Tag: agriculture

Embrapa Develops Biodegradable Film That Extends Shelf Life of Coconuts

Coconuts have become a very valuable commodity in recent years, with products such as coconut water, oil and milk having gained major popularity in the global food and beverage, healthcare, and beauty industry. In response to this demanding consumer market, the Brazilian Corporation Embrapa Food Agroindustry recently developed an edible, biodegradable film that can be applied to coconuts in order to extend the shelf life of the product up to four times. Further feeling the demand for coconuts, this new technology will open many doors for the Brazilian coconut industry and allow Brazilian producers like Primal to break into the worldwide market.…

Read More
The Financial Impact of Ecological Debt

Calculating the financial cost of climate change is no easy endeavor. While the impacts of rising temperatures on the foundations of the global economy are well documented, the financial implications remain to be fully understood.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has calculated that helping nations cope with climate impacts will cost the world half a trillion dollars annually by 2050. According to the London School of Economics, climate change is expected to cut the value of the world’s financial assets by $24 trillion by 2050 in the worst-case scenario. The best-case scenario, if efforts are successfully made to build a greener economy, will lead to the loss of only $2.5 trillion.…

Read More
Signs of Recovery for Global Commodity Markets

Although global commodity markets have been under stress for some time, investors are beginning to look at recent developments more opportunistically. According to the World Bank, prices for most commodities strengthened in the first quarter of 2017. Crude oil is expected to rise to an average of $55 per barrel (bbl) in 2017 from $43/bbl in 2016. Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% as a result of stronger demand in China and agricultural commodity prices are beginning to show early signs of recovery and growth. So why the positive forecasts when diversified commodity indices are down 5% so far this year?…

Read More
All Eyes on Agriculture

“Emerging nations have great hunger and meeting this growing demand for food will require great investments to strengthen agriculture and make it more productive.”

Marc Garrigasait, President and Director of the Panda Agriculture and Water Fund, 2016

The growing demand for food across emerging economies is a point of great interest for the world’s largest institutional investors. Sovereign wealth funds are expected to drive a four-fold increase in agriculture investments over the next decade to a total of $240 billion.

A study of the world’s most lucrative Sovereign Wealth Funds by the Esade Business School, KPMG and Icex-Invest found that the current trends in the agricultural investment space point towards an impressive rise in asset allocation from $60 billion to $240 billion in the last decade. …

Read More
Innovating Agriculture to Feed the World

Our global food industry has sustained more people with increased efficiency and at a lower cost than any other period in human history. The problem is that agriculture continues to have an astounding and detrimental influence on global health and the environment.

Polluted waterways caused by fertilizer runoff affect the majority of the planet, harmful growth hormones are traced in the meat we eat, malnourishment persists across developing nations, a profound obesity epidemic exists in first world economies and several million pounds of food is unnecessarily wasted every year. Now the leading cause of deforestation, one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and a major contributor to biodiversity’s 6th extinction, global agriculture must evolve to ensure our own survival.…

Read More
Charting the Rise of Biopesticides in Modern Agriculture

Agriculture has reached a crossroads. In order to survive and thrive in this new millennium we need to revolutionize our production methods to ensure a secure, accessible and long-lasting food supply for everyone.

Feeding the world in a safe and sustainable manner is a considerable challenge, especially with a rising global population, significant arable land degradation and crop yields starting to show a decline. The primary obstacles to sustainable food security today are the combination of these factors combined with an economic model and thought system, nurtured throughout the industrial revolution, that views social progress as the ability to produce at maximum capacity and at any financial or environmental cost.…

Read More