Sustainability

Should we define sustainability? Should be set definitions for measuring yields? The future of farming: high rise and indoor youtu.be/hi7orRCq0KQ via @YouTube

Large amounts of fertilizers are being used in agriculture to sustain growing demands for food, especially in vegetable production systems. Soluble fertilizers can generally ensure high crop yields, but excessive leaching of nutrients, mainly as nitrate, can be a major cause of water pollution. Controlled-release fertilizers improve the nutrient use efficiency and lower the environmental hazard, usually without affecting the production. In this study, an innovative controlled-release coated urea fertilizer was compared to conventional nitrogen (N) fertilizers and a soluble ammonium-based fertilizer containing a nitrification inhibitor, in a round table tomato cultivation. Both the water and N balance were evaluated for each treatment, along with the yield and quality of the production. The experiment was repeated in three different seasons (spring, autumn and summer-autumn) in a glasshouse to prevent the effect of uncontrolled rainfall. The results indicated that N leaching decreased by increasing the percentage of coated urea. The application of at least 50% total N as coated urea strongly reduced N leaching and improved N agronomic efficiency in comparison with traditional fertilizers, ensuring at the same time a similar fruit production. Due to reduced leaching, the total N amount commonly applied by growers could be lowered by 25% without detrimental effects on commercial production.

A partnership between Kwantlen Polytechnic University researchers and an industry partner has won an innovation award for its work to create natural pesticides to support sustainable food production. Dr. Deborah Henderson and Michelle Franklin from KPU’s Institute for Sustainable Horticulture partnered…

VeggiTech is an agro-tech organization focused on changing the agriculture industry to create sustainable and eco-friendly farms. Its tech-enabled solutions are: VeggiTech digital operating system (V-DOS) This is a scalable, repeatable set of solutions that are focused on the controlled environment…

Recycling takes time, space, and effort. But even when it feels like your actions as an individual are a drop in the metaphorical (and literal) ocean, recycling makes a big difference to the planet. And National Recycling Day is as good a time as any to find out why. The History of Recycling Modern recycling […]

500Foods shared this story from Retail Times.

Ribena, the number one juice drink in the UK, is unveiling an eye-catching new design that will make it the largest soft drinks brand with bottles that are made from 100% recycled plastic and are 100% bottle-to-bottle recyclable.

"Whoever says strawberries, says Hoogstraten. Rightly so, because Hoogstraten Cooperative grew out of strawberry cultivation. In the meantime, Hoogstraten is also known as the taste specialist in berries, tomatoes and peppers. Together with our producers, we ensure that customers can enjoy tasty fruit…

🌎America is hungrier than ever for sustainable food systems. Can they build them?

In the spring of 2020, many small farms across the U.S. found themselves in a bittersweet predicament. Restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus were forcing restaurants — major buyers for the local farms that serve urban areas — to shut down. The loss of these key customers might have wiped out many of these local growers, if not for another COVID-19-induced phenomenon: individual shoppers started calling — and calling — and calling.

greenbiz.com/article/americ… #sustainablefood #sustainability #verticalfarming #indoorfarming #innovation #agriculture #usa #america

Europol, the European police authority, estimates that up to 15% of pesticides are unapproved or counterfeit, resulting an annual impact of more than $6.5 billion on the legitimate pesticide industry. It is often unknown what ingredients are in these counterfeit products. Such substances, often sold online, can pose serious health and environmental risks. During the first half of 2020, Europol has seized a record amount of unapproved pesticides. Profit margins for criminals are very high due to relatively low production costs for pesticides. Criminals avoid the tedious, expensive and lengthy approval processes which are usually contributing significantly to the pesticides’ costs.

G.Mondini — a name linked with innovation, quality and experience in providing dynamic Tray Sealing Packaging Systems — continues to grow with its ground-breaking innovation in Paperseal®.

Winning the 2020 Paperboard Packaging Sustainability Award, innovative Paperseal is part of G.Mondini’s initiative to fundamentally rethink packaging systems to promote green packaging alternatives across the food industry.

Its sustainability comes from the film liner designed to be easily separated from the paperboard after use (such that the paperboard portion of the tray can be recycled), it’s produced with renewable fibre sourced from sustainably-managed forests and utilises 80-90% paperboard with 10-20% film — dramatically reducing plastic use and limiting base tray waste to just 2% — the lowest in the industry today.

Given the rising awareness of these problems, scientists are now exploring alternatives such as hydroponics, vertical indoor farms and cultured meat.

Greenyard’s vision and commitment for a fully integrated sustainability strategy is set out in a new report, published today. This third edition of the company’s Sustainability Report puts its purpose and ambitions firmly in the spotlight, and outlines planning for its forward trajectory through a set of…

The UK Government is being urged to tax food producers according to the carbon footprint of their products, raising concerns that this cost would be passed onto consumers.

FAO launched the Food Coalition to prevent the COVID-19 international health emergency from triggering a catastrophic world food crisis.

From the 24-hour news cycle to pop-up ads magically curated to our wants and desires, to product labeling on everything from t-shirts to meat products, the marketing messages we see daily can be overwhelming. This is especially true if you want to make choices that are better for the planet. Being a conscious consumer is […]

Sustainability pushes a lot of our hot buttons—it’s a political issue, an economic concern, and a social conversation. Some people even see it as a moral matter. Sometimes it’s on the back burner, but then it blazes back into the headlines. Sustainability is, arguably, an industry unto itself, since the economic impact on companies trying to adhere to government guidelines or react to consumer preferences can be in the billions of dollars across a wide range of markets. Sustainability demands are hitting a variety of industries, not just food and beverage. For example, the move from the internal combustion engine to the electric vehicle can be called a “sustainability” issue.

The Eight Elements of Sustainability 1. Consumer preferences 2. Climate change 3. Food insecurity 4. Food waste 5. New foods 6. Packaging 7. Regenerative agriculture 8. Transportation and regulatory restrictionsIn light of the many disruptors in the food and beverage industry and most recently, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sustainability is now front-page news. This article will discuss eight reasons why sustainability is now one of the defining issues in food and beverage manufacturing. Future articles in this series will examine each issue in more detail.

Soil Spill

If the planet’s temperatures increase by just two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, it could trigger a catastrophic release of even more carbon currently sequestered in the soil.

New projects, published Monday in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that scenario would release 230 billion tons of carbon — more than twice as much as the U.S. has emitted into the atmosphere over the last century. Needless to say, that grim eventuality could fast-track us toward planetary disaster.

There is increasing attention towards the issue of environmental sustainability linked to agriculture and the preservation of natural resources such as soil, water and air has become of the utmost importance. This is why Agriplast, a company that has always aimed at mitigating the impact of agriculture on…

Why Sustainable Food Systems Matter | Future of Food 🍝

Indoor food production systems have the opportunity to  reduce the overall impact that agriculture has on the environment. Greenhouses reduce the need for many precious resources, such as land and water, while simultaneously producing higher yields per unit area than field grown crops.  However, other resources are required to produce food indoors, including building materials and energy to operate systems.  Furthermore, technologies like evaporative cooling systems, utilize water, offsetting some of the savings acquired through hydroponic irrigation.  Therefore, environmental stewardship and sustainability should be an important element when planning, designing, building, and operating the greenhouse.   

The pandemic has pushed governments to consider food autonomy as a priority and to look more at local supply chains. Discussions are about producing food in Canada, year-round, while offering products to consumers at reasonable prices, especially produce. A recent study conducted by Dalhousie University…

Moving food into and around the UK produces 19 billion tonnes of CO2 a year (source: @DefraGovUK). Vertical farms can help us slash food miles and reduce emissions. #verticalfarming #indoorfarming #sustainablefoods #iag pic.twitter.com/OxHvPjI3xg

Most bioplastics and plant-based materials contain toxic chemicals, with cellulose and starch-based products inducing the strongest in vitro toxicity, scientists discover.

"Think about tomorrow today, preserve resources for future generations: That is what sustainability means." FreshPlaza's visit to K-D Hermann LLC contact Auszeichnungssysteme in the idyllic town of Hirschhorn am Neckar was dedicated to sustainability as well. From the lonely black garbage can, to…

Indoor farming technologies, such as growing food vertically, are also ripe for development. Although these methods are not yet able to produce staple ...

One of the greatest challenges our future faces is the ability to feed an ever-increasing global population. To manage this growth and protect tomorrow’s generation, it’s time that we begin the transition to #SustainableFarming.

The worrying increase in pests and the impact of the weather are causing the kaki production to fall at a higher rate than expected in the Region of Valencia, the fruit's main producing area in Spain. Although the prices that producers receive are higher compared to the same period last season, the…

Global food supply chains are complex and therefore quite vulnerable to errors or fraudulent activity. A company in Chile repackaged and falsely labeled cheap raspberries from China, reselling them as top-level organic Chilean raspberries in Canada. These raspberries were linked to a norovirus outbreak in Canada, sickening hundreds of people. A whistleblower complaint helped to uncover this fraudulent scheme that posed a significant risk to human health.

Friday was World Food Day. That's the day when global food issues and sustainable solutions are considered. Bonduelle announced several promises on that day. These should lead to more sustainable agriculture and a healthier diet. They also fit the company's vision. "Our mission is to create a better…

A warehouse may seem like an odd place for a farm, but it's one of the places you'll find arugula, kale, and other leafy greens growing in Vancouver, Washington.