per cent), supported by CEPA access and selective premium exports, while Thailand achieved $6.0 billion (+2 per cent), led by premium shrimp and squid targeting EU and Japanese markets. Certification, traceability, and vertical integration contributed an estimated 3–5 percent of revenue growth, offsetting tariff pressures. Commodity-grade exports without value addition, particularly to the U.S., underperformed, reinforcing the premiumization imperative. Commodity price dynamics mirrored these strategies. Export-grade shrimp from India, Vietnam, and Thailand stabilized at $12–13 per kilogram, with premium segments commanding 5–10 percent higher prices. Pangasius from Vietnam ranged $3.8–4.2 per kilogram, with certified fillets averaging $4.5 per kilogram. Tuna from Indonesia reached $6–6.5 per kilogram, with supply chain optimization contributing a 3–4 percent improvement in realized price. Thailand’s squid exports realized $10–11 per kilogram, with premium frozen products yielding additional margins. These trends underscore the importance of B2B investment in cold-chain, certification, and value-added processing in preserving price resilience. Supply Chain Sophistication: Cold-Chain and Vertical Integration Efficient supply chains proved decisive. In India, 45 percent of shrimp exports relied on company-owned cold storage, 30 percent on outsourced facilities, and 15–20 percent on rented units. Vertical integration reduced transaction costs by 5–8 percent and cut delivery delays by 15 percent. In Vietnam, 60 percent of pangasius exports passed through certified cold-chain facilities, enabling compliance with EU Green Fisheries regulations and higher realized prices. Indonesia expanded refrigerated shipping by 12 percent YOY, supporting margin improvements of 7–10 percent. Thailand’s 70 percent cold-chain adoption for high-value shrimp, combined with process efficiency, reinforced operational resilience. Companies managing production, processing, and logistics internally responded faster to tariff and compliance shifts, demonstrating the advantage of vertical integration in mitigating operational risk. Structural Lessons from 2025 Certification and traceability were decisive, with ASC/MSC/HACCP-compliant producers outperforming peers by 5–12 percent in realized export prices. Market diversification reduced volatility, with multi-market-reliant countries experiencing ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3361/coral-reefs-vs-climate-chaos-dr-jenni-brandon-on-race-to-save-earths-underwater-cities.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3361/coral-reefs-vs-climate-chaos-dr-jenni-brandon-on-race-to-save-earths-underwater-cities.html Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:30:22 +0530 In an exclusive interview with AgroSpectrum, Dr. Jenni Brandon, CEO and Sustainability Consultant at Wild Beacon Consulting, reveals how coral reefs marshal an arsenal of biological ingenuity — from genetically diverse lineages to symbiont-swapping survival strategies — to endure the escalating tyranny of warming and acidifying oceans. She argues that restoration must be rooted not in cosmetic transplantation but in evolutionary prudence, selecting morphologies and genotypes most equipped for tomorrow’s oceans and leveraging naturally resilient habitats such as upwelling zones. Dr. Brandon spotlights the reefs’ macroeconomic indispensability: they are coastal sentinels, food-system pillars, and tourism engines whose erosion could destabilize livelihoods and national balance sheets alike. Although reefs are not classical blue-carbon sinks, she underscores their essential role in safeguarding carbon-rich ecosystems — a rationale for scaling blue bonds and debt-for-nature swaps that yoke biodiversity protection to investible climate outcomes. With the advent of AI-assisted surveillance, satellite foresight and rapid eDNA diagnostics, she concludes, humanity now possesses the tools to pre-empt catastrophe — so long as governance frameworks unite scientific precision, local stewardship, and uncompromising urgency. I. Reef Resilience and Climate Dynamics Mechanisms of Resilience: With rising sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, what are the most decisive biological and ecological mechanisms that enable certain coral species or reef systems to withstand climate stress, and how can this inform targeted conservation strategies? More resilient corals have a few ecological commonalities, including living in deeper, colder waters, but also living in more variable waters, where they have become more resilient to changing temperatures than those in stable environments. Biologically, certain genetic strains seem to be more resilient, as well as the corals with more diverse genetic makeup. If you have higher genetic diversity, you are more likely to have some strains survive a bleaching event. Certain morphologies also seem to survive better, like in Papua New Guinea, where big boulder-shaped corals have taken over reefs compared to more fragile branching corals that are more sensitive to ocean acidification. Then there are also the coral-algae symbionts, where corals with more heat-resistant symbiotic algae survive better, and some corals will actually swap out their symbiotic algae for more heat-resistant algae in a warming event. Adaptive Management under Uncertainty: Given the high variability of reef responses across regions, how should policymakers and investors design adaptive, evidence-based interventions that balance short-term protection with long-term ecosystem integrity? Some intervention approaches include replanting coral outcroppings, and this should be done thinking about the morphology, symbiotic algae community, and genetic diversity of those corals. Too many of the same corals replanted will not add to the genetic diversity and could all be wiped out in a marine heat wave. Similarly, replanting corals in areas of upwelling may lead to those corals becoming more resilient and lead to more long-term resiliency. II. Economics, Valuation, and Climate Finance Monetizing Reef Resilience: Coral ecosystems provide critical services—fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection. How can we rigorously quantify these benefits in economic terms to attract private investment and integrate reef conservation into ESG portfolios? I'm not an economist, so I can't definitively answer that. But you have to think of the jobs created not just by the fishing vessels themselves, but the seafood processing plants, and the seafood markets and seafood restaurants. The tourism jobs that would disappear if there was no healthy coral reef to visit (hotels, restaurants, SCUBA boats, beach shops, etc). Also, the coastal protections that a coral reef provides, including stopping storm surge, protecting during hurricanes, fighting erosion, being nursery habitat for those fisheries. It goes on and on. Florida values their coral reefs at a value of $8.5 billion, when you start to add all those pieces together. Blue Carbon and Market Mechanisms: What are the methodological and regulatory challenges of incorporating coral reefs into carbon markets or nature-based solutions financing, and how can these frameworks ensure both ecological fidelity and investor confidence? Coral reefs are not direct blue carbon sinks themselves, because the act of calcification releases CO2. But they help protect other blue carbon ecosystems like seagrass from erosion or storm surge, so they are part of the blue carbon ecosystem. But to be part of the carbon market, there would need to be significant research on the MRV, or measurement, reporting, and verification, of exactly where the carbon goes in a reef system and how permanently it is sequestered, if at all. That's not to say that coral reefs aren't a nature-based solution, for all the ecosystem services I mentioned above. They are, and financing coral reef and restoration for those ecosystem services makes a lot of sense for both ecological and economic reasons. III. Cross-Sector Governance and Strategic Collaboration Private-Public Synergy: How should corporations, philanthropic organizations, and governments strategically co-invest in reef resilience to generate measurable climate, biodiversity, and economic impact simultaneously? There are debt instruments like blue bonds that are being created where a government, development bank, or corporation, issues a bond that is specifically designed for projects that benefit the ocean and the blue economy. These can be used for things like coral reef restoration, or preventing water pollution from entering the ocean and polluting reefs, or establishing an MPA, or making a fishery more sustainable. These often include debt-for-nature swaps, where a country's foreign debt is reduced in exchange for investing in conservation projects. These bonds are new but have been incredibly successful both economically and for the climate. IV. Innovation and Forward-Looking Insights Technology-Enabled Monitoring and Intervention: Emerging tools—AI-driven reef health analytics, satellite imaging, and environmental DNA—offer unprecedented monitoring precision. How can these technologies be integrated into decision-making pipelines to optimize intervention timing, prioritize restoration, and de-risk investments in reef resilience? These tools are de-risking some of the decisions about where and when to focus restoration efforts. They are allowing scientists to be more precise in replanting efforts, but also to see a bleaching event coming earlier so they can react quicker. They are taking the guesswork out of some of this research and allowing scientists to not spend so many manhours underwater surveying the reef, but instead have eyes on what's going on nearly 24/7. By allowing scientists to see what's going on at all times, that allows them to make more informed, quicker, restoration and policy decisions. --- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3353/reefs-as-climate-infrastructure-case-for-treating-coral-systems-like-coastal-assets.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3353/reefs-as-climate-infrastructure-case-for-treating-coral-systems-like-coastal-assets.html Mon, 27 Oct 2025 16:38:41 +0530 he traditional logic of reef conservation—protect the habitat, and the habitat will recover—is breaking down under the realities of a warming ocean. MPAs still matter, but they are being outpaced by global environmental change that local policies cannot contain. The future of coral reefs will depend on dynamic, data-driven management, active restoration, and financial mechanisms that treat reef health as essential climate-resilience infrastructure. In this new era, the question is not whether reefs can be protected—but how fast we can redesign the systems meant to save them. For decades, the global conservation community placed its faith in marine protected areas (MPAs) as the primary shield for coral reef ecosystems. The theory was simple: Designate zones where fishing is curtailed, run-off is controlled, and coastal development is managed—and healthy coral systems will recover, thrive, and resist shocks. However, the fundamental logic of that model is now under grave pressure. As marine heatwaves grow in frequency, intensity and duration, and ocean chemistry shifts with acidification, the assumption that protection from local threats alone can ensure reef survival has proven increasingly inadequate. “The speed of climate change is pushing coral reefs beyond the environmental boundaries they evolved to survive in. A reef functions much like an underwater city—dense, highly organized, and full of interdependent life. Corals rely on a narrow band of temperatures and water chemistry, and when waters warm, they expel their symbiotic algae, zooxanthellae, which provide most of their energy. Without that partnership, corals begin to starve, and pollution or disease can accelerate the decline. When corals die, the reef’s architecture breaks down, fish lose habitat, invertebrates lose food, and the ecosystem shifts into a simpler state with far less ecological function and economic value. Reef restoration is advancing, from coral nurseries to selective breeding and assisted evolution. Some coral–algae partnerships show natural heat tolerance, and herbivore-rich reefs in the South Pacific have demonstrated surprising capacity to rebound. But the communities that return are not the same, and we are only beginning to understand the implications for fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection.” --- Camille Gaynus, Chief Science Officer, BIMS (Black in Marine Science) Inside key reef systems—from the vast expanse of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the unique ecosystems of the Red Sea and the island-state reefs of the Seychelles—this truth is becoming ever more apparent. MPAs remain essential, but they are no longer sufficient. In this new era, reef resilience demands a fundamentally re-engineered approach: One that blends dynamic management, cutting-edge restoration, climate-smart zoning, real-time monitoring, and financial innovation. Equally, coral reef ecosystems must be woven into the climate-finance architecture—not simply as biodiversity assets, but as resilience infrastructure for coastal societies. This article examines three intertwined themes. First, the limitations of the traditional MPA model in a climate-changed ocean. Second, the emergence of what we might call “climate-smart MPAs” that attempt to address the new stress regime. Third, the critical gap in global finance: reefs are largely excluded from blue-carbon frameworks despite their enormous value, and that must change if scaled resilience is to be achieved. Why MPAs Are Failing in the Face of Global Stressors For much of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, marine protected areas (MPAs) stood at the center of global coral reef conservation strategy. The theory behind them was straightforward: if reefs were shielded from local, human-driven pressures, their natural ecological resilience would give them the capacity to withstand shocks and regenerate over time. The traditional MPA model focused on what were understood as the primary drivers of degradation: unsustainable and destructive fishing practices, nutrient and sediment runoff from agriculture and coastal development, and physical damage from tourism or dredging. In many cases, this approach worked. Where MPAs were institutionally strong—backed by enforcement, ecological monitoring, and community participation—indicators such as fish biomass, herbivore abundance, and coral recruitment showed measurable improvement. These reefs, free from chronic local stress, were able to maintain healthier ecological structure and clearer competitive balances, particularly the crucial balance between corals and macro-algae. In this sense, MPAs succeeded in delivering what they were designed to do. " Coral reefs are one of the ecosystems that have been most devastated by climate range, with 14 per cent of the world's coral dying from 2009 to 2018. Climate change has multiple impacts on coral reefs, including sea level rise, that brings sedimentation, stronger and more frequent storms that destroy reefs, changing precipitation patterns that bring increased runoff, freshwater and land pollutants, often causing algal blooms or infectious diseases, and altered ocean currents that can affect coral larval dispersal. But the biggest effects of climate change on coral reefs are increased ocean acidification and ocean warming, which lead to coral bleaching events.  However corals are resilient. Although right now 80 per cent + of world corals are in a mass bleaching event because the ocean is so warm, that does not mean that all of those corals are going to die. It means those corals are incredibly stressed, and their zooxanthellae (the photosynthetic organisms that live inside corals and give them food) have left the corals, leaving them vulnerable to starvation and disease. But when the temperature goes down and the bleaching event is over, the zooxanthellae can return. The coral can survive. There are also pockets of coral that are surviving and adapting to these very hot temperatures, like in the Red Sea, where corals seem to be evolving to the hotter waters. And corals near cold upwelling waters from the deep seem to be surviving and then dispersing to farther reefs after heat wave events. Corals are in an incredibly vulnerable spot right now, but they are not doomed. " -- Jenni Brandon, PhD, Science and Sustainability Consultant, Wild Beacon Consulting Yet in the past decade, the conservation narrative has shifted dramatically. The stressors now driving coral reef decline are no longer predominantly local; they are global, atmospheric, and systemic. Marine heatwaves have emerged as the most immediate and widespread threat. As oceans warm, corals expel the symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that give them both color and metabolic energy. The result is bleaching—an outwardly visible symptom of profound physiological stress. Where heatwaves were once rare, today they are more frequent, more intense, and longer in duration, leaving insufficient time for reefs to recover between events. Ocean chemistry has also begun to turn against corals. As the ocean absorbs increasing amounts of atmospheric CO₂, its pH gradually drops. This process of acidification diminishes the availability of aragonite, a mineral corals need to build their calcium-carbonate skeletons. Even corals that survive bleaching events may struggle to rebuild structure, weakening reefs in the long term and reducing their capacity to provide habitat and shoreline protection. “Mauritius has experienced multiple mass bleaching events over the past three decades, each revealing both vulnerability and resilience within its reef systems. The first major bleaching in 1998, during an exceptionally strong El Niño, caused widespread stress but relatively low coral mortality compared to neighboring Seychelles and Maldives. Local cooling from cyclonic activity helped buffer the reefs, though shallow, poorly flushed lagoons were significantly affected. Subsequent surveys in 2005 showed coral cover below 5 per cent at many sites, with nutrient pollution, algal overgrowth, and crown-of-thorns starfish driving further decline. However, some locations like Bel Ombre retained high coral cover and species diversity, illustrating the importance of site-specific conditions and local management. During the global bleaching of 2016, Mauritius again saw widespread bleaching but limited mortality at monitored sites. Factors such as water circulation, herbivore populations, and depth played key roles in recovery potential. The most recent 2024 bleaching event underscores growing pressure, with regional data showing high rates of bleaching and mortality across the Western Indian Ocean. While comprehensive national assessments remain limited, these recurring events highlight the urgent need for sustained monitoring, improved wastewater management, reef restoration, and climate-adaptive marine protection strategies.” --- Anusha Devi Nawoor, PhD - Environmental Scientist, Tunley Environmental Case studies from around the world echo this conclusion. The Great Barrier Reef, widely considered the gold standard of marine protection and monitoring, has suffered multiple mass-bleaching events in the past decade and recently recorded its worst coral loss in nearly four decades. These outcomes occurred despite comprehensive zoning systems, restrictions on fishing, and sustained management investment. In the Red Sea, which has been viewed as a natural thermal refugia due to its unusually warm baseline conditions and the presence of heat-tolerant coral lineages, reefs are now beginning to show signs of climate-linked stress. The message here is not that the Red Sea is “safe,” but that even systems with higher inherent resistance face limits in a rapidly warming ocean. In the Seychelles, long held up as a model for island-state marine governance, reef systems remain deeply vulnerable to bleaching and acidification despite sustained conservation commitments and the establishment of extensive MPAs. These national efforts have strengthened governance, protected fisheries, and improved local ecological conditions—yet none of these interventions can halt the rise in sea temperature or shift the chemistry of the global ocean. Taken together, the pattern is undeniable. The MPA remains a critical conservation tool, but it is no longer sufficient as the foundation of reef survival strategy. It can control fishing pressure and pollution; it cannot control heat. It can restore ecological function; it cannot rewrite the physics of ocean-atmosphere carbon exchange. The challenge now is not to abandon MPAs, but to rethink what they are for, how they operate, and how they integrate into broader climate adaptation frameworks. The era of “protection alone” has ended. The era of “protection plus climate-resilience intervention” must begin. Emergence of Climate-Smart MPAs If the traditional model falters, what does the next generation of reef protection look like? Conservation practitioners, marine scientists and policy innovators are converging on a new paradigm we might call “climate-smart MPAs.” These have several defining features. First, they adopt dynamic zoning and adaptive management rather than fixed boundaries and static rules. In a warming, acidifying ocean, it makes sense to manage based on real-time risk: closing regions temporarily during heatwave projections, prioritizing coral refuges, relocating species to cooler or deeper waters when viable. In essence, the MPA becomes a living, adaptive system, not a static map overlay. Second, they integrate active resilience-reinforcement: restoration at scale, assisted evolution (breeding heat-tolerant coral strains), microbiome manipulation, artificial reef structures and shading technologies. In this model the MPA is not only a “do not touch” zone—it is a hub of intervention. Given the intensity of climate stress, passive protection alone is insufficient. Active adaptation is required. Restoration practitioners are now embedding interventions inside MPA frameworks to complement protection with adaptation. Third, monitoring and technology become central. Climate-smart MPAs invest in satellite–drone–autonomous vehicle systems, AI image-analysis, heat-anomaly forecasting and rapid response capacity. This allows managers to anticipate threat windows, execute intervention strategies, and adapt governance accordingly. Without such capability, MPA management risks being reactive rather than proactive. Fourth—and perhaps most critically—these next-gen MPAs are tied into financial and governance models aligned with climate-resilience outcomes. This means moving beyond donor-driven conservation budgets to resilience bonds, insurance-linked protection, private-sector risk sharing and credit flows tied to ecosystem services. In short, the reef becomes an asset class for coastal resilience. Some pioneering efforts hint at this shift. The Global Fund for Coral Reefs (under the World Bank/GEF umbrella) is exploring reef-plus financing models, integrating reef health with coastal-defense economics and tourism-risk mitigation. Island nations with tourism-dependent reefs (such as the Seychelles) are beginning to explore parametric insurance tied to reef condition. While these efforts are nascent, they mark the transition from protection-only to resilience-oriented financial design. One of the key challenges remains prioritising within MPAs those reef systems that have the greatest chance of persisting—so-called climate refugia. These are reefs naturally exposed to cooler upwelling, shading, or adaptive coral strains. Protecting these first may offer higher bang-for-buck than attempting to protect all reefs equally. This shift requires sophisticated data analytics, modelling, and risk-mapping. Policy: Where It’s Adapting—and Where It’s Stagnating On the policy front, there is both movement and inertia. A growing number of national adaptation plans, especially among small island developing states (SIDS), now recognise coral reef resilience as a critical adaptation pathway. International bodies, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), now emphasise reef protection within climate adaptation agendas. Yet significant policy gaps endure. Many MPAs continue to be designed primarily for fishing-pressure reduction or pollution control—not thermal-stress mitigation or adaptive zoning. Institutional capacity in many reef nations remains weak, particularly for technical monitoring, dynamic governance or financial innovation. Perhaps most fundamentally, the global climate regime has no dedicated mechanism for reef protection—no reef-specific emissions target, no international reef insurance fund, no global carbon-market equivalency for reef resilience. In the absence of such mechanisms, MPAs remain dependent on national budgets or donor grants alone, limiting scale and innovation. Some countries show flashes of policy innovation. The Seychelles, for instance, has piloted marine-resilience bonds and sustainable tourism-linked reef protection. In Australia, the management of the Great Barrier Reef has begun to incorporate resilience-based interventions and climate-risk forecasting. Still, these remain exceptions, not yet the norm. A further policy bottleneck is the disconnect between conservation agencies and finance ministries. Reefs have long been viewed through a biodiversity lens rather than as climate-resilience infrastructure. This framing limits access to adaptation finance, risk‐finance instruments, and climate-resilience capital flows. Changing this framing is essential. The Coral-Carbon Paradox: Why Reefs Are Missing from Blue Carbon Finance—and How That Can Change In parallel to governance reform, there is a glaring gap in how coral reefs are treated within the climate-finance architecture. The concept of “blue carbon” has gained traction in recent years, describing the capacity of coastal and marine habitats to absorb and store CO₂—mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes being the primary beneficiaries. These ecosystems have measurable carbon stocks, standardised accounting methodologies, and thus meaningful access to carbon-finance instruments. By contrast, coral reefs are largely absent from blue-carbon markets—and yet the logic for including them is compelling. Reefs provide vast ecosystem services: they support fisheries, protect coastlines from storm surge and erosion, undergird tourism economies and harbour biodiversity. Their failure imposes heavy social, economic and adaptation costs on coastal communities. So why haven’t they entered the carbon-finance agenda in any meaningful way? The answer lies in several structural and technical impediments. First, reefs store comparatively little long-term organic carbon. Their skeletal calcium-carbonate structures do not translate easily into the carbon-sequestration units used in current carbon markets. As one ecosystem-finance review notes: “Limited evidence is hindering uptake and progress” of blue-carbon schemes for non-traditional habitats. Second, the vulnerability and high risk of reef decline make them unattractive as long-term assets for investors. Third, policy definitions of blue carbon rarely include reef habitats, so the institutional pathways for finance are largely closed. Yet the time is right for change. If we shift the metric from pure carbon-storage to resilience value, reefs merit serious inclusion. Reefs reduce wave energy, limit coastal erosion, support fisheries and tourism livelihoods—all of which have measurable economic value. The emerging field of parametric insurance for reefs—linking reef health to payouts after storm events—is one frontier. Another is biodiversity-credit systems coupling conservation outcomes with finance. For global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the opportunity is two-fold. First, they can catalyse reef-resilience finance by underwriting pilot instruments, setting standards, and integrating reef metrics into adaptation funding. Second, they can shift national budgeting paradigms—treating reef health as climate-adaptation infrastructure rather than discretionary conservation. Doing so unlocks funding, elevates reef protection in national priorities, and draws in risk-capital. Toward a Resilient Future for Coral Reefs Re-designing reef management and finance for the climate-era means doing several things concurrently. We must actively identify and protect climate-refugia reefs—those naturally more resistant to heat stress or acidification—and prioritise them for interventions. We must equip MPAs with the technical capacity, real-time monitoring and adaptive governance necessary to anticipate and respond to heatwaves, bleaching events and acidification pulses. We must expand restoration and assisted-evolution tools: transplanting resilient strains, manipulating symbionts, deploying artificial reef frameworks and experimenting with shading or cooling technologies. From a finance and policy perspective, the shift is equally urgent. Reefs must enter the adaptation finance agenda, not just the conservation agenda. Carbon-finance definitions must evolve to resilience-finance definitions, making reef health a measurable asset. Incentives need to shift: tourism operators, insurers, coastal developers and governments all benefit from healthy reefs—so they should help pay for them. Multilateral institutions must create frameworks for reef-linked resilience bonds, parametric reef insurance, biodiversity credits and adaptation trusts. Finally—and critically—none of this will succeed if global greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise unchecked. The best-designed MPAs, the most sophisticated monitoring systems, the most resilient coral strains will still collapse under the weight of relentless warming. A recent mapping study warns that reef futures are “intrinsically tied to global emission trajectories.” Local action buys time—but it does not buy immunity. Conclusion Coral reefs were once assumed to be savable with well-designed marine parks, strong fisheries management and clean-water regulation. In a warming, acidifying ocean, that assumption is no longer sufficient. The model of “protect and leave alone” must give way to “protect, adapt and finance.” MPAs should evolve into climate-smart hubs of resilience. Reefs should be reframed not simply as biodiversity-treasures, but as critical infrastructure for coastal protection, food security and climate adaptation. Reef resilience must be embedded within the climate-finance system—bridging conservation budgets and adaptation capital, drawing private and public investment into the blue economy. The path ahead is formidable. But the choice is stark: evolve the model—or let thousands of reef systems crumble under the tide of climate change. For the millions who depend on them for food, income, and coastal protection, there is no other option. --- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3332/skybound-sustainability-indias-race-to-become-saf-hub-of-global-south.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3332/skybound-sustainability-indias-race-to-become-saf-hub-of-global-south.html Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:59:05 +0530 India is charting a bold course to become the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) hub of the Global South, leveraging its vast biomass, ethanol infrastructure, and policy-driven mandates. With domestic blending targets, state-backed incentives, and pioneering projects like IOC’s Panipat facility, the country is converting waste streams—used cooking oil, agricultural residues, and municipal solid waste—into low-carbon jet fuel. By 2040, India could produce 8–10 million tonnes of SAF annually, slashing lifecycle emissions by up to 80 per cent, generating green jobs, and creating export opportunities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Startups, EPC firms, and R&D hubs are strengthening industrial capability, while harmonized global standards ensure both domestic adoption and international credibility. In short, India is transforming a climate challenge into a strategic, economic, and environmental advantage, positioning itself as the engine of aviation decarbonization for emerging markets. Aviation is global yet carbon-bound. Planes still rely on liquid hydrocarbons; electrification is limited, hydrogen is years away, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is the only immediate lever to cut emissions in a sector responsible for 2–3 per cent of global CO₂. “The trajectory of SAF is nothing short of extraordinary—expanding from a nascent 5 million gallons in 2021 to 24.5 million gallons in 2023, a CAGR exceeding 100 per cent. Yet this still accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of global jet fuel demand, underscoring both the scale of the challenge and the immensity of the opportunity ‘’, mentioned Dr. Nripanka Das, Author, Sustainability & Carbon Markets. “The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge, announced in 2021, has set audacious targets of 3 billion gallons by 2030 and 35 billion gallons by 2050, requiring unprecedented scaling of production capacity and technological deployment. Pathways such as Fischer–Tropsch, approved by ASTM in 2009, already demonstrate how woody biomass, municipal solid waste, and agricultural residues can be transformed into jet fuel virtually indistinguishable from conventional Jet A. In this lies the promise of scaling an industry that not only meets aviation’s exacting standards but also redefines waste as the feedstock of the skies ,” he opined. In 2024, SAF supplied under 1 per cent of demand, leaving the Global South exposed. Fast-growing airlines in India, ASEAN, and Africa face minimal local supply, giving India a strategic opening. “In 2025, real progress in SAF isn’t measured by headlines but by bankable projects—those reaching final investment decision, securing long-term offtakes with price floors or contracts for difference, and moving into genuine EPC mobilization. Success is also measured in carbon intensity as much as in gallons produced, with lowering lifecycle emissions now as critical as expanding capacity,” stated Dr Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, LanzaTech. “In Washington, the vaunted ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ has compressed SAF’s erstwhile premium of $1.75 per gallon to a modest $1.00 under 45Z, ostensibly levelling the fiscal playing field with ethanol, but in reality propelling capital to cheaper road-fuel pathways such as renewable diesel. India, by contrast, has wisely eschewed the per-gallon palliatives of subsidies in favour of mandated momentum: a 1 per cent SAF blend in international flights by 2027, 2 per cent in 2028 under CORSIA, and an aspirational trajectory toward 5 per cent thereafter. Augmented by state-level incentives—capital subsidies, land concessions, and tax reimbursements—New Delhi is not merely nudging an industry, it is summoning it inexorably forward, guaranteeing a market, and inscribing India’s aviation future in cleaner, greener, and more resilient hues,’’ she added. " The American model bets on the market rewarding low-carbon fuels without playing favorites; the Indian model assumes SAF won’t take off without a legal runway. The strategic takeaway is clear: in the U.S., the winners will treat thinner credits as a design constraint, focusing on relentless carbon intensity reduction, locking in ironclad offtakes, and securing feedstock certainty. In India, success will hinge on executing the mandate-to-manufacturing flywheel—leveraging guaranteed demand, building robust domestic supply chains, and maintaining strict capex discipline. In both markets, SAF will only scale at pace where policy certainty aligns with the discipline of bankable project finance " -------- Dr Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, LanzaTech India’s aviation sector, ferrying 240 million passengers in 2024 and poised to double by 2030, stands at a pivotal inflection point. Fuel demand is projected to soar from 16 million tonnes in 2030 to 31 million by 2040. Enter Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): capable of slashing lifecycle emissions by up to 80 per cent, India could produce 8–10 million tonnes annually by 2040—surpassing domestic demand, catalyzing 1.4 million green jobs, and opening export avenues. Already, 88 airports operate on green energy, with Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad setting carbon-neutral benchmarks of global significance. IOC is spearheading commercial SAF production at Panipat, with ISCC CORSIA certification. An initial 35,000-tonne annual output, sourced from used cooking oil from hotels, restaurants, and food manufacturers like Haldiram’s, will satisfy India’s 1 per cent international blending mandate. Alcohol-to-jet pathways and export prospects, initially targeting European carriers, are also under exploration. With blending mandates proliferating across Indonesia, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Africa, and with low-carbon ethanol prospects beckoning in the United States, Praj finds itself at the cusp of a transformative expansion—broadening its portfolio in CBG, SAF, and ETCA while simultaneously amplifying the international dimension of its enterprise. Aircraft readiness is assured: Airbus confirms all planes can operate on a 50 per cent SAF blend, and Indian carriers have successfully executed demonstration flights. India is positioning itself not merely as a consumer, but as the SAF fulcrum of the Global South—where policy, pilots, and production converge to chart a sustainable, high-flying future. India’s Feedstock Opportunity: A Diverse Ecosystem India’s edge in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) race lies in its abundant and diverse biomass, not subsidies. Unlike nations constrained by monocultures or geography, India can channel agricultural residues, industrial by-products, urban waste, and renewable energy into multiple SAF pathways—positioning itself as both a domestic and export hub. In words of Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman Praj Group, “India is uniquely positioned to become the hub for SAF in the Global South. Its strategic location in the Asia–Pacific, with strong air connectivity to Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, makes it a natural node for SAF supply and distribution. The Ethanol Blending Programme, scaled from modest beginnings to 20 per cent, demonstrates India’s ability to mobilise feedstock, implement policy, and drive impact at scale—delivering foreign exchange savings and strengthening rural economies. The foundation is further strengthened by India’s unmatched feedstock diversity. Agricultural residues and sugarcane by-products offer abundant raw material streams for SAF production.” " Praj has established several Centers of Excellence in collaboration with leading research institutes, working across the entire biofuels value chain—right from feedstock and technology development to end-product and application development. At the heart of this ecosystem is Praj Matrix, our state-of-the-art R&D center, which serves as the innovation hub for developing and commercialising cutting-edge technologies for biofuels and SAF. This strong integration of research, policy, and industry not only accelerates breakthroughs but also reinforces India’s credentials as a frontrunner in the global SAF journey " --- Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman, Praj Group Agricultural residues are the cornerstone. India generates 230–250 million tonnes annually, including rice straw, maize stalks, and sugarcane bagasse, much of which is wasted or burned. Rice straw alone contributes 80–85 million tonnes of emissions in northern states. Redirecting even 15–20 per cent into SAF via gasification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, or cellulosic ethanol-to-jet could anchor a domestic industry while tackling severe winter air pollution. “SAF can be blended at different levels with limits between 10 per cent and 50 per cent, depending on the feedstock and how the fuel is produced. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), over 360,000 commercial flights have used SAF at 46 different airports largely concentrated in the United States and Europe. An estimated 1 billion dry tons of biomass can be collected sustainably each year in the United States, enough to produce 50–60 billion gallons of low-carbon biofuels, ” stated Dr. Marcus Griswold, Founder at Little Green Myths. “ Ethanol is another pillar. India’s fuel-blending programme has built over 5 billion litres of annual capacity, spanning 1G molasses and emerging 2G cellulosic plants. Existing infrastructure can pivot to alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) production, with Praj Industries piloting scalable ATJ technology alongside global partners. " Feedstock costs represent the largest component of biofuel production costs, typically accounting for 40-60 per cent of total production expenses depending on conversion pathway and feedstock type. Wood residues and sawmill by-products currently cost $40-80 per dry ton delivered to conversion facilities, while dedicated energy crops may cost $60-120 per dry ton depending on production systems and transportation distances. These feedstock costs translate to $0.80-2.40 per gallon of biofuel production cost, indicating the critical importance of feedstock procurement strategies and supply chain optimization for overall project economics" --- Dr. Nripanka Das, Author, Sustainability & Carbon Markets “Ethanol is no longer confined to being a road-fuel blend; it’s a low-cost, versatile building block for an extraordinary range of products, from sustainable aviation fuel via alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology to textiles, cleaning agents, and everyday household goods. With advances in carbon capture and utilization (CCU), we can now make ethanol from industrial emissions, municipal waste, and even biogenic CO₂, turning liabilities into valuable feedstock. The result is a molecule that sits at the crossroads of decarbonization and circular economy. This is ethanol’s reinvention story: from a single-purpose fuel additive to a platform chemical powering the next wave of sustainable manufacturing ,’’ mentioned Dr. Holmgren. Niche feedstocks and urban waste further broaden the portfolio. Used cooking oil (1.4–1.5 million tonnes/year) feeds HEFA pathways, while municipal solid waste (62 million tonnes/year, 30 per cent treated) can support gasification-FT SAF routes, aligning aviation decarbonisation with Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities initiatives. “Airlines are betting billions and billions on jet fuel made from yesterday’s French fries—but can cooking oil really power the future of aviation? SAF made from used cooking oil can cut emissions by up to 80 per cent compared to regular jet fuel, but right now they account for only about 1 per cent of the world’s jet fuel supply. It’s also important to remember that not all SAF is created equal—some are made from food crops that can raise other environmental concerns, while waste oils like used cooking oil are among the most effective and sustainable sources ,’’ advocated Justin Goldsberry; CEO and Founder of Goldsberry Management Group, LLC. " We are on the cusp of new scaling for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in both the United States and India. But unlike solar and wind energy, renewable fuels carry a significant premium vs conventional fuels. Covering SAF’s cost above conventional jet fuel is a key factor to grow the sector. There must be a way to cover both the infrastructure capital investments and the ongoing operational costs of producing SAF. In the recent past, the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Office oversaw a loan program that offered funding for SAF refineries at favorable rates. Today there are no government programs to provide low-cost debt. The U.S. still offers incentives to cover operations in the form of credits for agricultural products (the renewable fuel standard – RFS) and for producers combining the product with fossil-based fuel (the blenders tax credit, and 45Z clean fuel production credit). Individual states are also providing incentives for regional consumption such as California and Illinois. There is no U.S. SAF mandate" ---- Adam Klauber, Vice President Sustainability and Digital Supply Chain, World Energy Looking ahead, cheap green hydrogen and captured CO₂ enable a Power-to-Liquids future. India’s record-low solar tariffs ($0.025/kWh) and $2.4 billion Green Hydrogen Mission create early positioning for synthetic SAF, potentially a decade from commercial scale. In the words of Suzanne McKenzie, Sales Director, Lifecycle Oils, UK, “ The sustainability credentials of SAF depend heavily on what it is made from. Second-generation biofuels (derived from waste like UCO) offer substantial environmental advantages over first-generation biofuels made from virgin crops such as palm oil or rapeseed oil. First-generation biofuels are controversial from a sustainability perspective because they can compete with products that would end up in the food chain. This can drive up prices and expand agricultural land use. “ Suzanne further opined that considering the growing biofuel feedstock crops to be carbon-intensive, and is associated with deforestation, land conversion, biodiversity loss, and high water consumption. - repurposing a waste stream like UCO, could  completely sidestep the significant carbon emissions associated with agricultural production and land-use change. UCO-derived biofuels can slash lifecycle carbon footprints by an estimated 80 per cent  when benchmarked against conventional fuels, and 40 per cent when compared to first- generation biofuels. She further highlights the pressure to decarbonise aviation is translating directly into binding SAF mandates and targets worldwide, which is driving a substantial increase in demand for the fuel. “The UK mandate legally requires a 2 per cent blend of SAF in all jet fuel from 2025, rising to 10 per cent by 2030. Similarly, the EU's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation starts at a 2 per cent minimum blend in 2025 and increases to 6 per cent by 2030”, she opined. "Across the Asia-Pacific region, we're also seeing strong policy signals and emerging targets on SAF. Japan is exploring a 10 per cent SAF share by 2030 for departing flights, and Singapore is introducing a 1 per cent SAF target for 2026, which could rise to 3-5 per cent by 2030. South Korea and India are both considering a 1 per cent target for 2027. The trend is clear – countries worldwide see SAF as the best way to cut aviation emissions in the mid-term. Meeting this demand will require significant scaling of SAF production – and demand is already outstripping supply. Current forecasts predict that by 2030, global demand for SAF will be around 15 million Mt, and by 2035, this looks set to reach 40 million Mt. In 2024, global SAF production was around 1 million Mt, with current predictions suggesting global capacity will only grow to around 18 million Mt by 2035. " --- Suzanne McKenzie, Sales Director, Lifecycle Oils, UK “Venturing into Sustainable Aviation Fuel is not just about aligning India with the global targets under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation; it is about leading from the front,’’ mentioned Vijay Nirani, Managing Director, TruAlt Bioenergy. “Unlike countries such as Singapore or the UAE, where access to agricultural land is limited, India’s natural strengths in terms of vast agricultural base, give us the chance to turn this challenge into a defining advantage for our industry as well as environment,’’ he added. Compared with peers—Brazil’s sugarcane focus, Southeast Asia’s palm reliance, Africa’s residue abundance but limited infrastructure—India uniquely combines biomass density, refining and engineering capability, and growing aviation demand. The task now is acceleration: Converting latent feedstock abundance into a globally competitive SAF industry, bridging the supply gap for the Global South. " At TruAlt Bioenergy, we plan to establish a facility producing 10 crore litres of SAF annually, positioning us among the world’s largest ethanol-to-SAF producers. With CORSIA’s mandatory offsetting for international flights from 2027 and India’s 1 per cent SAF blending target, we are committed to scaling production capacity. Our ambition is to help India meet regulatory milestones while advancing sustainable aviation fuel adoption on a global scale.” --- Vijay Nirani, Managing Director, TruAlt Bioenergy Policy Architecture and Industrial Capability: Laying the SAF Foundations India’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) strategy exemplifies a rare convergence of policy precision and pragmatic precedent. Beginning with a 1 per cent blend in 2027 for international flights, rising to 2 per cent in 2028, these targets echo ethanol’s early E5 trajectory, signaling credibility to investors. With state-owned oil marketing companies—IOC, BPCL, and HPCL—underwriting demand, the sector gains sovereign-grade certainty in a capital-intensive space, translating policy intent into actionable investment confidence. " The good news is: the demand is definitely there; however, the biggest challenge for SAF adoption is scaling—waste oils are limited, production costs remain high, and infrastructure isn’t yet built to handle wider adoption. Furthermore, governments and policy support worldwide is helping, with U.S. incentives, European reporting rules, and efforts in some countries in Asia to expand SAF production and adoption. Still, the gap between ambition and availability is a major challenge because there’s only so much used cooking oil that can go around, and much of it is already accounted for in other industries. " --- Justin Goldsberry, CEO and Founder of Goldsberry Management Group, LLC Global compatibility forms the second pillar. By harmonizing BIS standards with ASTM International, HEFA, ATJ, and Fischer–Tropsch pathways gain immediate export legitimacy, while carbon accounting aligned with ICAO’s CORSIA ensures acceptance in Europe and the U.S. Without Western-style subsidies, India relies on engineering-led efficiency and procurement certainty—a model attractive to airlines wary of politically tethered supply chains. Catalytic finance, through NABARD credit, green bonds, or viability gap funding, remains essential to bridge upfront capital gaps. Industrial capability provides the third lever. TruAlt Bioenergy’s planned 10-crore-litre SAF facility positions India among the world’s largest ethanol-to-jet producers. Praj’s Centers of Excellence and R&D hub, Praj Matrix, integrate innovation across the biofuels value chain. India’s EPC sector delivers biofuel plants at 20–30 per cent lower capex than Western peers, while startups like GPS Renewables provide blockchain-based feedstock traceability. Together, these levers—demand certainty, global compatibility, and industrial depth—position India as the SAF systems integrator for the Global South, bridging domestic aviation growth with regional decarbonisation leadership. Strategic Leveraging for India’s SAF Ascension India’s ambition to become the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) hub for the Global South requires more than incremental moves. It demands flagship investments, diversified technologies, climate integration, and regional market creation. While blending mandates and pilot projects signal intent, the real inflection point lies in scaling multiple production pathways and leveraging India’s geopolitical position. "There must be a way to cover both the upfront infrastructure costs and the ongoing operational expenses of producing sustainable aviation fuel. Globally, countries like the U.S. rely on a mix of loan programs, tax credits, and state-level incentives, even without a federal SAF mandate ”, mentioned Adam Klauber, VP Sustainability and Digital Supply Chain, World Energy. “India is taking a similar approach, combining national SAF blending targets with regional incentives—land subsidies and fuel tax relief—to encourage investment. But mandates alone aren’t enough; without enforceable penalties for underperformance, the sector risks stagnation. To move SAF from promise to scale, India must marry financial scaffolding with policy teeth, ensuring both capital and operational viability for producers across the ecosystem," he added. "Producing enough Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to power planes is no small feat. The biomass requirements are immense, and land-use concerns—like corn cultivation in the U.S.—cannot be ignored. Beyond CO₂, we must also account for the full spectrum of emissions when the fuel is burned. Derived from renewable or recycled sources such as oilseeds, algae, fats, and agricultural residues, SAF can cut carbon emissions by up to 70 per cent compared to conventional jet fuel. Blends range from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, and over 360,000 commercial flights have already operated on SAF across 46 airports, mostly in the U.S. and Europe." --- Dr. Marcus Griswold, Founder, Little Green Myths India could produce 8–10 million tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) annually by 2040, positioning the country to meet domestic demand and become a key exporter. The ICAO ACT-SAF feasibility study evaluates India’s capacity to produce drop-in SAF, examining feedstock availability, production pathways, infrastructure readiness, and policy frameworks, providing a roadmap suited to India’s socio-economic and environmental context. With over 750 million tonnes of biomass, including 230 million tonnes of surplus agricultural residues, India aims for phased blending of 1 per cent by 2027, 2 per cent by 2028, and 5 per cent by 2030. The initiative is expected to cut 20–25 million tonnes of emissions annually and create new agricultural value chains.  Northern India alone burns over 50 million tonnes of crop residues annually, releasing 150 million tonnes of CO₂; redirecting even part of this into SAF creates a dual win for climate and energy security. A domestic SAF credit market aligned with ICAO’s CORSIA, coupled with EPC exports and technology licensing to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, enhances South–South impact. Startups like GPS Renewables strengthen sustainability traceability. With the National Green Hydrogen Mission targeting 5 million tonnes annually by 2030 and ultra-low solar tariffs (~$0.03/kWh), India could become competitive in e-SAF. Anchored by double-digit aviation growth and policy credibility, India is poised to emerge as the SAF hub of the Global South. ----- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3312/spotify-for-kitchens-daniel-baven-on-future-of-digital-food-hubs.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3312/spotify-for-kitchens-daniel-baven-on-future-of-digital-food-hubs.html Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:08:23 +0530 In an exclusive AgroSpectrum and NUFFOODS Spectrum Asia interview, Daniel Baven, CEO and Co-founder of Noahs, unveils how his company is turning everyday convenience stores into digital food hubs — the new crossroads of food, tech, and community. With its plug-and-play platform, Noahs lets retailers “stream” culinary brands like Spotify streams music, giving chefs global reach and consumers fresh, data-driven dining experiences on demand. The results speak volumes — Q8 stations powered by Noahs saw food sales surge 374 per cent and basket sizes climb 228 per cent. Unlike ghost kitchens or delivery aggregators, Noahs taps into existing retail kitchens, transforming them into profitable, AI-ready food networks overnight. Baven predicts that by 2030, food will replace fuel as the heartbeat of convenience retail — Noahs will be the invisible engine powering that revolution. Section I: Vision & Market Disruption Reimagining C-Stores: What inspired you to launch Noahs, and why is now the inflection point for reinventing convenience retail? The spark for Noahs came from watching how every major content industry—music, film, travel—has gone through its streaming revolution. Food hasn’t. Yet we have millions of kitchens sitting in prime retail locations, underutilized and disconnected from the digital economy. We saw an opportunity to turn those kitchens into digital food hubs. The real inflection point is convergence: consumers expect convenience, platforms demand supply, and retailers need new revenue streams to replace declining categories like tobacco and fuel. Convenience stores are sitting on the infrastructure of the future—they just need the operating system. That’s what Noahs provides. Digital-First Food Revolution: With the C-store market set to surpass $1T by 2029, how do you see technology reshaping the future of food retail? We’re standing on the edge of a complete reset. In five years, most people won’t cook at home the way they do today. It will simply make more sense to tap into a network of nearby retailers streaming great food, made fresh, faster, and cheaper than a home kitchen could ever compete with. Convenience stores and supermarkets are sitting on the most valuable real estate of the future — the crossroads of local communities. When those spaces go digital, they’ll stop being “shops” and start becoming marketplace hubs for food, experiences, and daily life. Technology is the enabler, but the change is cultural. It’s about food creators having a new stage, communities having new choices, and retailers becoming the backbone of the next food economy. Noahs was built exactly for that — to power this transformation and give retailers the tools to move from analogue to intelligent, from transactional to experiential. What’s coming is bigger than food tech. It’s a reinvention of how food exists in society. Section II: The Noahs Model – Technology + Brand + Kitchen Plug-and-Play Platform: Your tech platform can digitize a store with just a Wi-Fi connection. What makes this solution scalable across global chains with different IT maturity levels? The secret is simplicity. Most retailers are trapped in heavy legacy systems that make every new integration a nightmare. We flipped that logic. Noahs runs as a layer on top of existing infrastructure, connecting to what’s already there instead of trying to replace it. That means a store can go live in hours — not months — with zero capex and no new labor. The system plugs into delivery aggregators, POS systems, kitchen screens, and loyalty tools. The moment it connects to Wi-Fi, the store becomes part of a digital network that can sell, operate, and analyze in real time. It’s built for diversity. Whether it’s a gas station in Denmark, a supermarket in Belgium, or a convenience store in the Philippines, the platform automatically adapts to local tech setups and market conditions. That’s why it scales — because it doesn’t force uniformity, it enables it. Noahs is not just a tool; it’s a translator between the analogue world and the digital food economy. It’s what the retailers has been looking for, but it didn’t exist until now. Spotify for Kitchens: You’ve called Noahs’ Brand Platform a “Spotify for Kitchens,” letting retailers stream proven brands and menus directly into their stores. How do you curate the catalogue, and what data drives menu updates? We’re building a world where food moves like music. In the same way streaming opened a global stage for artists, we believe culinary creators will soon reach audiences anywhere — not through physical expansion, but through digital distribution. A chef in Copenhagen could see their tacos sold in Dubai the same week. That’s the future we’re shaping with Noahs. Our brand platform is the foundation for that future. It lets retailers activate proven food concepts directly into their stores, adapting to local tastes and neighborhoods instead of being locked into a single global brand deal. That flexibility is what the industry has been missing — agility, creativity, and cultural relevance. This shift also enables a complete rework of the food supply chain — simplifying how ingredients, inventory, and production flow through the system. It creates a feedback loop between real-time demand and supply, throttling production, reducing waste, and preparing the industry to fully harness AI. We’re still early in this journey, but the vision is clear: menus that evolve like playlists, brands that scale without borders, and a supply chain that finally moves as intelligently as the data behind it. For culinary entrepreneurs, it’s a new way to monetize creativity. For retailers, it’s the chance to become curators of food culture — not just sellers of products. That’s what “Spotify for Kitchens” really means: a living, breathing ecosystem where food, data, and creativity stream together. Modular Smart Kitchens: Your kitchens range from 1 to 20 m². How do you ensure operational efficiency, quality control, and food safety across distributed sites? The next decade will blur the line between retail and hospitality. We believe the world’s biggest food operators won’t be restaurant chains — they’ll be retailers. To make that leap, retailers will recruit from the culinary world, bringing in chefs, kitchen managers, and operational talent who can run hospitality at scale. What used to be a store will evolve into a network of kitchens, each designed for efficiency, consistency, and speed — powered by technology, not tradition. Noahs is the platform that enables this transformation. We don’t operate the kitchens — we power them. Our system acts as the operating layer that keeps every recipe, process, and temperature consistent across hundreds of locations. Retailers become the operators; Noahs becomes their digital backbone. On the hardware side, we’ve developed a full suite of modular kitchens — from compact 1 m² single-brand setups to 20 m² multi-brand environments for service stations, food courts, and supermarket delis. These units are engineered for throughput, safety, and profitability, with built-in monitoring and data loops that ensure every kitchen runs to the same standard. We also anticipate a wave of cross-company innovation in this space — robotics, automated production, drone delivery, and robotaxis changing the future states of the hardware component. Restaurant kitchens, as we know them today, simply can’t compete with that model. A Noahs-powered multi-brand kitchen can serve multiple food concepts with a fraction of the space, labor, and cost — while maintaining higher quality and consistency. That’s the future we see unfolding. Section III: Business Impact & Results Q8 Case Study: The Q8 transformation saw food sales jump 374 per cent and basket size rise 228 per cent. Which parts of the Noahs model (tech, brands, kitchens) drove the biggest lift? Those numbers from Q8 aren’t isolated results — they’re a preview of what happens when retail locations evolve through Noahs’ three-layer model. Every site that connects our technology platform, brand platform, and modular kitchens can experience a similar transformation. The tech layer creates instant digital access and operational visibility. The brand layer adds proven food concepts that attract new customers and expand sales channels. And the kitchen layer converts that demand into consistent, scalable output with an engine fit for the purpose. In the quoted Q8 case, all three layers came together at once — which is why the impact was so dramatic. But in most rollouts, we see a natural progression: first digitalize existing shop catalogues, then layer in easy-to-operate brands suited to the current store format, and finally scale through modular smart-kitchens and more advanced brand concepts. Each layer amplifies the next. What Q8 showed is that this isn’t theory — it’s the future playbook for every retailer. Service stations, supermarkets, and convenience stores can all become high-performing food hubs simply by activating the system step by step. The model works anywhere, because it’s built for the way people live now — connected, on-demand, and expecting quality food wherever they are. ROI & Adoption Curve: How quickly can retailers expect payback when adopting Noahs, and how do you help de-risk the investment decision? The short answer: fast. Because Noahs requires no upfront investment in new labor or capex, most retailers see positive returns within the first few months of activation. The payback curve depends on the depth of adoption — tech alone delivers immediate efficiency and access to new revenue channels, while layering in brands and kitchens compounds the effect. But beyond ROI, what really de-risks adoption is our model itself. We don’t ask retailers to change who they are — we enhance what’s already there. Noahs plugs into existing infrastructure and workflows, building value on top of current systems instead of replacing them. We also start small. A single pilot location can validate the impact before scaling to dozens or hundreds. The data from those first sites creates a clear business case — not projections, but proof. Retailers everywhere are under pressure to reinvent fast, but the risk tolerance is low. Our approach makes innovation incremental, measurable, and cash-positive from day one. That’s why Noahs scales — it rewards courage without demanding blind faith. Section IV: Competitive Landscape & Future of Food-Tech Standing Out in a Crowded Space: How does Noahs differentiate from ghost kitchens, Q-commerce players, and aggregator-led solutions? Ghost kitchens and Q-commerce were great experiments — but they’re built on isolated infrastructure. Each new location means new costs, new staff, and new risk. Aggregators, on the other hand, built digital demand but not digital supply — they own the customers, not the kitchens. Noahs connects the dots. We’re not building more kitchens; we’re activating the millions that already exist inside retailers. Instead of competing with delivery platforms, we empower retailers to integrate directly with them — turning stores into digital food hubs that can sell across every channel instantly. Where ghost kitchens chase scale through real estate, Noahs achieves it through connectivity. Where Q-commerce promises speed, we deliver sustainability — a model that actually works economically for both retailers and creators. Most importantly, we’re not just solving delivery — we’re reinventing food infrastructure. We give retailers the OS, brands, and hardware they need to own their role in the digital food economy. The future of food won’t belong to aggregators or ghost kitchens — it’ll belong to the platforms that make everyone else scalable. That’s where Noahs sits. 2025 Trends: What’s next for food-tech—robotic kitchens, AI menu personalization, functional food boom? Which of these will most affect the C-store ecosystem? The short answer? Noahs. Beyond that, it’s too early to expect any real leapfrogs in robotics. The robotics we see today are impressive, but they’re trapped between eras — built for a world that’s already shifting beneath them. The real step change will come when humanoid robots, like the ones Tesla and Figure are developing, can integrate naturally into existing operations. That’s a 2030 story, not 2025. The real 2025 trend in food will be the convergence of retailers into food — moving away from being simple convenience hubs to becoming food operators in their own right. That shift will ignite the most dramatic transformation the industry has seen in decades. AI will play a major role, but not yet in the way most imagine. Everyone’s talking about AI, but its real power depends on something far more fundamental: digitization. That’s what Noahs is building — the digital foundation that makes the intelligent food economy possible. Section V: Scaling & Strategy Geographic Expansion: Which regions outside Denmark and Thailand are next on your radar—and what makes a market “Noahs-ready”? Officially, we’re now expanding in 4 countries - Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Within 2026, we expect to announce at least ten more countries across three continents joining the Noahs platform. We are currently preparing the best we can to meet the increasing demand for our solution. A market becomes “Noahs-ready” when retailers recognize that the old model no longer works — when rising costs, labor shortages, and changing customer behavior force a rethink of what retail really is. Europe is leading that shift. High operational costs and rapid transformation are pushing retailers to act faster than ever, and we’re positioned to help them do it in a scalable, low-risk way. Being Noahs-ready isn’t only about geography and necessity — it’s also about mindset. The retailers who will win this decade are the ones willing to reimagine themselves as food operators. That’s where our platform fits in: as the bridge between today’s analogue retail world and tomorrow’s fast paced food economy. Capital & Investors: Are you seeking growth capital, and if so, what kind of investors (VC, strategic, corporate) best align with your vision? We are currently finalizing our latest seed round and are well-capitalized for the current growth phase. Our next major raise — a Series A — is planned for 2026, and preparations are already underway. Right now, our focus is execution and scale. That said, we’re always open to conversations with investors who see what we see — those who understand that the future of food isn’t about building more restaurants, but about enabling the platforms that connect them. The best fit for us are partners who bring more than capital — those who share the vision of redefining food infrastructure globally and can accelerate that journey through strategic reach, technology, or market access. Vision 2030: Paint us a picture: what does a Noahs-enabled convenience store look like in 2030, and what share of its revenue will come from food vs. fuel? By 2030, the traditional service station will be unrecognizable. The era of fuel as the defining anchor is ending — what comes next will be built around food, experiences, and premium retail. We’re already seeing early signs of that leapfrog. Elon Musk’s new Tesla Diner is a perfect example — a glimpse of how technology, design, and hospitality can fuse into something people actually want to visit. That’s what excites me: not a finished blueprint, but the open canvas ahead. I prefer not to lock in a final vision. The real innovation will come from collaboration — from working with retailers, chefs, designers, and local communities to build places that fit their rhythm. Some will focus on food and digital ordering, others on community spaces or hybrid retail experiences. The beauty is that the platform allows for all of it. What I do know is that the transformation is imminent, and food will be the catalyst that starts it. Once retailers take that step, everything else follows — design, operations, social experiences, even how we define “convenience.” Over time, Noahs will simply become part of that ecosystem — the invisible layer powering whatever comes next. The real story won’t be about us. It’ll be about how retailers use this opportunity to reinvent what it means to serve their communities. ---- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3251/inter-regional-digital-agriculture-forum-calls-to-harness-innovations-for-resilient-agrifood-systems.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3251/inter-regional-digital-agriculture-forum-calls-to-harness-innovations-for-resilient-agrifood-systems.html Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:56:07 +0530 "Digitalization is no longer optional in agriculture. It is a powerful tool to tackle hunger, reduce emissions, and help smallholder farmers and rural communities thrive" reaffirms Alue Dohong, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific Digital agriculture is transforming how food is produced, managed, and delivered, offering powerful tools to tackle climate change, strengthen food security, and build more resilient and sustainable agrifood systems. Across regions, governments, innovators, researchers, and farmers are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, satellite data, and digital advisory services to drive change. To exchange experiences, showcase innovations, and explore ways to expand the impact of digital agriculture across the region, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organized the Inter-Regional Digital Agriculture Solutions Forum 2025 (IDASF 2025), with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), from 3 to 5 September 2025 in a hybrid format in Bangkok. The Forum brought together nearly 400 participants from over 50 countries, including government leaders, development practitioners, and cutting-edge innovators. The discussions reinforced the momentum to accelerate digital transformation that empowers farmers, strengthens climate resilience, and builds sustainable agrifood systems for a changing world. “Digitalization is no longer optional in agriculture. It is a powerful tool to tackle hunger, reduce emissions, and help smallholder farmers and rural communities thrive. This Forum will help extend these benefits to the grassroots,” said Alue Dohong, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. Highlighting the broader regional and transformative significance of digital agriculture, Dr Vinaroj Supsongsuk, Director-General of the Cooperative Auditing Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, added: “Digital innovation is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, a bridge between tradition and transformation, between local knowledge and global impact.” Driving innovation across agrifood systems Over three days, participants explored how digital technologies are transforming crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, and the wider food supply chain. Innovations highlighted included climate-smart crop production, drone-enabled rice farming that reduces water use and methane emissions, AI-supported fisheries management, non-intrusive spectroscopy to detect meat spoilage in livestock, and digital traceability systems in forestry to combat deforestation and improve supply chain transparency. The Forum also showcased innovations along the supply chain, including waste management, bioenergy, and circular economy solutions. Full traceability, farmer registration, and compliance systems were presented to improve transparency and sustainability for commodities such as cocoa and coffee. Trust, adaptation to local contexts, and clear benefits for farmers—especially regarding return on investment and risk management—were emphasized as critical for successful adoption. Digital transformation is also enabling inclusive rural development, connecting women, youth, and rural communities to markets and information. Innovations such as Digital Green’s Farmer.Chat, which delivers AI-powered, multilingual, and real-time agricultural advice demonstrated how global and local data can support sustainable, locally relevant, and citizen-driven solutions. Digital finance was highlighted as a key enabler, showing how smallholder farmers can access credit, insurance, and risk management tools through partnerships with fintech companies, governments, and development organizations. These digital tools help bridge gaps, improve transparency, and strengthen resilience, complementing advisory services and traceability systems across the supply chain. Adoption and impact The Forum underscored several important lessons. Successful adoption of digital agriculture solutions depends not just on technology, but on trust, adaptation to local realities, and clear benefits for farmers in terms of return on investment (ROI) and risk management. While Asia and the Pacific region is at the forefront of many digital agriculture initiatives, IDASF 2025 demonstrated that the challenges and opportunities of digital agriculture are shared globally. Cross-country learning and regional collaboration will be key to ensuring that digital technologies reach those who need them most, including women, youth, and smallholder farmers. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3102/corteva-appoints-brook-cunningham-as-president-asia-pacific.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3102/corteva-appoints-brook-cunningham-as-president-asia-pacific.html Mon, 14 Jul 2025 09:01:59 +0530 Prior to joining Corteva, Brook served in the investment banking division of Lazard as Managing Director and Head of Global Agribusiness and Nutrition. Corteva has appointed Brook Cunningham as President, Asia-Pacific, effective June 1, 2025. Cunningham will be based in Singapore and lead Corteva’s commercial business in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, spanning 17 countries. Prior to her appointment, Cunningham served as Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer of Corteva where she led enterprise strategy, mergers and acquisitions, economic and competitive intelligence, sustainability strategy and strategic enablement. “The Asia Pacific region is at the heart of some of the greatest opportunities and challenges in agriculture today,” said Brook Cunningham, Senior Vice President of Corteva and President, Corteva Asia-Pacific. “I look forward to strengthening our connections with local farmers and stakeholders as we work together to support sustainable and productive farming in the region.” Prior to joining Corteva, Brook served in the investment banking division of Lazard as Managing Director and Head of Global Agribusiness and Nutrition. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3089/the-sandbelt-revolution-how-heat-struck-nations-are-growing-their-way-out.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/3089/the-sandbelt-revolution-how-heat-struck-nations-are-growing-their-way-out.html Tue, 08 Jul 2025 18:26:27 +0530 Image Source: Canva Once dismissed as fantasy, desert farming is fast becoming a frontier solution to food insecurity in a climate-stressed world. Across the UAE, Israel, and India, arid lands are being transformed by AI, desalination, and solar-powered greenhouses into hubs of high-yield, water-efficient agriculture. However beneath this promise lies a critical dilemma: Can these energy- and input-intensive systems remain sustainable under mounting climate and ecological pressures? The success of desert farming hinges not just on innovation, but on integrating traditional knowledge, conserving biodiversity, and balancing output with long-term resilience. As food geopolitics heat up, the desert may yet hold the key—if we learn to grow not just smarter, but wiser. Not long ago, the thought of harvesting tomatoes in the Negev or growing lettuce under the blazing skies of Rajasthan would’ve been dismissed as desert mirage. But that mirage is hardening into reality. From the sun-scorched dunes of the UAE to the saline plains of western India, agriculture is being reimagined without soil, without rain, and increasingly—without limits. Armed with solar panels, desalination plants, climate-controlled greenhouses, and AI-run irrigation grids, arid nations are flipping the script on food production. Deserts—once symbols of lifelessness—are now the proving grounds for the world’s most cutting-edge agricultural innovations. And behind the glistening greenhouses and vertical farms lies a deeper narrative: one of food sovereignty, climate resilience, and a reshuffling of global power in an era where who grows food, where, and how could decide the next geopolitical fault lines. The Israel-UAE-India Agri-Tech Axis At the heart of this transformation is a three-way collaboration that spans borders, ideologies, and ecosystems. Israel, long celebrated for turning its arid lands into citrus orchards and tomato farms through drip irrigation, now exports entire systems of desert-ready greenhouses. The UAE, seeking to reduce its 90 per cent dependence on imported food, has gone all-in on high-tech agronomy. India, with over 68 million hectares of arid and semi-arid land, is the newest and perhaps most consequential member of this axis. The pace of cooperation has been startling. In the past two years alone, Indo-Israeli Centres of Excellence for desert horticulture have expanded across Rajasthan and Gujarat. Israeli drip systems are now being paired with Indian solar panels in protected greenhouses spanning Bikaner to Bhuj. The UAE’s AgriTech Park in Al Ain, backed by sovereign wealth, is exporting vertical farm modules to Rajasthan, while India’s EXIM Bank facilitates tech financing under the trilateral I2U2 initiative. It’s a mutually reinforcing engine: Tech from Israel, capital from the Gulf, terrain and markets from India. Together, they’re building what the world lacks—scalable, sovereign, climate-resilient agriculture in water-stressed regions. The Thar Test: Can Desert Agriculture Future-Proof India’s Food Security? India’s deserts are often a geopolitical afterthought in discussions on food systems transformation. Yet, they may soon become the centrepiece of the country’s climate-adaptive agricultural strategy. With over 68 million hectares—or nearly 20 per cent of India’s total landmass—classified as arid and semi-arid, regions like western Rajasthan, northern Gujarat, southern Haryana, parts of Maharashtra, and the Deccan fringes represent a vast, untapped opportunity for resilient, high-tech farming. Adding another layer to India’s arid strategy is the introduction of date palm cultivation. Traditionally a Gulf crop, date palm plantations have expanded rapidly in Jaisalmer and Barmer, with the support of the Rajasthan Horticulture Development Mission and Israeli agronomists. The Department of Horticulture reports a fourfold increase in plantation area between 2017 and 2024, from 150 hectares to over 600 hectares. Preliminary harvests indicate an average yield of 8–10 tonnes per hectare, with premium Ajwa and Barhee varieties fetching Rs 250–300 per kg in urban and export markets. From Mirage to Market: The Real Economics of Farming in the Desert Make no mistake—desert farming doesn’t come cheap. Climate-controlled greenhouses, desalination units, and smart irrigation systems require substantial capital investment. However, like most frontier technologies—solar energy, electric vehicles, even early mobile telephony—the economics shift as scale and innovation converge. That convergence is happening fast. Solar energy now accounts for over 90 per cent of power in several Gulf-based agri-tech farms, slashing long-term operating costs. Meanwhile, the cost of desalinated water in the Gulf has dropped from $5.00 to below $1.20 per cubic metre over the past decade, driven by hybrid solar-thermal systems and energy recovery innovations. On the efficiency front, AI-based climate controls are cutting water and nutrient waste by up to 40 per cent, according to field trials by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture. In response, Gulf nations are now establishing agricultural free zones as well as controlled-environment export hubs designed to grow high-value crops like cherry tomatoes, edible herbs, and leafy greens. These are already being air-freighted to premium markets in Europe and Asia, where they fetch higher prices due to freshness, low pesticide load, and guaranteed traceability. In short, desert farming is evolving from proof-of-concept to proof-of-profit. For countries that can align technology, policy, and export infrastructure, it offers not just food security—but also a competitive edge in the emerging climate economy. The Desert Farming Dilemma Desert farming is rapidly gaining traction as a symbol of agricultural innovation in a climate-stressed world. From hydroponic towers in the UAE to polyhouses in Rajasthan, barren landscapes are being transformed into productive food zones. But behind this promise lies a deeper concern: the sustainability of these systems. Heavy reliance on desalinated water, synthetic inputs, and energy-intensive infrastructure can degrade soil health, intensify pest resistance, and threaten long-term land productivity. As highlighted by the FAO's Investment Days and research from ICBA, the key to sustainable desert agriculture lies not in scaling inputs but in deploying smarter ones—through precision agriculture, AI-based systems, nanotechnology, and innovations like liquid natural clay that can retain moisture and nutrients in sandy soils. These advancements, while transformative, must also be balanced with traditional knowledge—from khettara water tunnels in Morocco to taanka systems in India—that have enabled desert communities to survive for centuries. Yet, desert farming faces its biggest challenge from climate change itself. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and creeping salinization threaten to make even engineered systems unsustainable. The UNCCD warns that by 2030, desertification could displace 135 million people, making the case for sustainable intensification—growing more with less—urgent. While projects like the Sahara Forest Project in Jordan showcase integrated solutions that combine food, freshwater, and reforestation, large-scale transformation of desert land poses risks to biodiversity and fragile ecosystems. Ultimately, desert agriculture must evolve from a narrow focus on yield to a broader ethic of ecological balance. Managed responsibly, it can enhance food security and restore degraded lands. Mismanaged, it risks becoming a high-tech mirage—promising abundance but accelerating collapse. The question is no longer whether we can grow food in deserts, but whether we can do so without compromising the resilience of the very systems we depend on. ---------------- Suchetana Choudhury (suchetana.choudhuri@agrospectrumindia.com) ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/2053/adb-cgiar-join-forces-to-boost-and-scale-agricultural-innovations-in-asia.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/2053/adb-cgiar-join-forces-to-boost-and-scale-agricultural-innovations-in-asia.html Wed, 10 Apr 2024 04:00:00 +0530 Science and innovations from CGIAR research centers and ADB’s $14B 2022-2025 investment will tackle Asia’s food crisis and enhance longer-term food sector capacity and resilience  Asian Development Bank (ADB) and CGIAR have signed a five-year agreement to accelerate and scale agricultural innovations and solutions for the sustainable and inclusive development of agrifood systems in Asia. ADB hosted the Asia and Pacific Food Security Forum 2024, at which the agreement was signed. CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly-funded agricultural innovation network, will support ADB in identifying and developing future investment opportunities and preparing and implementing investment projects and knowledge programs. CGIAR research centers will also extend their innovations to ADB developing member countries (DMCs).   Areas of collaboration between the two organizations include:   Innovation in food systems transformation, with CGIAR providing technical and capacity building assistance for ADB projects in agribusiness value chain development, infrastructure for food systems, health and nutrition, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and digital agriculture, among other target areas and disciplines aligned with ADB’s Strategy 2030 and CGIAR’s 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy.  Policy research and advocacy efforts to influence agricultural policies that promote sustainable and inclusive development.  Shared roles in building the capacity of farmers, researchers, and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector through training programs and knowledge-sharing initiatives.  CGIAR will also play an active role in the proposed Multilateral Development Bank Innovation platform, conduct regular foresight activities to help DMC governments understand and plan for uncertainty, and support ADB’s holistic river basins approach for sustainable agriculture systems. “This strategic partnership between ADB and CGIAR will provide us with mechanisms to effectively scale and deliver development solutions through ADB grants and loans contributing to multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals. We intend to complement the targeted science impacts with strong policy, capacity building, and knowledge-sharing strategies,” said CGIAR Executive Managing Director, Dr. Ismahane Elouafi.  The operational model of the ADB-CGIAR partnership will be patterned after the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Clearinghouse project, a flagship program within the African Development Bank (AfDB) Feed Africa Strategy, which aims to rapidly expand access of smallholder farmers to high yielding agricultural technologies that improve their food production, assure food security, and raise rural incomes.  Incoming IRRI Director General and CGIAR Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Dr. Yvonne Pinto, said “The network of CGIAR research centers has driven applicable agricultural innovation for decades, and we look forward to supporting ADB’s work to strengthen food systems in Asia and the Pacific, both to address the current food crisis and to boost their longer-term sustainability.”  CGIAR is among the global actors participating in the Asia and the Pacific Food Security Forum 2024, taking place from 9-12 April 2024 at the ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines.   ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1962/fao-releases-asia-pacific-wildlife-health-and-livelihoods-nexus.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1962/fao-releases-asia-pacific-wildlife-health-and-livelihoods-nexus.html Mon, 18 Mar 2024 08:23:06 +0530 First-ever briefing towards sustainable solutions in APAC wildlife–health and livelihoods nexus to foster collaboration, and shape policy frameworks The interplay between the wildlife–health and livelihoods nexus in the Asia-Pacific region is currently at a critical juncture, requiring immediate attention and action, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced in recognition of World Wildlife Day (3 March). The Information Brief, drafted with inputs from more than 120 experts, emphasizes balancing wildlife use for rural communities and Indigenous Peoples while reducing zoonotic disease risks. The recommendations in the Information Brief will further contribute to shaping future FAO interventions in the region, including the introduction of new actions under the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme scheduled for launch in 2024. The urgency of the call is underscored by the significant impacts of recent zoonotic disease outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), avian influenza, Nipah virus, and the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting devastation on health and economies in the Asia and Pacific region. Factors such as population growth, urbanization, and mounting pressure on natural resources in the Asia-Pacific region add to the complexities of this nexus. Failure to address these challenges could result in damaging consequences for both human and wildlife populations, including increased risks of disease transmission, biodiversity loss, and threats to livelihoods. However, despite its crucial role in mitigating future calamities and sustainable coexistence between humans and wildlife, examining this nexus, holistically, has received minimal attention at both research and policy levels. FAO has published proposed actions that should be taken, outlined in an Information Brief. These include a range of strategies, such as improving data collection, monitoring, and statistical analysis regarding wildlife's impact on rural economies, food security, nutrition, and health. Coordinated efforts are recommended to facilitate the development and dissemination of knowledge and solutions to address this complex nexus at both national and regional levels. Scott Newman, FAO’s One Health Programme Priority Lead in Asia and the Pacific, emphasizes “the relevance of these strategies for the region, particularly given its status as a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases.” “These initiatives aim to deepen understanding, foster collaboration, and shape policy frameworks to effectively tackle the intricate interactions, consequently promoting resilience and sustainability across the region,” said Illias Animon, FAO Forestry Officer. FAO's Strategic Framework for 2022–2031 aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on transforming agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, better environment, and a better life for all, leaving no one behind. FAO provides technical advice and supports international processes and frameworks related to this nexus, including the UN Forum on Forests, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and the UN Food System Summit outputs. FAO works with partners to address emerging infectious diseases through initiatives like the One Health Quadripartite and the Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action Programme. These efforts aim to reduce the risks of zoonotic epidemics and promote global health, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1912/asia-pacific-countries-unite-for-an-agri-food-systems-transformation-to-ensure-food-security.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1912/asia-pacific-countries-unite-for-an-agri-food-systems-transformation-to-ensure-food-security.html Fri, 01 Mar 2024 09:44:19 +0530 37th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC37) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced that around Forty countries from the Asia and Pacific region have agreed that transforming agrifood systems was imperative to providing food security for next-generation and beyond, The summation was delivered at close of the 37th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC37). The conference was hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka. Forty countries of Asia and the Pacific attended the APRC, with the vast majority attending in-person, including some 20 government Ministers. It was the first time since 2018 that a large in-person gathering of the region’s food and agriculture Ministers and other policymakers was convened by FAO, and is seen as emblematic of the attention needed to recover from the pandemic and disruptions caused to food production and distribution that has plagued many countries in the region ever since. APRC – FAO’s regional governing body acknowledged several important points for further action by FAO and other bodies. The forum noted that, ‘the main challenges facing the region relate to its ability to sustainably increase productivity and innovation, particularly in the face of resource limitations, climate change risks and the region’s growing population as the medium- and long-term outlook highlights’ and emphasized the importance of transparent, predictable, open and fair markets, underpinned by an effective multilateral trading system, for food security.’ The report went on to recognize ‘the importance of digital innovations and blended finance, engaging the private sector in mobilizing resources for resilient, inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems transformation. It also highlighted the need to focus on specific issues including local food systems, low carbon, resilient and sustainable practices, and water issues; strengthen efficient, inclusive and resilient value chains and markets; boost initiatives under the Paris Agreement; and develop global standards for biosecurity and food safety, important for agrifood systems, early warning systems and anticipatory action.’ Further, the report highlighted the Asia-Pacific ‘region's leadership in capture fisheries and aquaculture, contributing with over 70% of global production; the aquaculture sector is projected to grow by over 20% by 2030. It also acknowledged that when managed and developed sustainably, aquatic food systems, in both marine and freshwaters, including aquaculture and fisheries of the region, contributed significantly to improving food and nutrition security and livelihoods, specifically enhancing women’s participation along the value chain.’ In addition, FAO’s Blue Transformation vision in the context of Asia and the Pacific region ‘to increase the contribution of fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic foods value chains to provide a more significant proportion of nutritious food and resilient livelihoods in the region, while recognizing that Blue Transformation promotes sustainable aquaculture intensification, effective management of all fisheries and upgraded value chains to ensure the social, economic and environmental viability of aquatic food systems.’ ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1827/millet-offers-sustainable-solutions-for-asias-food-security-challenges.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1827/millet-offers-sustainable-solutions-for-asias-food-security-challenges.html Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:38:00 +0530 A sustainable food security solution for Asia lies in millet Asia, home to over 55% of the world's hungry, is facing ongoing threats to food security exacerbated by recent global crises. In a recent article by the IFPRI, co-authored by Suresh Babu, Nandita Srivastava, Valeria Piñeiro, and Brian McNamara, the spotlight is on Asia's opportunity to enhance nutrition, sustainability, and resilience through the expanded cultivation of underutilized crops, particularly millets. Seizing this opportunity requires a supportive policy ecosystem, consistent interventions, and a conscious effort by stakeholders to improve production and consumption patterns at the local, national, regional, and global levels, the authors underlined. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) sheds light on a transformative solution for sustaining food security in Asia in its recent article, co-authored by experts in the field. As the specter of hunger looms over more than 400 million people in Asia, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and climate-related shocks have further strained food supply chains. Rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns now threaten the production of rice and wheat, staples deeply ingrained in the region's agriculture. IFPRI's call to action revolves around the cultivation and consumption of underutilized crops, with a spotlight on millets. This diverse group of small-grained dryland cereals, including pearl, proso, foxtail, barnyard, little, kodo, browntop, finger, guinea millets, sorghum, and teff, presents a promising alternative to the dominating rice and wheat farming systems. The economic potential of millets is underscored by the stark statistics: as of 2022, Asian millet production stands at 15.6 million tons, a fraction compared to 699 mt for rice and 343 mt for wheat. IFPRI emphasizes that broad, sustained efforts, including evidence-based policies and investments, could significantly expand millet production, meeting the growing food demand sustainably. “Millets offer a range of advantages to farmers... staple crops of the semiarid tropics, they can provide farmers with multiple and diverse income streams," the article points out. Sustainability in the Face of Climate Challenges While major staples like rice face increasing threats due to climate change, millets emerge as resilient heroes. The authors highlights the efficient root systems and high tolerance of millets to high temperatures, droughts, and floods. A 2019 study suggests that expanding the production of coarse cereals, similar to millets, could result in lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased resilience. Micronutrient malnutrition is a pressing issue in developing countries, and millets, especially pearl millet, emerge as nutritional powerhouses. Millets are rich in energy, carbohydrates, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, and vitamins. They are gluten-free, making them an excellent option for those with specific dietary needs. The article notes the success of biofortified pearl millets in reducing rates of anemia and stunting.  The authors emphasizes that, in addition to their nutritional benefits, millets hold cultural value in Asia, serving as traditional staples for farmers and continuing to be consumed in various forms. Policy Roadmap For Millet Revolution In Asia Despite the advantages, millets are often termed "forgotten" or underutilized crops. Governments' lack of support for millet production and limited public knowledge about their nutritional benefits pose significant obstacles. IFPRI urges governments to provide incentives comparable to other cereal crops and invest in infrastructure to overcome processing and storage challenges. The article presents several policy recommendations: Governments should; Promote millets to farmers and the public. Provide incentives comparable to other cereal crops. Focus research on improving millet productivity and nutrition content. Strengthen extension systems for millet cultivation practices. Improve market connectivity for farmers. To encourage millet consumption, stakeholders should; Promote the health and climate benefits of millets. Share millet-based cooking recipes. Support local awareness campaigns. Provide marketing and branding support on international platforms. “To encourage millet consumption, governments, NGOs, civil society, the private sector, and development partners should publicly promote the crops’ health and climate benefits and share millet-based cooking recipes," advises the article. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1814/singapores-seviora-capital-launches-the-future-of-food-and-farming-t3f-strategy.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1814/singapores-seviora-capital-launches-the-future-of-food-and-farming-t3f-strategy.html Fri, 09 Feb 2024 09:17:18 +0530 Seviora and Temasek Form Partnership to Invest in High Growth and Innovative Agri-Food Companies in APAC Singapore-based Investment Manager, Seviora Holdings has partnered with Temasek to jointly invest in late venture and early growth Agri-Food Companies in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, through Seviora Capital’s The Future of Food and Farming (the “Seviora T3F”) Strategy. Since August 2023, the Seviora T3F Strategy has raised $173 million. The amount comprises seed capital from Seviora and Temasek, which ensures a strong alignment of interest with all investors, an investment by cornerstone investor Norinchukin Bank, as well as investments from other institutional investors. Seviora Capital expects to raise capital from institutional investors to participate in this commitment to drive transformation in the Agri-Food industry. Invests in compelling, innovative, and high-growth Agri-Food companies The Seviora T3F Strategy invests in compelling, innovative, and high-growth Agri-Food companies in the region that provide sustainable solutions and technologies to meet the challenges posed by massive demographic changes and fast-evolving consumer needs. It looks to identify companies that can help the Agri-Food system accelerate to a more sustainable and resilient future, and one which meets evolving consumption trends. An ecosystem of Agri-Food high growth and start-up companies is emerging rapidly across the region and building momentum. These companies are crucial in developing solutions and technologies that are deployable at scale and can address the challenges and opportunities in the Agri-Food systems both in APAC and around the world. “The Seviora T3F Strategy is a unique investment avenue to gain exposure and benefit from the transformation and high-growth in the Agri-Food sector in the APAC region,” said Jimmy Phoon, CEO at Seviora and Seviora Capital. “Seviora is excited to jointly invest with Temasek, a globally recognised leader in the Agri-Food sector, to capture the potential of this industry. We will be able to access a strong pipeline of investment opportunities through leveraging Temasek’s extensive network and ecosystem, as well as their experience and success in this space.” As Investment Manager, Seviora Capital will build a portfolio of investments from opportunities identified by Temasek, leveraging their extensive investment network, deep knowledge, and strong sourcing capability in the Agri-Food sector. Seviora Capital and Temasek will jointly evaluate these opportunities, capitalise on each other’s complementary strengths, and independently make investment decisions. “The transformation of the Agri-Food sector is critical to decarbonisation while ensuring food security, and meeting the evolving needs of consumers. Through this partnership with Seviora Group, we aim to scale capital and create value by investing in late venture and early growth Agri-Food companies across the APAC region that are at the forefront of innovation, leveraging technology to drive positive and sustainable change across the Agri-Food value chain" said Anuj Maheshwari, Head of Agri-Food at Temasek. Seviora and Temasek view the Agri-Food sector as being at a pivotal inflection point and presenting attractive investment opportunities. Through the Seviora T3F Strategy, Seviora and Temasek aim to capitalise on macro trends shaping the APAC Agri-Food sector and make investments that will drive transformation and positive changes across the Agri-Food value chain: Asia is home to 60% of the world’s population but only 35% of global arable land. Asia will need to produce more with less to feed its growing population. The region is projected to add another 250 million new citizens, equivalent to Indonesia’s population, by 2030 Asia needs more solutions to improve agriculture efficiency, market access and financing for farmers as the agriculture sector in emerging economies is severely fragmented. Over 80% of the region’s food consumption is produced by 450 million smallholder farmers who each work on land plots of less than 2 hectares Asia is currently experiencing a massive shift in food trends as its consumers are becoming more affluent, sophisticated, and demanding. These trends are slated to drive $2.4 trillion of incremental food spend in Asia by 2030. However, it will require $1.5 trillion in upstream investments to meet this forecast Agri-Food is a significant contributor to global emissions, accounting for about 34% of all emissions This dynamic is even more pronounced in some regions in Asia, such as South and Southeast Asia, where it contributes up to 50% of total emissions. Agri-Food is therefore a key consideration when looking to decarbonise Asia In January 2024, under the Seviora T3F Strategy, an investment of $17 million has been made in Country Delight – a subscription-led online food essentials delivery brand in India, that focuses on delivering high quality milk, milk derivatives, and other food essentials direct to consumers. Seviora Capital believes that Country Delight’s tech-enabled platform and strong brand proposition built around quality and trust allows the company to be best positioned to address key customer pain points relating to purity, freshness, and convenience. Over the past decade, Temasek has invested over $8 billion in innovative and scalable farm-to-fork businesses globally, with a growing portfolio of investments in APAC. Seviora Capital believes that the time is right to deploy capital to this key sector in APAC to benefit from the strong growth expected over the next decade. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1787/agritechnica-exhibition-expands-reach-in-growing-asian-markets-debut-in-vietnam12-14-march-2025.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1787/agritechnica-exhibition-expands-reach-in-growing-asian-markets-debut-in-vietnam12-14-march-2025.html Fri, 02 Feb 2024 09:05:44 +0530 Agritechnica Asia expands into Vietnam – Organizer DLG to meet high market demand for agricultural machinery knowledge in Asia with tailored country-specific Agritechnica format; HortEx exhibition for horti- and floriculture to be held in parallel – DLG’s “Agritechnica Asia” event in Bangkok continues as hub for Asia The German Agricultural Society (DLG) is strengthening its exhibition offering in Asia to meet greater demand and new requirements of agricultural professionals in the region for know-how in plant cultivation, technology and new production processes. Currently held biennially in Thailand, Agritechnica Asia, the leading trade fair for crop production and smart farming in Asia, will take place annually from 2025, alternating between the locations of Vietnam and Thailand, odds years in Vietnam and even years in Thailand. Agritechnica Asia in Vietnam will debut in Ho Chin Minh City 12-14 March 2025. The exhibition in Vietnam will enable farming professionals to access not only solutions tailored for the region and but also farm knowledge, DLG’s objective since 1885. DLG Asia Pacific, a DLG subsidiary, is organizer of the new format of Agritechnica Asia, which will offer cross-agriculture synergies, including horticulture and floriculture. “Agritechnica Asia”, a spin-off of Agritechnica, the world's leading agricultural machinery exhibition held biennially in Hanover, Germany, serves growth regions in Asia. Following the 2024 event in Bangkok in May, the 2025 edition will be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 12-14 March. In 2026, the trade fair will be held in Bangkok, Thailand once again. With its rapidly growing economy and government plans for developing agricultural mechanization, Vietnam offers significant potential for agricultural machinery manufacturers while Thailand continues to serve as the central hub in Asia, bringing together the region's agricultural community. “Since setting up the DLG Asia Pacific subsidiary here in Thailand three years ago, our aim has been to meet the needs of farm professionals, however different and wherever they are. We have identified enormous potential in the agricultural sector in this region and are implementing our plans to contribute to sustainable development in local agriculture through our know-how and flexible, tailored concepts," says Jens Kremer, Managing Director of DLG International. As part of the new schedule, Agritechnica Asia will be held in parallel with HortEx for the first time, the leading exhibition in South East Asia for professional horticulture and floriculture. Synergies between the two exhibitions include machinery and crop cultivation, offering visitors an efficient overview of available technologies. HortEx is organized by Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Services Co., Ltd. (VEAS) and Nova Exhibitions BV, an exhibition specialist from the Netherlands, a country home to the industry’s know-how. IPM Essen, the world's leading horticultural exhibition held in Essen, Germany, is supporting HortEx with its extensive network. HortEx is expected to adapt its schedule to include Thailand in the future. “We are pleased to be working with such strong partners so that we can meet the broad needs of farmers in one single venue. The DLG will apply its extensive exhibition expertise, in particular the organization of the 2800-company strong Agritechnica and an even wider network of customers and partners at DLG trade fairs in over 20 countries. By joining forces with the HortEx organizers, we are confident that the new exhibition platform will meet the needs of companies already in the region and those with plans to expand their business into the South East Asian market,” says Katharina Staske, Managing Director, DLG Asia Pacific. The DLG Asia Pacific team of experts will exclusively manage the Agritechnica Asia exhibition with support from business partners, regional agricultural organizations, governments and political decision-makers. The fourth and upcoming edition of Agritechnica Asia, which is expected to attract around 15,000 agricultural professionals, will be held 22-24 May, 2024 at the BITEC exhibition center in Bangkok, Thailand. The edition will be jointly organized by DLG and VNU Exhibition Asia Pacific and will be co-located with Horti Asia. Around 300 exhibitors and companies have already signed up for Agritechnica Asia 2024, including leading players in the agricultural machinery and solutions industry such as AGCO, CNH Industrial, John Deere and India's Mahindra Group. “It is a very exciting time for agricultural machinery in Asia, and we look forward to increasing relationships with distributors and farmers from across the region. Agritechnica Asia 2024 is a key part of our strategy to showcase our new tractors and increase our presence in South East Asian Agriculture, says David Alvarez,Far East Business Manager, ACGO Corporation Located in Bangkok and operating in Thailand and neighboring countries, DLG’s subsidiary was set up in 2020 in response to local demand, notably from agricultural ministries, for DLG’s core competencies in professional agricultural knowledge platforms. Applying DLG’s professional agricultural experience, DLG Asia Pacific organizes agricultural conferences and exhibitions in the region such as the Agrifuture Conference, an event that rotates between countries and explores trends in farming, and the International Rice Congress Trade Fair recently held in the Philippines. Upcoming events include Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia, a trade show presenting the entire offer within the framework of the so-called Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) together with ’New Food Production’- solutions like invitro food and generating of alternative proteins, to be held in Singapore, November 2024, as well as the new FutureAg Expo 2024 “Powered by Agritechnica” exhibition, in Melbourne, Australia, 17-19 April 2024 AgroSpectrum Asia is the media partner to the event. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1785/growing-ag-biologicals-segment-in-the-apac-region-challenges-and-ways-forward.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1785/growing-ag-biologicals-segment-in-the-apac-region-challenges-and-ways-forward.html Fri, 02 Feb 2024 07:01:00 +0530 By Harshvardhan Bhagchandka , President IPL Biologicals The ag-biologicals market is fuelled by the rising demand for organic food, growing awareness pertaining to health, and the surging trend of sustainability. However, there are some restraints that are making the market participants concerned and are likely to hamper the growth of the industry if not addressed soon. According to the data from UNFPA, 60% of the world population, or over 4.3 billion people, live in the Asia and Pacific region, which is home to China and India, the two most populous nations on earth. As we go forward, it is anticipated that this number will rise even further. This indicates that in order to properly feed the region and the entire world and keep up with the growing demand for food, agricultural practices must be made more productive and sustainable. One key method that has emerged as the cornerstone of organic agricultural methods and sustainable agriculture globally is using biologicals for agriculture, and the APAC region is not an exception. According to research by Precision Business Insights, the ag-biologicals market in the APAC region stood at $3.8 billion in 2022. Furthermore, the market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% by 2029. The market is fuelled by the rising demand for organic food, growing awareness pertaining to health, and the surging trend of sustainability. However, there are some restraints that are making the market participants concerned and are likely to hamper the growth of the industry if not addressed soon. Potential restraints Currently there are few potential restraints which are stated below: R&D investment: In order to expand the market for their exclusive products and enhance the strength of their agricultural biological portfolios, industry stakeholders in the agribusiness sector must invest in R&D in the sector. Currently there are only few companies who have their own R&D and Production facility. More efforts are needed for evaluation of new generation biological products Government regulation: In last few years governments of few countries like India, have taken several steps which promote adoption of biological products. Further governments must also implement strict guidelines to ensure farmer gets quality products, and incentivize farmers who shift towards biological products. Regulatory ecosystem should be feasible for commercialisation of agri biological products. Government regulations: In last few years governments of few countries like India, have taken several steps which promote adoption of biological products. Further governments must also implement strict guidelines to ensure farmer gets quality products, and incentivize farmers who shift towards biological products. Regulatory ecosystem should be feasible for commercialisation of agri biological products. Method of usage: Traditionally farmers use synthetic pesticides, which often exhibit quick response or show rapid knockdown on pest, by directly affecting the nervous system. While biological alternatives employ living organisms or their by-products for targeted pest control. These biologicals products may need to be applied differently at different time. Farmers need to be aware of this methodology as this comparison is crucial for selecting effective and environmentally friendly solutions in agriculture. These solutions bring us to some of the potential opportunities that market players canexplore in a bid to grow the ag-biologicals segment in the APAC region. Significant opportunities As the market for ag-biologicals is surging, the economies in the APAC region are anticipated to come into play. Here are some of the opportunities market players can explore. Consumer awareness on safe food: A thorough awareness of the food production process is the need of the hour to raise consumer awareness of safe food, with a focus on environmental sustainability, health, and ethical sourcing. The market players can encourage people to look for items devoid of dangerous chemicals, pesticides, and additives. This knowledge can enable customers to make deliberate decisions, bolstering the market and demand for products that help produce safe food. Right to safe food should be implemented. Impact of digital revolution: The digital revolution has significantly enhanced the adoption of biological products in agriculture, fostering a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach. Advanced technologies enable precise monitoring of soil health, optimizing the application of biologicals for maximum efficacy. Digital tools facilitate real-time data analysis, empowering farmers to make informed decisions on bio-input usage. This synergy between digital innovation and biological solutions contribute to increased crop yields, reduced environmental impact, and a more resilient and productive agricultural system. Impact of social media: Social media plays a pivotal role in promoting awareness and knowledge about the benefits of biological products in agriculture, connecting farmers and researchers globally. Platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn facilitate the exchange of success stories and best practices, encouraging widespread adoption of sustainable farming practices. The collaborative nature of social media fosters a sense of community, empowering farmers to embrace and implement biological solutions for enhanced agricultural productivity. Way forward Ag-biologicals have emerged as novel solutions for farmers that address several challenges of conventional farming methods. The need of the hour for the industry is to educate the growers about the potential of the products, as it will potentially lead to the growth of the market. As we move forward, the relevance of biology is also poised to increase as the world is now more focused on organic food, health, and sustainability. Collectively, it is safe to say that with the use of biological solutions to cultivate the crops, consumers will be reassured in the future that their food is produced in a safe and sustainable manner along with environmental protection. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1783/the-asia-pacific-foundation-of-canada-apf-canada-welcomes-laurel-west-as-vice-president-operations-partnerships.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1783/the-asia-pacific-foundation-of-canada-apf-canada-welcomes-laurel-west-as-vice-president-operations-partnerships.html Thu, 01 Feb 2024 10:04:22 +0530 APF Canada has announced the appointment of Laurel West as Vice-President of Operations & Partnerships, effective January 8, 2024. Formerly a senior executive with The Economist Group, Ms. West has been based in Asia for the last three and half decades, first in Japan and then in Hong Kong. A journalist at the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, and CBC Radio before relocating to Asia, she joined The Economist Group in 1992, working in a number of progressively senior roles on both the editorial and commercial sides of the business. After starting as a country analyst with The Economist Intelligence Unit, covering Southeast Asia before specializing in India, she established the group’s custom research business in Asia, which she led as editorial director. Most recently, she was Managing Director, Content Solutions, and Managing Director, Economist Events, as well as a member of the Asia Management Committee of The Economist Group Asia-Pacific. During her time in Japan, she worked on the Japan External Trade Organisation’s campaigns to address trade imbalances with the U.S. and Europe. “Laurel brings uniquely relevant professional and managerial depth in providing corporate clients with business intelligence and analysis products,” said APF Canada President and CEO Jeff Nankivell. “Her expertise in collaborating with multinationals, foundations, and governments and convening high-level knowledge and networking events in Asia Pacific markets from Australia to India will add immediate value to the Foundation’s senior leadership team.” In her most recent role with The Economist Group, Ms. West oversaw the execution of large-scale conferences on topics such as the future of health care, sustainability, global trade, and innovation, as well as country summits in the region, which brought together government, business, and civil society leaders alongside corporate sponsors and high-level speakers. “It is a very exciting time to join the Foundation as Canada seeks to deepen its engagement with the economies and peoples of Asia,” said West. “I look forward to leveraging my knowledge of the region as well as my commercial experience to help expand and strengthen the Foundation’s work at this critical time in Canada-Asia relations.” In her new role as Vice-President, Operations & Partnerships, Ms. West will be based at the Foundation’s headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, and oversee the Foundation’s events, business development, business networks, and the establishment of APF Canada’s new regional office in Southeast Asia, as well as operational functions, including finance and human resources ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1779/francine-sayoc-takes-helm-as-apsas-new-executive-director.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1779/francine-sayoc-takes-helm-as-apsas-new-executive-director.html Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:20:36 +0530 Sayoc brings a wealth of experience and a fresh global perspective to APSA's mission to ensure quality seeds for the region and the world. The Asia and Pacific Seed Alliance (APSA) is pleased to welcome Francine Sayoc as its new Executive Director, effective February 1. Ms. Sayoc brings a wealth of experience and a fresh global perspective to APSA's mission to ensure quality seeds for the region and the world. She most recently served as Communications Manager at the International Seed Federation (ISF) in Nyon, Switzerland, where she led the external and internal communications of the global voice of the seed sector, representing some 60 national member associations and 7,500 seed companies worldwide. Prior to that, she served as the Group Communications Manager at East-West Seed International in Nonthaburi, Thailand, playing a key role in the company's evolution into a formidable international seed company with operations across five continents. A distinguished graduate with a Masters in International Studies from the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea in Spain, Ms. Sayoc’s career commenced 20 years ago in the Philippine Senate, where she worked as a speechwriter and later as media and communications director for then Senator Edgardo J. Angara. Her firsthand knowledge and experience in working with regulators and the private sector to communicate, advocate, and shape policy and reform, legislation, institution-building, and partnerships made her stand out during the extensive recruitment process to hire APSA’s chief executive.  Dr Manish Patel, APSA President said, “The APSA Secretariat is a young and dynamic team, and it was a delicate process to find the right fit. Not only do we need someone with the right qualifications, background, and experience, but we needed someone who could work seamlessly with all of our team members and stakeholders. Having reviewed hundreds of potential applicants over several months, it was clear to the OB that Francine checked all those boxes, and we are confident that she is exactly what APSA needs to move from strength to strength.” Francine commented: “I want to take a moment to thank the APSA team, OB, EC, members of special interest groups and standing committees, and of course, my predecessor, Dr Kanokwan ‘May’, for the incredible work you have done and for the warm welcome. I have spent twelve years in the seed sector, and I am continually fascinated by it. As we all know, seed is the foundation of food security and agriculture. I am excited about the immense potential we have to make a positive impact on the lives of millions in Asia. Together, we can drive innovation, promote sustainability, and enhance food production to meet the challenges of our time. Let’s continue working hand in hand to advance the Asian seed sector. At APSA, we will do our best to support our members and be an ally to business towards achieving a common vision. Now, more than ever, collaboration is crucial to addressing the evolving needs of farmers. I am so excited for the journey ahead. I look forward to meeting and working with you.” ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1775/apaari-proposes-establishing-a-global-nars-consortium.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1775/apaari-proposes-establishing-a-global-nars-consortium.html Wed, 31 Jan 2024 10:08:33 +0530 Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) and six Regional Fora (AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, EFARD, FARA, and FORAGRO) have signed a Declaration for the establishment of the Global NARS Consortium (GNC) The Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) gathered members and partners in an insightful discussion focused on the Global NARS Consortium (GNC) on 29 Jan 2024. As the agricultural landscape continues to evolve, it’s imperative for stakeholders to come together and address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Key Objectives: Explore the role of NARS in the changing global agricultural landscape. Discuss the benefits and opportunities offered by the Global NARS Consortium. Foster collaboration and linkages among stakeholders for collective action. In March 2023, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) and six Regional Fora (AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, EFARD, FARA, and FORAGRO), came together to sign a Declaration for the establishment of the Global NARS Consortium (GNC), supported by the European Commission. The GNC represents a significant step towards strengthening the global voice of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). It aims to enhance the influence and capacities of NARS worldwide. On March 17, 2023, the heads of the six GFAR Regional Fora (AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, EFARD, FARA, and FORAGRO) signed a Declaration to establish a Global NARS Consortium (GNC) and entrusted it to GFAR. The Regional Fora represent diverse stakeholders involved in agrifood systems transformation and agricultural research, specifically the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in their regions. The past Declaration calls for collective action to strengthen and revitalize NARS in the rapidly changing global context through the creation of a Global NARS Consortium (GNC) within GFAR. In 2024, the GNC will seek to strengthen the global voice, enhance the influence, and improve the resource base and capacities of NARS as well as strengthen the collaboration and linkages among partners. The Declaration was witnessed by high level representatives from the CGIAR and IFAD, and the representatives of the NARS of Australia, Iran and Vietnam, and it’s here attached. The GFAR Regional Fora agreed to operationalize the GNC, in consultation with relevant national, regional and global institutions, networks and organizations, undertaking to facilitate the implementation of a roadmap by 2025, to mark the 30th year of GFAR’s existence. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1763/pepsico-launches-second-apac-greenhouse-accelerator-2024-sustainability-edition.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1763/pepsico-launches-second-apac-greenhouse-accelerator-2024-sustainability-edition.html Mon, 29 Jan 2024 08:42:00 +0530 Reinforces Commitment to pep+ Goals: With the program, PepsiCo aims to address packaging waste, agricultural sustainability, and climate change by creating a positive impact through collaboration and partnerships. The final winner of the $ 100,000 prize will be announced in Thailand in September 2024. PepsiCo has launched its second Greenhouse Accelerator program in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Following the success of last year’s program, PepsiCo is looking to make an even greater impact on the food and beverage sector in the region by collaborating with and supporting entrepreneurs who are developing innovative solutions in sustainable agriculture, climate action, and the circular economy. As the Asia Pacific experiences a notable shift towards more sustainable supply chains in an effort to reach net zero, PepsiCo understands its position to influence and be a part of this transition. The Greenhouse Accelerator APAC Sustainability Edition is an initiative to partner with innovative entrepreneurs in the region to advance the company’s goal to be net zero by 2040. As part of the program, PepsiCo will select up to 10 applicants to receive $ 20,000 in grants as well as mentoring from subject-matter experts from PepsiCo’s executive bench and broader leadership team. The final winner of the $ 100,000 prize will be announced in Thailand in September 2024. Applications for 2024 are now open, and APAC startups with solutions in the sustainable packaging, climate action, and sustainable agriculture spaces are eligible to apply. The shortlisted applicants will be selected based on the degree of innovation, business model scalability, uniqueness, disruptive potential, and a mission to drive emissions reduction and circularity. “Building on the strong start we made in 2023, we are extremely proud to launch the second edition of the Greenhouse Accelerator program across the Asia Pacific region. Last year, we initiated seven pilot projects, each contributing to our sustainability goals and demonstrating the power of partnership. APAC is a focal region for agri and food tech innovation, and with new partners joining us, we aim to use our reach to positively influence the food ecosystem.” shared Wern-Yuen Tan, PepsiCo, CEO of APAC. Greenhouse Accelerator Program Significance Since its inception in 2017, the Greenhouse Accelerator has included over 86 companies across the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, and APAC. To date, the collective revenue of the emerging startups has exceeded $20 million. Last year, the program received over 100 applications across the APAC region, with Powered Carbon delivering the winning solution. Powered Carbon’s low carbon fertilizer solution which uses CO2 to cultivate bacteria, has since been tested on potatoes in PepsiCo’s China Shandong Farm. For the second edition of the program in APAC, PepsiCo has partnered with Suntory PepsiCo Beverage Thailand, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage, and Circulate Capitalwith an aim to address a comprehensive range of environmental challenges and to cultivate a generation of entrepreneurs who can drive positive impact across multiple facets of sustainability. Ashish Joshi, Chief Executive Officer, Suntory PepsiCo Beverage (Thailand), said, "As a leader in the beverage industry, Suntory PepsiCo Thailand is proactively addressing environmental challenges through an unwavering commitment to sustainability, innovation, and compliance. We are dedicated to optimizing internal processes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions across our entire value chain while collaborating with other stakeholders to achieve a net-zero carbon society. We clearly define priority issues, including achieving water conservation and replenishment, fostering a sustainable packaging management for the circular economy, and greenhouse gas reduction throughout our operation. Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, we are pleased to participate in this program to build a sustainable society that prioritizes environmental responsibility.” “Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam is proud to be a partner in this impactful initiative, create a platform where innovations can thrive and can contribute to the movement toward a more sustainable future. Our company’s sustainability strategy and goals align with the Vietnam Government’s commitment, especially its pledge to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. We have collaborated with strategic partners to implement multiple initiatives in realizing sustainability goals, notably, our phasing out of fossil fuel in manufacturing plants and reduced virgin plastic consumption leading to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.” said Jahanzeb Khan, CEO and General Director, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1762/trends-2024-asia-pacifics-fb-industry-anticipates-a-slew-of-new-trends.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1762/trends-2024-asia-pacifics-fb-industry-anticipates-a-slew-of-new-trends.html Mon, 29 Jan 2024 07:22:00 +0530 By Christian Philippsen, Managing Director, BENEO, Asia Pacific With every new year that unfolds, Asia Pacific’s F&B industry anticipates a slew of new trends. Among them, is the predicted rise of the adventurous consumer. According to Mintel, “amid ongoing uncertainty and anxiety, consumers will seek experiential food and drink that is enjoyable, fuels productivity and transports them to new realms.” How do you foresee the potential plant-based alternative protein industry holds for the future? A global study found that 7 in 10 consumers have a desire to experience interesting textures, and to be surprised in some way. 2 Specifically, countries in the Asia Pacific region such as the Philippines have almost 8 in 10 consumers saying that eating and drinking is the main way they connect with family and friends. 3 This connection can be further fuelled by novel, adventurous food choices that bring variety to the table, and increase connectivity amongst different generations due to a shared experience of new taste sensations. But while the adventurous consumer is eager to set forth on their culinary journey, they have alsounderscored the need for a balance between taste, price, health, and sustainability. These individuals are seeking food products that not only transport them to new dimensions, but also meet their nutritional, economic and social criteria. In light of this emerging trend, food manufacturers are looking towards sectors such as the plant- based industry to captivate the adventurous consumer. The industry holds enormous growth potential, and plant-based products are well positioned to meet this proliferating consumer demand. However, in an environment where the appeal for plant-based burger patties has dwindled, food developers must look towards creating new offerings that keep consumers wanting more. What are the novel strategies at alternative meat industry adopted to elevate palates and textures of Plant-Based Products?To pave the way for a new plant-based future, manufacturers must prioritise taste, texture, and indulgence. Taste stands out as a critical component of plant-based success, and advancements such as BeneoPro W-Tex, a textured wheat protein, allows manufacturers to craft a diverse range of flavours. This flexible meat substitute can also be infused with a variety of tastes, herbs, and spices. Moreover, consumers are seeking plant-based alternatives that mimic the textures of popular, everyday foods. For instance, BeneoPro W-Tex can be utilised in a wide range of applications, especially products with meat analogues such as sausages and chicken nuggets. With a protein content of at least 65% (on dry matter) and a unique alveolar structure, it facilitates the development of a juicy-like texture. Elevating Palates and Textures of Plant-Based ProductsTo pave the way for a new plant-based future, manufacturers must prioritise taste, texture, and indulgence. Taste stands out as a critical component of plant-based success, and advancements such as BeneoPro W-Tex, a textured wheat protein, allows manufacturers to craft a diverse range of flavours. This flexible meat substitute can also be infused with a variety of tastes, herbs, and spices. Moreover, consumers are seeking plant-based alternatives that mimic the textures of popular, everyday foods. For instance, BeneoPro W-Tex can be utilised in a wide range of applications, especially products with meat analogues such as sausages and chicken nuggets. With a protein content of at least 65% (on dry matter) and a unique alveolar structure, it facilitates the development of a juicy-like texture. Increasing the Feel-Good FactorIndulgence will also be key in satisfying the adventurous consumer this year. A recent study found that product packaging should steer clear of mentioning the words ‘alternative and substitute’ as they may evoke feelings of sacrifice. 4 Instead, careful wording that underscores the indulgent and gratifying nature of plant-based products enhances their appeal to the adventurous consumer. How can the food industry broaden the Plant-Based alternative protein ingredient horizon? Ingredients such as rice, a popular Asian staple, can play a crucial role in creating guilt-free sweet treats. For instance, BENEO’s functional native rice starches generate high stability for foods with demanding processing conditions, such as low pH values or high shear forces. In addition, rice starch is mild in taste and neutral in colour, and is especially attractive to consumers who are lactose intolerant and experience other digestive health issues. Its instant variant is also particularly suitable for products that are processed cold, such as desserts or bakery cream. It also enables the development of plant-based cocoa bars, providing a nice flavour, good snap, smooth mouthfeel, and excellent melting behaviour. Rice ingredients are also a viable solution to the demand for clean-label products. In fact, rice starch and rice flour score highly in this context as consumers perceive them as a natural and familiar cupboard ingredient, with 61 and 71 % of consumers worldwide regarding rice starch and rice flour as natural respectively. Beyond prioritising taste, texture, and indulgence, food manufacturers can broaden their horizons by exploring new product categories that resonate with the adventurous consumer. One such category is Asian-inspired recipes, an increasingly popular and attractive group of foods among consumers globally. By harnessing innovative ingredients such as BENEO’s textured wheat protein or rice starches, manufacturers can craft plant-based versions of traditional Asian dishes such as xiao long bao, Thai basil pork, siew mai, and steamed buns. In 2024, placing a heightened emphasis on taste, texture, and indulgence will be pivotal, especially as food manufacturers expand their product categories in the plant-based sector. This provides an opportune time to harness plant-based ingredients and transform them into exciting, unique products that live up to the demands of the adventurous consumer. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1767/apac-civil-society-organizations-and-private-sector-convene-to-foster-regions-agrifood-systems.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1767/apac-civil-society-organizations-and-private-sector-convene-to-foster-regions-agrifood-systems.html Mon, 29 Jan 2024 07:16:00 +0530 Prepares for Inter-governmental discussions towards transforming future for region's food security Civil society organizations (CSO) from Asia and the Pacific are preparing for participation in a major multilateral conference aimed at charting a course for the region’s food security and agrifood systems transformation. The CSO participation in FAO’s 37th Session of the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC37) will aim to add a collective voice among civil society organizations during their contributions to discussions at the Conference – a biennial governing body session of some 46 FAO Member Nations from across the region. The CSO’s finalized their positions, in advance of APRC37, during a virtual consultation this week. In parallel to the CSO meetings, an online consultation amongst private sector entities is ongoing. Representatives from the private sector will also have an opportunity to provide contributions to the FAO’s regional governing body session. Organized by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the #APRC37 will convene, in-person, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Host Country, 19-22 February 2024, with high-level representation of government ministers and leaders from across the vast region. The purpose is to review proposals and decide upon a course of action to transform the region’s agrifood systems, making them more fit-for-purpose and to ensure food security for billions of the region’s inhabitants. The FAO Director-General Dr QU Dongyu will also travel from FAO headquarters in Rome to participate in the high-level Ministerial Session. Collective front-line wisdom an asset for the FAO Asia-Pacific conference The CSO consultation process in the Asia-Pacific region, and opportunity for CSOs to make interventions at FAO’s Regional Conferences, has evolved since 2010, with broad-based support from the region’s civil society communities and FAO. Following on from that success, the innovative private sector consultations were also considered very successful during the last APRCs. “From the experience gained together, I am convinced that with taking due consideration of the views of various stakeholders, such as civil society  and private sector, FAO’s Members and their policymakers may better define the actions they need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, particularly those related to ending hunger and poverty,” said Jong-Jin Kim, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, during his opening remarks to the CSO meeting. The regional CSO meeting, supported by FAO and organized virtually by host CSOs in Sri Lanka, was attended by 100 participants from across the Asia-Pacific region, representing various constituencies including small-scale producers, fishers, pastoralists, indigenous peoples and landless organizations, rural and agricultural workers, women and youth organisations and NGOs. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1747/ifad-accelerates-establishment-of-asia-and-the-pacific-apr-office-in-thailand.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1747/ifad-accelerates-establishment-of-asia-and-the-pacific-apr-office-in-thailand.html Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:02:48 +0530 A tentative timeline for the establishment of the regional office has been set for Q3 of 2024 Thailand's Deputy Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Setthakiat Krachanwong, participated in a discussion on January 18, 2024, with representatives from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), namely Meyerhans, Executive Director, and Giorgia Salucci, Head of Support Department. Senior officials of the 16th Berlin Ministers' Conference of Agriculture (The 16th Berlin Ministers' Conference) met to discuss the progress of setting up an IFAD Asia and Pacific office in Thailand. As part of the process of establishing the IFAD Office for Asia and the Pacific in Thailand, the Host Country Agreement documents are referred to by the Deputy Permanent Secretary Economics and proposed to develop the documents by October 2024. In the 4th quarter of 2023, Thailand has been selected as the location for IFAD’s first regional office in the Asia and the Pacific region (APR). With the key milestone is part of IFAD’s decentralization strategy to bring the regional counterparts more closer to reflects steadfast commitment to enhancing collaboration and efficiency. Establishing IFAD’s first regional office in Asia strengthen IFDA's presence and impact in the region, enabling it to forge even stronger partnerships and drive growth. A tentative timeline for the establishment of the regional office has been set for Q3 of 2024. In line with the established regional office model, this office will eventually house the APR Regional Team as well as the COM, CSD, FMD, and SKD staff members mapped to APR. In addition to being IFAD's largest investment portfolio, APR also plays a significant role in the mission of the organization. By setting up regional offices, IFDA will be able to enhance efficiency, bridge time differences, and ensure seamless coordination among regional offices. Through closer collaboration with partners, IFDA aims to strengthen networks, and amplify efforts toward inclusive and sustainable rural transformation.  The strategic positioning of Bangkok enables IFDA's operational teams to serve clients with greater efficiency and achieve even greater impact. In addition, the presence of 21 UN regional and other offices in Bangkok provides valuable opportunities to enhance collaboration within the UN system, particularly with FAO and WFP regional offices. A stronger partnership with IFIs, also located in Bangkok, will further strengthen IFAD's regional initiatives. IFDA has considered an array of critical factors, including cost-effectiveness, travel accessibility, IT connectivity, visa considerations, alignment with IFAD’s strategy, proximity to other UN and multilateral agencies, and the overall impact on the staff costs to make Bangkok as the location . A strategic nexus uniting IFAD staff from different departments, the regional office will be led by the Regional Director. Stronger strategic focus on China and India To ensure comprehensive coverage across Asia, IFAD will further strengthen its office presence in Beijing, China, and New Delhi, India. India will operate as a multi-country office (MCO) in the APR region, while the office in China will have a particular focus on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) as IFAD SSTC Centre in Asia. In this unique capacity, the office will actively strive to secure substantial additional SSTC funds, significantly enhancing outreach efforts and maximizing the profound impact of IFAD-supported rural development and poverty reduction initiatives throughout the region.  We will also be exploring the possibility of strengthening the role of these offices further as centres for development financing, digital transformation, and more.  The two offices will oversee various country portfolios, thereby reinforcing IFAD’s strategic positioning and expanding partnerships at both country and regional levels in APR. The China office will continue to cover Mongolia, while the India office will continue to cover Sri Lanka and Maldives. As a result, they will foster robust client relationships and effectively reach rural communities in those countries. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1725/ecolab-opens-a-new-manufacturing-plant-in-vietnam-to-expand-to-sea-region.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1725/ecolab-opens-a-new-manufacturing-plant-in-vietnam-to-expand-to-sea-region.html Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:45:00 +0530 The new plant has 3,000 square meters of space with an advanced laboratory, manufacturing facility and warehouse Ecolab, a global sustainability leader offering water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services, continues its expansion to meet the growing market and increasing customer demand. Ecolab opens its new cutting-edge manufacturing plant in Ho Nai Industrial Park, near Ho Chi Minh City. Around the world, Ecolab provides innovative solutions to help improve businesses' operational efficiency, product quality, and safety while reducing water and energy use and waste. This new facility demonstrates Ecolab's continued commitment to supporting customers, innovation, and sustainability in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia. The new plant has 3,000 square meters of space with an advanced laboratory, manufacturing facility and warehouse. The new facility will also provide additional local job opportunities, bringing the company's workforce in Vietnam to more than 100 people. Ecolab supports customers in multiple industrial markets, including food service, lodging, healthcare, building facilities, food and beverage processing, manufacturing, transportation, pulp and paper, microelectronics, petrochemicals, and power generation. Greg Lukasik, senior vice president and Market Head for Southeast Asia, Ecolab shared:"This space is a key milestone for fostering growth and will serve as a hub of science, expertise, and support activities from the Ecolab team to better serve both our customers, as well as the local community. With the opening of the new plant, we are creating new opportunities for customer partnerships, while simultaneously bringing our commitment to supporting the development and growth of Vietnam's thriving economy". As part of the U.S. Department of Commerce Department's support of the opening, Greg Harris, Principal Commercial Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City said: "Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in ASEAN. It's great to see that Ecolab, an American-listed company, is boosting operations locally, and their industrial customers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia will benefit from the Ecolab teams' expertise, technology, and solution delivery. Water scarcity, food hygiene, and public health are some of the biggest challenges the world faces today. We look forward to deeper partnerships between Ecolab and local ecosystem players to help create a greener future." Sam de Boo, EVP and president for Ecolab Global Markets, said: "Vietnam is a key strategic market for Ecolab, and the investment in a plant marks a key step in better supporting our customers. The markets we serve will continue to benefit from our global innovation capabilities, combining chemistry, digital technology, data analytics, and service to deliver exponential customer value." ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1728/nepals-country-programming-framework-cpf-for-2023-2027-targets-ecosystem-restoration.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1728/nepals-country-programming-framework-cpf-for-2023-2027-targets-ecosystem-restoration.html Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:10:00 +0530 Nepal's first-ever Green Climate Fund (GCF) project aims to increase resilience and targets ecosystem restoration FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and Nepal’s Minister of Forests and Environment of the Federal Democratic Republic, Birendra Prasad Mahato, met during the Director-General’s visit to Kathmandu.  The Director-General noted that, as both a Least Developed Country and a Landlocked Developing Country, Nepal has tremendous geographic diversity that ranges from alluvial plains in the south to high Himalayan Mountains in the north. QU further stated that FAO is willing to support Nepal to achieve better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, and to address the impacts of the climate crisis. The jointly launched Country Programming Framework (CPF) for 2023-2027 reflects Nepal’s key priorities, including sustainable natural resource management, climate resilience and disaster risk reduction. The delegates discussed implementation of the country’s first-ever Green Climate Fund (GCF) project for increasing resilience in the Churia Region, considered as a flagship project for the entire Asia-Pacific region. FAO will also supports Nepal with the implementation of the project aimed at ecosystem restoration, with a strong focus on forest ecosystems in the country’s Churia Region. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1710/bayer-announces-new-leaderships-for-apac-agricultural-commercial-division.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1710/bayer-announces-new-leaderships-for-apac-agricultural-commercial-division.html Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0530 Malu Nachreiner becomes Commercial leader for the Asia-Pacific region Bayer has changed the Executive Leadership Committee of its agricultural division to reflect the needs of rural producers, inspiring more regenerative agriculture. Malu Nachreiner, who currently leads the Agricultural Division in Brazil, will lead the commercial area in Asia Pacific. Nachreiner sees the opportunity as a way to redouble synergies between Brazil and the Asian region, as important agribusiness partners. Marcio Santos, who is currently serving as Commercial Vice President for Bayer's agricultural division in Brazil will take over as the new lead of the country's Agricultural Division. Malu Nachreiner will also serve as the CEO of Bayer Brasil, whose announcement is expected soon. Brian Naber who is currently leading the commercial area in Asia Pacific, will serve as Commercial Leader for the North America region. The changes will come into force from March this year. Maurício Rodrigues, leader of the Bayer agricultural division for Latin America, says, “Márcio will continue to, improving our business with relevant partners, always aiming to meet the demands and challenges of our farmers. We will continue to bring absolutely innovative solutions, visionary projects such as Carbon and Forests, and offer a portfolio of quality, in addition to essential digital tools. Along this path, joint work with experts and entities in the sector points us in precise directions as to where we need to go." “With the new configuration of the Agricultural Division Executive Leadership Committee, we will be perfectly positioned to further drive our vision of regenerative agriculture and provide much-needed innovations to farmers,” says Rodrigo Santos , Bayer AG Board Member and President of the Agricultural Division. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1680/syngenta-anz-appoints-paul-luxton-to-lead-syngentas-asian-region.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1680/syngenta-anz-appoints-paul-luxton-to-lead-syngentas-asian-region.html Wed, 03 Jan 2024 11:03:41 +0530 Paul Luxton as Heads of Asia division; David Van Ryswyk as Country Head will lead Syngenta's Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) in their strategic roles Syngenta has appointed Paul Luxton as the new Head of Asia, and David Van Ryswyk as the incoming Country Head of Syngenta Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), effective January 1, 2024.  In this strategic role, Paul Luxton will be instrumental in driving Syngenta's growth and development across the dynamic markets of the Asian region encompassing Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea.  Paul Luxton, who has served as Syngenta ANZ Country Head since 2008, has a strong track record of extensive agricultural leadership. During his tenure with Syngenta ANZ, he has made significant contributions to the company's success. Paul Luxton said "The agricultural landscape in Asia presents many opportunities, and I am eager to work with our dedicated teams to further strengthen Syngenta's presence in this crucial market."  David Van Ryswyk, as the incoming Country Head of Syngenta ANZ, brings his extensive experience and strategic vision to lead Syngenta ANZ into its next phase of growth.  Loana Tudor, Head of Crop Protection Marketing, Australia and Japan at Syngenta said, “David brings a wealth of experience and knowledge having worked with Syngenta customers across the business for nearly 20 years. With a strong commitment to prioritising customer needs and a bold approach to innovation, David will lead the ANZ business to new heights”.  David Van Ryswyk joined Syngenta in 2004 and has worked across different areas of the business from customer services and demand management to the role of Demand Planning Excellence Lead in Syngenta’s Head office in Basel, Switzerland, before returning to Australia as Head of Supply and Production for ANZ, and most recently in the role of Head of Syngenta Professional Solutions and Macspred.  ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1531/apac-innovators-and-policymakers-join-the-world-food-forum-2023-to-step-up-actions-for-food-system-transformation.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1531/apac-innovators-and-policymakers-join-the-world-food-forum-2023-to-step-up-actions-for-food-system-transformation.html Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:21:42 +0530 The World Food Forum (WFF) is a youth-led movement and network to transform our agrifood systems that is committed to the theme: “Agrifood systems transformation accelerates climate action.” Asia and the Pacific converged at the FAO headquarters in Rome from 16-20 October for the World Food Forum while hundreds more joined the forum virtually to inspire individual and collective actions for agrifood system transformation. The World Food Forum (WFF) is a youth-led movement and network to transform our agrifood systems that is committed to the theme: “Agrifood systems transformation accelerates climate action.” Similar to the global line-up of WFF events, the regional World Food Day ceremony hosted by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific on 16 October kicked off a week-long engagement of youth, governments, private sector, academia and other stakeholders from the region at the third annual World Food Forum. Youth voices from Asia-Pacific – loud and clear! The Asia-Pacific region is home to 700 million young people between the age of 15 and 24 who are untapped reservoir of potential to accelerate agrifood system transformation and rural development.   “Youth are powerful,” said FAO Senior Food Safety and Nutrition Officer, Sridhar Dharmapuri, in a keynote address at the WFF Asia-Pacific Youth Assembly. “You must advocate, innovate, and accelerate actions for food security, healthy diets, and nutrition. FAO is here to support youth involvement in agrifood system transformation,” added Dharmapuri.   A satellite event hosted by the FAO Regional Office showcased youth actions to build sustainable food systems. Young people from Asia and the Pacific came together to share how networks created and led by them are making a difference on the ground to improve lives and livelihoods for people of all ages. The event highlighted youth actions like promoting indigenous products of farmers in the foothills of the Himalayas, developing new food products with underutilized crops such as millets and designing educational games to help prevent the spread of African swine fever (AFS). A mobile game application to create awareness on AFS and biosecurity was also exhibited at the WFF in Rome, an example of innovative platforms built by students from the George Maison University of the Republic of Korea with support from FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) and the Liaison and Partnership Office in ROK. Food traditions and cultures from Asia added flavour to the WFF in Rome with exhibitions of mountain products from Bhutan and, Nepal’s indigenous crops. Youth dialogues hosted virtually or in hybrid modality by FAO offices in China, Japan, Nepal and the Republic of Korea together with partners, offered a space for young people to share innovative solutions to preserve traditional agricultural knowledge and heritage like Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), promote local food and underutilized crops for healthy diets, and deploy innovative technologies for low-carbon agriculture. This youth-led momentum in the region will continue with the creation of National Chapters, a self-sustained youth platform that echoes the principles of the WFF, thus orchestrating tangible changes in local and national agrifood systems. Science and innovation Examples of successful digital innovations targeting climate impacts within the agrifood system were highlighted at a virtual event hosted by the FAO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific as part of the WFF’s Science and Innovation Forum. The webinar featured leaders and innovators who are driving local solutions to tackle climate change challenges in their countries and promoting inclusive digital solutions for climate action. Novel techniques like the use of drones and air samplers for biosafety and animal welfare were also on display by ECTAD on the sidelines of the Science and Innovation Forum, highlighting the critical role of surveillance to anticipate, detect, prevent, and respond to avian influenza and other endemic disease outbreaks.  Investments and partnerships The Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum convened by FAO during the WFF week, was a platform for countries to attract investments and partnerships for national agriculture and food value chains. Six countries from Asia and the Pacific - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Pakistan, and Vanuatu joined the second edition of the HIH Investment Forum in Rome. Ministers and representatives from these countries presented their investment plans to investors, multilateral development banks, the private sector, and donors, seeking support for Government plans to reduce poverty and hunger. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1529/wtw-strengthens-climate-capabilities-through-launch-of-an-asia-pacific-climate-risk-centre-in-singapore.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1529/wtw-strengthens-climate-capabilities-through-launch-of-an-asia-pacific-climate-risk-centre-in-singapore.html Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:07:27 +0530 The Centre will provide climate risk quantification and management capabilities to support the region’s resilience and transition to net-zero WTW, a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company, announced the launch of an Asia Pacific Climate Risk Centre (ACRC) in Singapore. The Centre reinforces WTW’s commitment to helping the region transition to a resilient, low-carbon economy. Utilising WTW’s deep expertise on risk management and risk financing, the Centre will support corporates, financial institutions, insurers and governments in understanding, quantifying and building resilience against climate risks. It focuses on physical and transition climate risk assessment and quantification through top-down and bottom-up methods and proprietary models. The opening of the Centre highlights that Asia Pacific (APAC) is a key priority for WTW’s Climate Practice and a consolidation of decades of investment in climate risk capabilities. Commenting on the set-up, Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore, and Chairman of MAS said, “I welcome the launch of the WTW APAC Climate Risk Center in Singapore. This Centre will develop risk advisory, analytics and risk financing solutions to support transition efforts of firms in hard-to-abate industrial sectors key for Asia’s growth, such as real estate, transportation and natural resources.” [1] Carl Hess, Chief Executive Officer at WTW said: “The establishment of WTW’s ACRC moves us towards the next phase of growth in the region as we build on our extensive experience in climate risk mitigation and management. Singapore is an important hub in the region’s drive towards a low-carbon economy, with its policy ambitions in green finance and green insurance. This, coupled with its well-established insurance market infrastructure, makes the country a natural choice for the new Centre.” Simon Weaver, Head of Asia Pacific and Head of Corporate Risk & Broking, Asia Pacific, added: “APAC is on the frontline of climate change: natural catastrophes are already intense and frequent, whilst economic growth and population development mean the region will account for more than 70% of the expected growth in global energy demand over the coming years. Climate risk quantification and management, delivered through WTW’s ACRC, is another step forward in delivering on our commitment to offer clients a smarter way to quantify, mitigate and transfer risk.” As part of the launch, Christopher Au, Director, leading the ACRC at WTW said: “Risk is integral to everything we do at WTW. We model, price and allocate capital against climate risks in the capital and risk markets. Our analytics are market-tested and end-to-end, providing companies with confidence in our approach.” Over the next three years, the Centre will be staffed with a dedicated team of 15 climate specialists to support clients in the APAC region. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1558/35-start-ups-to-discover-at-the-asia-pacific-agri-food-innovation-summit.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1558/35-start-ups-to-discover-at-the-asia-pacific-agri-food-innovation-summit.html Wed, 04 Oct 2023 09:47:12 +0530 Meet the innovators accelerating the transition to a climate-smart food system at the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit on 31 October – 2 November, Singapore  As climate change and population growth increasingly put increasing pressure on the stability of food production and distribution, new technologies and solutions are emerging to revolutionise Asia’s agri-food systems.    Working with international investors, accelerators and incubators GROW, ENTERPRISE SINGAPORE, TRENDLINES GROUP and THE YIELD LAB ASIA PACIFIC, the summit will showcase the most innovative and exciting early-stage companies to present their breakthrough technologies and solutions during the Daily Pitching Hours and in the Start-Up Arena.   The event’s flourishing Start-Up Arena will introduce a diverse selection of early-stage agri-food entrepreneurs from around the world. Delegates will have the opportunity to connect with founders and innovation teams at their booths, and get up-to-date with the most recent developments.   Taking place on all three days of the summit, each Pitch Hour is dedicated to a sector: Agri-Tech, Food-Tech, Indoor AgTech and Blue Food, allowing start-ups to take to the main stage and present their technology or solution directly to an engaged target audience of investors and potential corporate partners.    Some of the exciting innovators featured include:   Agri-Tech: AGROS (Singapore), BLOOMFIELD ROBOTICS (USA), ECOPHAGE (Israel), GRA&GREEN (Japan), HILLRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES (Australia), PLANTAE BIOSCIENCE (Israel), POLKINGHORNES (Singapore), RAINSTICK (Australia) – with solutions ranging from solar water irrigation systems and biodynamic farming airdomes to farm robotics, weather-based insurance platforms, crop intelligence systems, biopesticides and novel variable electric field technologies, fully biodegradable BHPV plastics, and sustainable beef production systems.   Food-Tech: ALLIUM BIO (Singapore), ALLOZYMES (Singapore), BIOTIC (Israel), FISHEROO (Singapore), FORSEA (Israel), JIMI BIOTECH (China), MICROHARVEST (Germany), PREFER (Singapore), REEWILD (UK), SOLVEAT (Israel) – offering new developments in cell-cultivated meat and seafood, biomass fermentation, functional ingredients, customised enzymes, next-gen bean-free coffee, and climate tech platforms.   Indoor AgTech: AEROSPRING HYDROPONICS (Singapore), AGROSCOUT (Israel), AG-UNI (South Korea), AVISOMO (Norway), MPW TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL (Singapore), VGREENS (Germany) – with modular vertical farming systems, automated vertical farms, AI & gene-editing technologies, low-pressure hydroponics, and energy-efficient lighting.   Blue Food: BIOFISHENCY (Israel), INSECTTA (Singapore), LUMINIS WATER TECHNOLOGIES (Singapore), PEPTOBIOTICS (Singapore), SEADLING (Malaysia), SEAWEEDERY (Australia), – presenting functional seaweed, marine and insect extracts for feed and food, microbiome analysis and eDNA, RAS water treatment solutions, and synthetic biology alternatives to antibiotics.   The programme also features the climax of the Innovation Challenge with THAI UNION, for start-ups developing ‘Novel Ingredients and Applications from Ocean-Derived Ingredients’. Shortlisted from over 60 high-level global applicants, three finalists INGREDIOME (Israel), 350PPM BIOTECH (Germany), and OCEANIUM (UK) will pitch their solutions live on stage, with the winner unlocking valuable bespoke mentorship and R&D support from Thai Union’s global innovation team.   Full profiles of all the featured start-ups and exhibitors, along with the three-day programme, speaker faculty and delegate registration are available at www.agrifoodinnovation.com/start-ups.   Innovation, investment, and partnership are dominant themes across the three days of the summit, with on-stage sessions focused on scale-up success stories, investor insights and case studies, and breakout networking roundtables hosted by experts.    To take advantage of special delegate rates and opportunities for start-ups at the summit, connect with the organisers via henry.tonkin@rethinkevents.com.    The Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit is the anchor leadership event of the Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW) and takes place at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Conference Centre from October 31 to November 2, 2023.      ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1261/npfc-strengthens-ties-with-regional-and-global-organizations-to-boost-fisheries-in-pacific.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1261/npfc-strengthens-ties-with-regional-and-global-organizations-to-boost-fisheries-in-pacific.html Fri, 04 Aug 2023 10:15:00 +0530 The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) has signed a MoU the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) to facilitate consultation, cooperation, and collaboration among the Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMOs) The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) has been strengthening cooperation with several regional and global organizations including the Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS) of the Food and Aquaculture Organization (FAO), the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), and the International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-Like Species in the North Pacific Ocean (ISC). In 2023, the NPFC entered into a Partnership Arrangement with the FIRMS which establishes a framework for developing, sharing and maintaining services for the collation, management and dissemination of information on marine living resources and fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean. Following the establishment of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between NPFC and NPAFC, the two Commissions developed a five-year work plan in 2023 to implement the MoC. The work plan addresses the key areas of mutual interest, such as (1) Exchange of data and information; (2) Collaboration on research efforts relating to stocks and species of mutual interest, and (3) Implementation of conservation and management measures for stocks and species of mutual interest. The NPFC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2023 with the SPRFMO. The MoU aims at facilitating, where appropriate, consultation, cooperation, and collaboration between the RFMOs, including exchange of reports, data and scientific information, cooperation on research effort, sharing best practices, considering methods of supporting conservation and management measures, and exchange of expertise gained and lessons learned. The NPFC is currently in the process of considering MoUs with WCPFC and ISC. Informal consultations on the idea of a North Pacific Fisheries Commission to bridge the gap in regional fisheries management of deep sea fish and protection of marine ecosystems began in 2006.  Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei, the United States of America, and Vanuatu are all members of the NPFC. Panama is a Cooperating Non-contracting Party. The Objective of the Convention is to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the fisheries resources in the Convention Area while protecting the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean in which these resources occur. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1166/usda-designates-seven-foreign-agricultural-service-officials-around-asia.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/1166/usda-designates-seven-foreign-agricultural-service-officials-around-asia.html Tue, 11 Jul 2023 07:26:00 +0530 In total, Eleven new Agricultural Officers sworn into Foreign Service  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis M. Taylor administered the oath of office to 11 employees of USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service who will serve American agriculture internationally as members of the Foreign Service. Diverse group of diplomats who completed their rigorous training will now serve on the frontlines of agricultural diplomacy around the world.  At U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions on five continents, diplomats begin their careers as agricultural attachés, where they will track and report on global agricultural production and commerce, find export opportunities, improve food security, and support U.S. foreign policy goals. Officers to strengthen the American Foreign Service as they begin their work protecting and advancing the interests of U.S. agriculture. Incumbent officers are: Craig Elliot from Petaluma, Calif., assigned to the OAA in Tokyo, Japan. Erica Summe from Florence, Ky., assigned to the ATO in Tokyo, Japan. Harrison Grafos from Spokane, Wash., assigned to the OAA in Dubai, UAE. Joanna Brown from Washington, D.C., assigned to the OAA in New Delhi, India. Jadon Marianetti from San Jose, Calif., assigned to the OAA in Beijing, China. James Yi from Philadelphia, Pa., assigned to the OAA in Hanoi, Vietnam. Lita Echiverri from San Francisco, Calif., assigned to the FAS Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) in Mexico City, Mexico. Rishan Chaudhry from Pullman, Wash., assigned to the OAA in Ankara, Turkey Shoshana Griffith from Seattle, Wash., assigned to the OAA in Seoul, South Korea. Tacarra Birmingham from Chicago, Ill., assigned to the FAS Office of Agricultural Affairs (OAA) in Ottawa, Canada. Victoria Dokken from Deltona, Fla., assigned to the ATO in Beijing, China. The USDA positively impacts the lives of all Americans every day. In order to improve America's food system, USDA focuses on building more resilient local and regional food production, creating fairer markets for producers, ensuring access to healthy, nutritious, and safe food for all communities, and creating new markets and income streams. Climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices, infrastructure and clean energy investments in rural America, and removing systemic barriers and building a workforce that is more representative of America all contribute to achieving equity across the Department. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/964/fao-emphasizes-on-asia-pacific-aquaculture-sustainably-with-innovation.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/964/fao-emphasizes-on-asia-pacific-aquaculture-sustainably-with-innovation.html Mon, 22 May 2023 09:54:56 +0530 FAO emphasized critical themes for aquaculture, including production methods, social issues and planetary health, nutrition, genetic resources, biosecurity, governance, and inclusive market access. Asia accounts for more than 90 percent of global aquatic animal production. 126 million tonnes of live weight aquaculture production, including aquatic animals and algae, were produced in 2021, about half of which were farmed finfish. There was an estimated farmgate value of $296.5 billion for the output. In contrary, Americas, Europe and Africa combined account for 8.2 percent. Currently, more than 700 species are cultured around the world, but just 12 species account for about half of global production. FAO emphasizes the sector now needs an updated set of governing principles that ensure it expands and intensifies, embracing modern technologies, while being environmentally and socially responsible, economically viable, and meeting the needs of present and future generations in a sustainable manner. In a recent development, FAO emphasized critical themes for aquaculture, including production methods, social issues and planetary health, nutrition, genetic resources, biosecurity, governance, and inclusive market access. Identifying the concerns, FAO shared certain recommendations to trigger sustainable aquaculture are; In the future, aquaculture should be climate smart, while we use the ocean to supply food more effectively, efficiently, and intelligently. A key aspect of this will be to emphasize integrated growth in low trophic level culture species (such as seaweed and filter-feeding bivalve molluscs and finfish). Africa, Latin America, and Small Island Developing States must be encouraged to develop aquaculture, which is predominantly practiced in Asia.  The use of marine-sourced ingredients has decreased and feed efficiency has improved, but more innovation is needed, especially for many species being farmed in developing countries. In contrast to terrestrial agriculture, selective breeding programmes to develop more efficient farmed types of aquatic species are heavily underutilized, currently accounting for only around 15 percent of production. Biosecurity should be enhanced and take a more proactive approach through improved disease-alerting systems, integrated data and regulatory frameworks that reduce the risk of the spread of aquatic epidemic diseases. Digital and electronic technologies can be harnessed to improve food safety concerns and certification protocols, such as traceability system, e-commerce, as well as broadening market access. There is a need for many countries to develop and implement supportive, dedicated legislation, through a lead agency, to coordinate regulations that promote sustainable development whilst ensuring public well-being without overly constraining aquaculture systems' capacity to cope with environmental and social challenges. Having become a major food and economic industry, aquaculture now needs to take on a proactive role in integrating social responsibility and well-being perspectives at all levels, including workers. Sustainability and decent work standards certification are downstream demands, yet the burden of compliance falls disproportionately on producers, especially small-scale aquaculture operators. Mechanisms to redistribute costs and benefits equitably between producers and retailers should be sought and implemented. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/962/australia-delivers-first-ever-sustainable-biosecurity-funding-in-the-2023-24-budget.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/962/australia-delivers-first-ever-sustainable-biosecurity-funding-in-the-2023-24-budget.html Fri, 19 May 2023 11:41:52 +0530 More than $1 billion of additional funding has been allocated to biosecurity, including $845 million to support operations across the Australian agriculture Australian agriculture has triggered a new era BY including a Sustainable Biosecurity Funding model, in its 2023-24 Budget and is the first ever model in the nation. More than $1 billion of additional funding has been allocated to biosecurity, including $845 million to support operations across the country, protecting our valuable agriculture sector. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt outlined the key components of the new model, stating that "this Budget delivers new biosecurity funding totalling more than $1 billion over the next four years, with more than $260 million guaranteed every year after that. We will introduce a new cost recovery charge of 40 cents per item on low value ($1000 or less) goods imported into Australia by sea". “From July 1 2024 the costs of these biosecurity clearances will be recovered, to deal with the growing biosecurity risk from incoming parcels and similar items. This fairer system is expected to recover more than $27 million, although it is a small impost on individual items. This is on top of increasing import fees and charges from the 1st of July 2023. This will ensure importers contribute more fairly by meeting the real cost of biosecurity clearance. These increases to fees and charges for importers are expected to contribute an extra $45 million to our biosecurity efforts" Minister Watt added. The Australian government is ensuring that the Importers’ fees will be reviewed and adjusted annually, and the department will work with industry to make sure our charging models are fit for purpose and as part of this, will look at other options including a possible future import or container levy. To help meet the costs of sustainably funding our biosecurity system, the government will introduce a small Biosecurity Protection Levy on agricultural producers starting on 1st July 2024. This will amount to an additional 10% of the existing levies. It would translate to only 50 cents a head for cattle producers and one fifth of a cent per kilogram of apples or 7 cents a tonne of sugarcane. It will mean that producers will contribute 6 per cent of overall funding for the biosecurity system that is so important to their livelihoods, according to Minister Watt, who emphasized that increased funding will result in tangible outcomes. Furthermore, Australia is investing $145 million over three years in a Simplified Targeting and Enhanced Processing System. Biosecurity funding package to foster the Indigenous Biosecurity Ranger program. This will keep Indigenous rangers on the front lines of biosecurity in Northern Australia, helping to detect exotic weeds, pests and diseases before they establish. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/960/arbor-day-to-revive-forests-and-to-benefit-small-scale-farmers-in-sea.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/960/arbor-day-to-revive-forests-and-to-benefit-small-scale-farmers-in-sea.html Fri, 19 May 2023 09:22:00 +0530 The Foundation will partner with the Global EverGreening Alliance and WWF for its first project in Laos The Arbor Day Foundation has helped plant trees in more than 50 countries worldwide, but will plant in Laos this spring for the first time in the organization’s history. The Foundation will partner with the Global EverGreening Alliance and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to revive forests of greatest need in the Southeast Asian country. “By combining efforts with some of the world’s most respected environmental organizations on the planet —Global EverGreening Alliance and WWF — we ensure the benefits of trees reach the areas of the globe where they’re needed most,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “Restoring forests in Laos is vital to establishing a healthy environment for people and wildlife in Southeast Asia and our team is excited to help serve this urgent need.” The project will consist of 30,000 trees planted in two National Protected Areas, Xe Sap and Xe Pian. Both unique ecosystems serve as a home to a variety of plant and animal species—many of which cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. Xe Sap and Xe Pian also provide critical support to their surrounding communities which rely on natural resources. This reforestation project will cover nearly 250 acres of land in Laos and is expected to be completed in August 2024. The effort in Laos aligns with the Arbor Day Foundation’s goal to plant 500 million trees with a focus in forests of greatest need by 2027. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/925/china-stresses-upon-agriculture-fishery-cooperation-with-pacific-island-countries.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/925/china-stresses-upon-agriculture-fishery-cooperation-with-pacific-island-countries.html Thu, 11 May 2023 13:10:00 +0530 China focuses on Agricultural and fisheries cooperation, economic and trade collaboration, increasing multilateral coordination, and improving livelihoods China is all set to expand deepen practical cooperation with Pacific island countries in agriculture and fishery to make new contributions to building an even closer community with a shared future between China and Pacific island countries. A opening ceremony of the China-Pacific island countries agriculture and fishery ministers was held in Nanjing. Agricultural and fisheries cooperation, economic and trade collaboration, increasing multilateral coordination, and improving livelihoods are all areas where China stands ready to deepen practical cooperation with Pacific island countries. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong said "under the strategic guidance of leaders of the two sides, China and Pacific island countries have achieved fruitful results in agriculture and fishery cooperation. This meeting is of great significance for the two sides to ensure food security, strengthen marine protection and sustainable use, and accelerate agricultural modernization". Using agriculture and fishery cooperation to build an even closer community with a shared future between China and Pacific island countries, China hopes to push cooperation to new heights. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/784/pwaf-pledges-to-transform-pacific-agriculture-and-forestry-sectors-through-research-partnerships.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/784/pwaf-pledges-to-transform-pacific-agriculture-and-forestry-sectors-through-research-partnerships.html Mon, 17 Apr 2023 09:10:00 +0530 SPC and the Australian Government, including Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), CSIRO, DAFF and DFAT graces the event to discuss collaboration for Pacific resilience and sustainability The Pacific Week of Agriculture and Forestry (PWAF) was recently held in Nadi, Fiji in presence of Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) members. The PWAF was a valuable opportunity for ACIAR to discuss topics with Pacific partners on transforming Pacific agriculture and forestry sectors through research partnerships to achieve a more resilient and sustainable region. The PWAF event series provides an opportunity for Pacific member countries to drive the conversation and guide partners working with the region on their goals and work priorities for the following 2 years.  The Fiji Government hosted these meeting with support from SPC and the FAO. The third Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and The Pacific Community (SPC) Joint Agriculture and Forestry Ministerial Meeting was also held. SPC and the Australian Government, including ACIAR, CSIRO, DAFF and DFAT hosted the event. Pacific food systems were the topic of the side event, which aimed to advance the conversation. Traditionally and fundamentally, Pacific food systems rely on agriculture and fisheries (coastal food systems), but are all-encompassing and include processing, trade, and consumption as well. Thus, the agricultural and forestry sectors have played a crucial role in the transformation of Pacific Island food systems.  A number of common themes emerged throughout the discussion of Pacific food systems. The panelist emphasized that to improve nutritional outcomes, the most prominent component is systems thinking. This involves looking at the bigger picture and linking the agricultural sector, health, and education. The panelist found it essential to have useful, relevant, and easily accessible data for decision-making and influencing behavioral and community changes regarding improved nutritional choices. Data collection related to food systems should also include gender and social issues.   Group topics for the workshop were drawn from Pacific Island national pathways and represented common goals and high-level actions articulated across multiple pathways.   The following topics were discussed across the groups:  Nutrition: Improving access, affordability, and consumption of healthy local foods  Blue-green sustainability: Increasing the sustainability of blue and green food production/harvesting and the links between them  Value-adding: Encouraging value-adding to local products to reduce imports and grow exports  Resilience: Using traditional knowledge and nature-positive production to improve resilience to shocks and stressors   Governance: Aligning and coordinating across government entities to govern food systems links and relationships Discussions within the group focused on the theme “value-adding: encouraging local product value-adding to reduce input costs and increase exports.” This discussion focused on what was working well, any important connections relating to this part of the network, and possible solutions. A number of important connections were made between the food system and other systems, including tourism, education, transportation, and research. These included processing, production, and distribution, food policy and environment, as well as technology. In this context, solutions could include switching from main production to processing, resulting in value-add within the country, rather than exporting raw materials. In order to facilitate this, the policy could be linked to logistics, labor, business environment, and other socioeconomic factors to accommodate this increase in processing.   The event fostered the relationships between countries and organizations, including SPC and Australia. It was also an excellent opportunity to facilitate the exchange of ideas and thoughts among a number of nations about food systems. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/696/corteva-agriscience-launches-adavelt-active-new-fungicide.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/696/corteva-agriscience-launches-adavelt-active-new-fungicide.html Thu, 30 Mar 2023 16:54:41 +0530 Novel, Natural-origin disease control product available for commercial sale in Canada, South Korea and Australia Corteva Agriscience announced the commercial launch of Adavelt active, with recent product registrations in three countries – Australia, Canada and South Korea. Adavelt active is a novel fungicide with a new mode of action that protects against a wide range of diseases that can impact crop yields. Zetigo PRM fungicide with Adavelt active, now approved for sale in Canada, will be available for the 2023 growing season for use in lentil crops. Commercial sales of products containing Adavelt active will also begin this year in Australia and in South Korea. Corteva plans to offer Adavelt active in additional countries and pending appropriate crop registrations in the following years, subject to regulatory approvals. "Farmers have a critical need for innovative fungicides to address the challenges they face today. Adavelt actively delivers exactly that – a new, flexible option to protect crops and preserve yield potential," said Robert King, Executive Vice President of, the Crop Protection Business Unit, Corteva Agriscience. "Corteva is investing in R&D to bring farmers differentiated, sustainable solutions like Adavelt active. The commercialisation of Adavelt active is a testament to our strong pipeline." Adavelt active is built on the discovery of Inatreq active, a natural origin fungicide developed by Corteva with proven effectiveness for many crops. Adavelt active (florylpicoxamid/FRAC Group 21) is the first broad-spectrum picolinamide fungicide for use against Ascomycota pathogens in major crops grown worldwide. Adavelt active features a novel target site of action in many crops with no cross-resistance to other modes of action, and it has a strong fit in existing integrated pest management programs as a resistance management tool.  Adavelt active offers preventative properties against a wide range of diseases severely impacting yield, along with curative properties when used in the early stages of infection. By adding Adavelt active to disease management programs, farmers can simplify fungal control efforts and reduce resistance risks, while protecting the yield potential and quality of crops, both now and in future seasons. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/609/pusan-university-researchers-use-calcium-materials-to-reduce-arsenic-availability-in-soil.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/609/pusan-university-researchers-use-calcium-materials-to-reduce-arsenic-availability-in-soil.html Mon, 13 Mar 2023 15:34:45 +0530 As is a common pollutant in upland arable soils, which account for nearly 90 per cent of the world's agricultural soil Upland arable soil constitutes 90 per cent of the world's agricultural soil. Worryingly enough, these soils often contain arsenic (As), which can enter the human body through the crops grown. Calcium materials such as calcite and phosphogypsum are known to immobilise heavy metals in soils. In a new study, researchers from Korea evaluated and compared the effectiveness of these two materials in mitigating As availability for crops in soils spiked with arsenate, a pentavalent form of As. Of all the heavy metals appearing as pollutants in agricultural soil, arsenic (As) poses the greatest threat to human health. As is a common pollutant in upland arable soils, which account for nearly 90 per cent of the world's agricultural soil. In its pentavalent form, known as arsenate [As(V)], As is easily absorbed by crops grown in these soils and, through them, enters the human body. Much effort has, therefore, gone into mitigating the uptake of heavy metal pollutants by crops grown in contaminated soil. Previous studies have shown that calcium materials such as calcite and phosphogypsum are effective in immobilising heavy metal pollutants. However, their efficacy in reducing As(V) availability for crops is not clear. To address this knowledge gap, a team of researchers led by Professor Chang Oh Hong from Pusan National University (PNU) in Korea evaluated the efficacies of calcite and phosphogypsum in reducing the availability of As(V) for crops. Their findings were made available online on 1 February 2022. "Phosphogypsum is a by-product generated from phosphate fertiliser generation, while calcite is a very common mineral found in limestone. Both of these, essentially, change the pH of the soil which, in turn, affects the As(V) availability to crops. Yet, previous studies have not looked at the effect of calcium materials on As(V) phytoavailability nor have they explored the mechanism through which this may occur. This study is, therefore, an important step towards that direction," says Prof. Hong. Accordingly, the researchers spiked samples of upland, arable soils collected from an experimental farm at PNU with As(V) to have maximum control over the conditions of the soil. Next, following a wet ageing period to allow the development of stable As ions, they added either calcite or phosphogypsum at varying rates and left the soils for incubation for 8 weeks. Upon performing a chemical analysis of the soils after the incubation period, the researchers found that phosphogypsum was more effective at immobilising As(V) in the soil than calcite. They suggested that this was due to a mechanism induced by phosphogypsum in which sulfate (SO42-) ions were exchanged with hydrogen arsenate (HAsO42-) ions that, in turn, led to a reduced As(V) availability. The substitution mechanism was particularly suitable for upland, arable soils, which explained the higher effectiveness of phosphogypsum. While the finding is exciting, Prof. Song is cautious about its implications. "While our study shows that phosphogypsum is an optimum calcium fertiliser for soil amendment, further research is still required to see the long-term effects of its use," he says. "However, our results do bring us one step closer to making agricultural products safe for consumption," concludes Prof. Hong. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/590/basf-and-cargill-expand-partnership-to-south-korea.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/590/basf-and-cargill-expand-partnership-to-south-korea.html Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:10:46 +0530 South Korea is the first market to launch Enzae Manno, made with Natupulse TS, a preparation of mannanase, produced by BASF’s new production strain Thermothelomyces thermophiles.  BASF and Cargill (Provimi) expand their partnership, adding South Korea, the first Asian nation, to their existing feed enzymes development and distribution agreement. Together, the two companies are committed to bringing innovative enzyme-based solutions to the market, generating distinctive value for animal feed customers. By combining the enzyme research and development strengths of BASF with Cargill’s know-how in the application and broad market reach, the partners will form a joint innovation pipeline for animal protein producers.  In fact, South Korea is the first market to launch Enzae Manno, made with Natupulse TS, a preparation of mannanase, produced by BASF’s new production strain Thermothelomyces thermophiles. With the expanded geographical reach, BASF and Cargill (Provimi) aim to bring the voice and commercial insights of South Korean protein producers to craft the next generation of enzymes jointly. Through this next stage of collaboration, the partners strive to deliver even more solutions that address productivity, sustainability, and cost challenges for South Korean customers. “We are honoured to be the first country in our region to join the alliance with BASF and to be the first in the world to launch Enzae Manno,” said Bill So-Woong Kim, the North Asia commercial director for Cargill (Provimi) premix & nutrition business. “The collaboration will provide more of our customers with access to high-performance enzyme solutions that we have seen reduce nutrient waste, improve feed efficiency, and sustainably promote animal performance.”  In 2021, BASF and Cargill (Provimi) moved the relationship beyond pure distribution agreements into the joint development of new enzyme technologies and applications. This extended partnership builds upon the successful go-to-market collaboration between the companies across Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, the Middle East and Africa, and the United States. As part of the partnership, they will co-develop, produce, market, and sell customer-centric enzyme products and solutions.  “The expansion of our collaboration to South Korea is a true milestone as we add the first market on the Asian continent to our enzymes partnership. We are proud to be on this journey with Cargill to further increase value for animal feed customers globally with our science-based solutions "adds Gisele Santos Bin, Global Sales Director of Feed Enzymes & Feed Performance Ingredients at BASF. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/584/skyports-drone-services-strengthens-presence-in-s-korea.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/584/skyports-drone-services-strengthens-presence-in-s-korea.html Tue, 07 Mar 2023 10:49:45 +0530 Establishes Joint Venture with Korean drone company to enhance maritime shipment operations. Skyports Drone Services (HQ: London) the leading Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) infrastructure developer and drone services provider has formed a joint venture (JV) entity between its drone services business and Korean drone technology company, Marine Drone Tech (MDT), under a new name Skyports Drone Services Korea. The recent opening of Skyports' Korea office in late Feb 2023 follows the establishment of its Japan office in October 2022, as the company expands its presence across the Asia-Pacific region. The joint venture will be dedicated to delivering tailored drone solutions that address connectivity, productivity, and safety across a variety of applications in maritime operations. The joint venture aims to set up operations in S. Korea’s Yeosu and Busan regions, with a primary focus on maritime ship-to-shore deliveries. The company will focus on maritime ship-to-shore operations following its expansion in Singapore across delivery and monitoring drone services to Korea, improving transportation service levels, and reducing costs. Skyports Drone Services is a provider and operator of eVTOL drones for cargo drone deliveries, survey and surveillance. Over the past year, the company has steadily expanded its AAM infrastructure projects and drone delivery operations with local Korean partners, businesses, and regulators. Skyports Drone Services has proven capabilities in the operation of long-range and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) autonomous flight for a multitude of use cases, including ship-to-shore and maritime applications, medical and dangerous goods deliveries, and AI-driven surveys for the agriculture and infrastructure sectors.  Skyports Drone Services is elevating business potential, connectivity and access to critical supplies through the application of drone services. Skyports has projects operating across four continents including Asia, North America, South America, and Europe. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/468/with-the-pace-of-urbanisation-in-asia-pacific-the-threat-of-urban-food-insecurity.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/468/with-the-pace-of-urbanisation-in-asia-pacific-the-threat-of-urban-food-insecurity.html Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:39:45 +0530 In 2021, 396 million people in the region were undernourished and an estimated 1.05 billion people suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity. Asia’s cities are growing at such a fast pace that nearly 55 per cent of the region’s enormous population is expected to reside in urban areas by 2030, and that will have equally enormous consequences for urban food security and nutrition, according to the main findings of a new report by four United Nations agencies.   But the threat is not only a future concern, the results are being felt now, according to the ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition’. Published jointly each year, the “SOFI” report is prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).  The convergence of an increase in low-income settlements, the rising costs of food and the need for developing an urban food agenda that takes into account infrastructure, transport, clean water and waste management are posing new challenges to planners and national policymakers across the Asia-Pacific region.  This report highlights, and captures the challenges and system-level determinants of unhealthy diets in urban areas, both with regard to undernutrition and overweight and obesity. They profile various urban environments, interventions, experiences and opportunities to innovate at multiple levels to transform urban areas into sustainable cities. Increasingly, food security and nutrition in the urban context will determine progress, or lack thereof, towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate hunger (SDG2) and the World Health Assembly (WHA) 2030 targets on food security and nutrition. Asia-Pacific already backsliding in food security targets This is the fifth annual Asia-Pacific regional SOFI report. In recent years, previous editions reported that progress in the fight against hunger and all forms of malnutrition was stalling, then regressing and more recently pushing us further off track from achieving the SDGs. This reverse was evident even before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020. But as the pandemic continued, albeit in a milder form in most parts of the region by 2022, the 5F crisis emerged (lack of food, feed, fuel, fertilizer and finance), as did the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two of the world’s major agricultural producers. The convergence of these and other issues during the past year resulted in unprecedented food and energy price rises that have hit households and livelihoods hard and pushed additional millions more into hunger and poverty. In March 2022, the FAO Food Price Index (FPI) capped a steady rise through the previous two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and rose to the highest level since its inception.  Since then the FPI has fallen somewhat but remains significantly higher by 28 per cent over 2020. High agricultural input prices, concerns about the weather and climate, and increased market uncertainties stemming from the continuing war in Ukraine are contributing to a tightening of food markets. Food import bills are likely to touch a new record of $1.94 trillion this year, according to FAO’s latest Food Outlook published in November. Without a doubt, the convergence of these negative factors will exacerbate hunger and poverty in Asia and the Pacific, the world’s most populous region. Urgent action needed to combat stunting, overweight and obesity The report’s figures paint a grim picture, one that requires a call for urgent action. In 2021, 396 million people in the region were undernourished and an estimated 1.05 billion people suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity. Nearly 75 million children below the age of five in Asia and the Pacific are stunted, amounting to half of the world’s total. 10 per cent are affected by wasting, while poor diet quality also drives overall increases in child overweight and obese. Among older children and adults, obesity continues to rise in every country in this region. The Pacific Island Countries have the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in the world. Obesity is a risk factor for many non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and it has a major impact on national economies by reducing productivity and life expectancy and increasing disability and healthcare costs. No country in Asia and the Pacific is on track to meet the WHA target of no increase in adult obesity. Making the situation worse is the cost of attaining a healthy diet. In this region, a healthy diet is unaffordable in most countries for nearly two billion inhabitants (1.9 billion persons, which is 44.5 per cent of the region’s population). The combined impacts of the pandemic and ongoing inflation have pushed up the average cost of a healthy diet to nearly $4 per day ($ 3.98 per person, per day), the report finds. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/428/greenlabs-to-present-means-to-resolve-the-global-food-crisis-at-wef.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/428/greenlabs-to-present-means-to-resolve-the-global-food-crisis-at-wef.html Mon, 16 Jan 2023 16:41:19 +0530 The company plans to share its experiences with digital transformation for sustainable agriculture with leaders from around the world and discuss its global expansion plans. Greenlabs will present strategies to address the food crisis, which will involve the digital transformation of agriculture with data, in front of global leaders. Sang-hoon Shin, CEO of Greenlabs, will participate in the Davos Forum in Switzerland (World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, WEF). WEF has a session on ‘Feeding 10 Billion: How Will We Eat in 2050?’ during which CEO Shin will be giving a speech on behalf of Greenlabs regarding the need for developing comprehensive and effective online solutions for all members of the agricultural community as the means to resolve the global food crisis. The aim of the event is to present ways to establish a sustainable food supply chain by forecasting supply and demand for agro-food products, maximising resource efficiency and standardising the agro-food system. Additionally, Greenlabs will be having bilateral meetings with numerous officials from global agricultural companies, governments, and international organisations. The company will share information about its global platform services that involve farmers worldwide and also talk about plans to expand services through collaborations with different organisations globally. According to Sang-hoon Shin, CEO of Greenlabs, he plans to "Promote ways to stabilise and establish the agri-food value chain by creating a global community through a digital platform." He also mentioned that "Greenlabs will play a significant role as a global innovator, acknowledged for its technology and ability to address the food crisis on the international stage." The theme of this year's Davos Forum is 'Cooperation in a Fragmented World' with a special emphasis on energy and food issues. In the 'new era', raising awareness about ways to tackle energy and quantity shortages caused by various simultaneous crises such as climate change, COVID-19, and war in Ukraine, will be a major focus of discussion during the event. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/372/taiwan-becomes-swine-fever-and-disease-free-country.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/372/taiwan-becomes-swine-fever-and-disease-free-country.html Mon, 02 Jan 2023 15:16:37 +0530 Taiwan would become one of the few nations free of the three major diseases that affect pigs Taiwan has become a swine fever and disease-free country, without the need for vaccination, according to the Council of Agriculture (COA) of Taiwan. Taiwan took only six years to alleviate swine disease Huang Chin-cheng, Deputy Minister CAO said. After keeping African swine fever at bay in 2018, the World Organisation for Animal Health declared Taiwan proper, Penghu and Matsu free of foot-and-mouth disease and in 2020 allowed pork exports from those areas. According to the local media, nations such as Japan still ban imports of pork products from areas with classical swine fever, including Taiwan. The council announced that from next year, domestic pigs and piglets would not have to receive vaccinations for classical swine fever. From July 1, breeding pigs would also not have to receive that vaccination, it added. Ending classical swine fever vaccinations can lift pig farmers’ confidence and save up to NT$700 million ($22.8 million) a year in vaccination and labour costs, Huang said. The council plans to apply to the world animal health body in June 2024 for Taiwan to be recognised as free from classical swine fever when vaccinations have not been used for a year. The application is to undergo a review process, which takes about two months, Tu Wen-jane, Director-General, of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said. If the application is successful, Taiwan would be declared a swine fever-free area at the organisation’s conference in 2025 and would be the first Asian nation to be approved, she said. Taiwan would become one of the few nations free of the three major diseases that affect pigs — foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever and African swine fever — which would boost the competitiveness of the nation’s pork products, Chen Chi-Chung said. The achievement is a result of pig farmers’ cooperation, the COA’s policies and leadership, and the implementation of a plan by the bureau and the institute, Chen said. Stepping up quarantine measures at customs and checking mail and packages to guard against African swine fever were crucial to preventing it from entering Taiwan, and also reducing the risk of foot-and-mouth disease and classical swine fever, he said. The COA would continue to help meat processing plants obtain hazard analysis and critical control points certification, set up a slaughterhouse-to-butcher cold chain in the pork industry and upgrade facilities on pig farms, he added. The government would continue to strictly control foreign pork products entering Taiwan and improve the treatment of kitchen waste before feeding it to pigs, Huang said. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/357/korean-fortified-food-development-for-un-organisations.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/357/korean-fortified-food-development-for-un-organisations.html Thu, 29 Dec 2022 12:33:31 +0530 The manufacturers have developed emergency relief food with Korean rice as the main ingredient for 3 years to contribute to sustainable communities. Under the Fortified Food Project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), for the purposes of vendor registration for UN procurement and development of the export business model, a consortium has been formed by the Korea Institute of Procurement (KIP), BSR KOREA Corp and Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) for the three beneficiary Korean food manufacturers (Soul Nature Food, J Food Service and KEIL Corp). The manufacturers have developed emergency relief food with Korean rice as the main ingredient for 3 years (2020~2022) to contribute to sustainable communities. BSR KOREA, one of the host organisations indicated that this project is to support the manufacturers to enter the public procurement markets in UN organisations such as World Food Programme (WFP) by assisting with strict quality control, due diligence, bidding strategies, invitation to international organisations, and global marketing strategies, as well as the product development. Soul Nature Food, one of the manufacturers with ISO 14001 and 9001, specialises in both general and healthy functional food. They recently have developed cereal-type food called Super Powder and Super Cereal as relief food to enable nutrition intake by simply cooking in remote areas with the limited condition. J Food Service is well known as a food premix manufacturer, acquired HACCP, HALAL and FSSC22000. They have developed energy bars as relief food, including an 8-grain powder mix containing non-glutinous rice, wheat, brown rice, and barley. KEIL Corporation, aiming at the leader of the alternative food industries in Korea, is developing edible insect-derived hydrolyzed protein manufacturing technology. They are one of Korea's representative green biomaterial providers and the strongest players engaging in the edible mealworm business. Mealworm is considered the best alternative food to reduce carbon emissions. KEIL values their products to fight the food crisis in vulnerable communities such as African countries. On June 22nd, BSR KOREA invited officials from international organisations and government agencies in Kenya and Uganda (Minister and Vice Minister of the Health Department, and Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and hosted a meeting to provide opportunities for the beneficiary manufacturers to introduce their products and technologies. The local government officials, procurement prime vendors, and manufacturers had productive discussions by sharing their strategic plans for entering the procurement market. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/350/japan-adopts-measures-to-boost-food-security.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/350/japan-adopts-measures-to-boost-food-security.html Tue, 27 Dec 2022 17:16:51 +0530 The package is designed to address growing risks to food security traced to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and natural disasters caused by climate change. Japan’s government adopted a set of measures to strengthen the country’s food security including the promotion of domestic production of fertilizers and animal feed to reduce its dependence on imports. According to the local media, in the package, adopted at a relevant meeting, the government says it will “secure with responsibility funds necessary to implement reforms for enhancing food security through the budget compilation process every year.” “We will strongly promote a structural shift of the agriculture sector to solidify the foundation of food supply, which is directly linked to people’s lives,” Fumio Kishida Prime Minister said at the meeting of the government’s headquarters on measures to ensure stable food supply and strengthen the foundations of the farm, forestry and fisheries industries. The package is designed to address growing risks to food security traced to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and natural disasters caused by climate change. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/320/us-becomes-taiwans-largest-agri-importer-tsai-ing-wen.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/320/us-becomes-taiwans-largest-agri-importer-tsai-ing-wen.html Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:14:18 +0530 She promised the government would do its best to help the farmers and fishermen who had lost their market in China by finding alternatives. The United States is becoming the largest market for Taiwan’s agricultural products export, Taiwan’s agricultural export reached a record value of $5.67 billion last year, due to Taiwan’s diversification policies, said Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan. She was speaking after China imposed a ban on the import of food and beverage products from Taiwan, including fish, seafood, fruit and beer. Tsai told Taiwan’s agricultural exports were no longer dependent on just one export market. According to the local media, the U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, and Indonesia also welcomed agricultural products from Taiwan. She promised the government would do its best to help the farmers and fishermen who had lost their market in China by finding alternatives. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/291/japans-agricultural-fishery-export-jump-8-34-bn-in-last-10-months.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/291/japans-agricultural-fishery-export-jump-8-34-bn-in-last-10-months.html Mon, 12 Dec 2022 16:08:18 +0530 Japan targets 2 trillion yen worth export for 2025 Japan's agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and food exports has hit 1.12 trillion yen ($8.34 billion) for the 10 months in October, marking the second time ever have passed the 1 trillion-yen mark. It is a record annual high, amid the adversarial situation of the yen and rebounding global demand on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the local media, Japan’s agricultural and aquatic exports first time reached the milestone came in 2021 when exports for the full year grossed 1.23 trillion yen. Export data up till now shows that this year agricultural and fishery export will surpass 2021 export. Japan has set a goal of 2 trillion yen export for 2025. From January to October, this year export up by 148.6 billion yen or 15.3 per cent compared to last year. China was Japan’s largest buyer of agriculture products with 229.3 billion yen up by 24 per cent from the year ago. Export to the US reached 165.5 billion yen rose by 20.8 per cent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/286/taiwan-us-conducts-research-on-pacific-bluefin-tuna.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/286/taiwan-us-conducts-research-on-pacific-bluefin-tuna.html Fri, 09 Dec 2022 16:08:33 +0530 For the research, three adult Bluefin tunas weighing 180kg to 300kg were equipped with trackers. Taiwanese and US researchers have conducted the study to track the spawning and migration patterns of Pacific Bluefin tuna. This is the first-ever study conducted by researchers of the Fisheries Research Institute Taiwan and Stanford University, According to the local media, Taiwan is one of the countries that harvest the Pacific Bluefin tuna and one of three species of Bluefin — that can live for up to 40 years, grow more than 4 meters long and weigh up to 700kg. For the research, three adult Bluefin weighing 180kg to 300kg were equipped with trackers, so researchers could monitor the fish during their 3,000km transit from eastern Taiwan seawater to northern Japan’s Hokkaido Island. The tracker accumulated a recording time of around 127 days. The data from the trackers showed that the movement and diving patterns of the Pacific Bluefin differ between day and night. During the day, the fish swam in depths of 300 meters to 500 meters but would rise to 200 meters-deep water in the ocean’s thermocline layer during the hours of darkness. Pacific Bluefin are known for their physical strength and ability to elude fishers by struggling in and snapping fishing lines. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/224/koat-to-set-up-korea-pavilion-growtech-eurasia-2022.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/224/koat-to-set-up-korea-pavilion-growtech-eurasia-2022.html Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:20:06 +0530 The Korea Pavilion will be attended by a total of eight leading agricultural equipment companies in Korea, including 5 agricultural materials companies, and 2 smart farms companies. The Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency (KOAT) will organize and operate the Korea Pavilion at the Agricultural Exhibition (Growtech Eurasia 2022) in Antalya, Turkiye. Growtech Eurasia 2022 is an international agricultural exhibition that connects Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, where 510 companies from 25 countries participate and 125 countries and 50,000 visitors visit.KOAT emphasized that it will promote Korean agricultural technology on the Eurasian stage and serve as a driving force for participating companies to emerge in the global market. With the support of KOAT, the Korea Pavilion will be attended by a total of eight leading agricultural equipment companies in Korea, including 5 agricultural materials companies, 2 smart farms companies, and 1 seed company. It is expected that this participation in the Korean Pavilion and marketing activities will serve as priming water for entering the global market in the agricultural sector.It is the 4th time since 2015 that KOAT has participated in Growtech Eurasia and has achieved more than $5 million worth of consultation amount. "The trade circumstances of domestic exporters are difficult due to rising international oil prices, interest rates, and exchange rates, and the opportunity to meet with overseas buyers is very limited," said Ahn Ho-Geun, president of KOAT. ]]> https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/218/canada-govt-to-open-new-indo-pacific-agricultural-office-in-thailand.html https://agrospectrumasia.com/news/64/218/canada-govt-to-open-new-indo-pacific-agricultural-office-in-thailand.html Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:34:27 +0530 The new agri office will help to increase and diversify Canadian agriculture and agri-food exports to the Indo-Pacific, strengthening trade on both sides of the Pacific.   The Government of Canada to establish a new agricultural office in the Indo-Pacific region. The government will also provide $31.8 million in funds to the new agri office. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement in Thailand at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.  According to the official statement, the office will form part of Canada’s larger overall Indo-Pacific Strategy, which is expected to be fully released soon. The new agri office will help to increase and diversify Canadian agriculture and agri-food exports to the Indo-Pacific, strengthening trade on both sides of the Pacific.   “By opening new markets and opportunities for Canadian businesses, innovators, and entrepreneurs, and attracting investment to Canada in sectors like clean energy that will define the global economy, we are building an economy that works for all Canadians. I look forward to working with fellow APEC leaders to build on our success, and create even more opportunities for Canadians and all people in the Indo-Pacific region,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. The Indo-Pacific stretches from the US Pacific coastline to the Indian Ocean and is home to more than half of the world's people, and nearly two-thirds of the world's economy. It includes 24 countries, such as Thailand, the US, Australia, Bangladesh, India, and Japan.   While Canada’s cereals, canola and pulse industries already enjoy a significant export share within the region, the statement said the rise of non-tariff barriers may prevent Canada from achieving its full potential in the region. To that end, the agri office will be able to tackle sanitary and phytosanitary issues in a strategic, coordinated manner with industry, and will help maintain and build market access for Canada’s agriculture exports.  ]]>