A story that ranked at No 1 in our Top 10 most popular articles last month was the piece about Smithfield Foods closing 35 swine farm sites in Missouri, US with 92 employees set to lose their jobs.
It was a move that the market was already aware of, with a spokesperson for Smithfield Foods telling us: "The decision to close these sow farms was made in May and it was in response to challenging market conditions. This decision was widely reported after we notified our employees."
All impacted employees were receiving transition assistance, including the option to move into other positions with the company, said the representative.
Some 35 swine farm sites are set to cease operation including 13 sites in Newtown, Missouri; 12 in Lucerne, Missouri; and 10 in Princeton, Missouri.
The parent company of Smithfield, the world’s largest pork processor, is Hong Kong's WH Group.
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A story about how the insect protein industry is moving away from vertical integration as companies realize this approach is not scalable was our second most read article in August.
The biggest barrier to growth for that sector is securing sustainable feedstock for larvae, reported Israel’s FreezeM.
The supply chain within the insect protein sector is evolving, becoming one based on specialization and collaboration, according to Dr Yuval Gilad, CEO and co-founder at Israeli agritech firm FreezeM.
“First generation insect protein companies were vertically integrated for the entire supply chain, doing everything from breeding to waste management, rearing and processing. Now we are seeing the industry becoming more similar to established agricultural or animal protein industries where supply chains are made up of specialists in different fields, as each link of the chain requires unique expertise and knowledge."
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Our report on CRM Agri's outlook for soybean meal prices was the third most popular story last month.
Soybean meal demand is expected to remain strong over the next crop year, while global meal stocks look set to remain tight, consequently keeping prices high and helping accelerate a rise in US soybean crush margins, according to those analysts.
Lower global supply and complications around Ukrainian meal exports, exacerbated by the closure of the Black Sea grain corridor, helped provide underlying support to meal markets, they noted then.
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A story that resonated with readers was one focused on global aquaculture market trends.
Rabobank reported that the second half of 2023 was expected to be the most challenging period for the world's aquaculture production sector since the peak of the pandemic in 2020 as factors such as demand softening and El Niño were driving fishmeal prices higher.
The analysis found that the Asian shrimp industry was facing a challenging period of record-low prices due to oversupply caused by Ecuadorian growth. The slump in shrimp demand may even get worse in 2H 2023 as Chinese demand softens, warned the market experts.
In fact, 2023 can be seen as a year to forget for the shrimp industry, according to Rabobank.
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The fifth most read story in August was an article about a free deforestation tracker.
The new tool assesses deforestation and conversion of native vegetation at the farm level for soy production areas in the Cerrado, Brazil. It also includes Brazilian Forest Code related indicators and other compliance checks.
Users would be buyers of Brazilian soy.
Developed by Brazil based green finance experts, BVRio, the tool covers over 92,000 farms (an area of over 61 million hectares) and with only a farm CAR Number, users can quickly and easily see if there are any deforestation indicators associated with farms in their supply chain.
BVRio director, Grace Blackham leads the project, which is funded by the Waterloo Foundation. “There is a wealth of publicly available and trusted data on land use change in Brazil, but there wasn’t an easy way to navigate it and trace soy production back to individual farms. Building on our experience in creating our Brazilian Timber Due Diligence system and driven by the increasing demand for agricultural commodity traceability due to regulation tightening, we created this new soy production map and tool.”
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A story about Mootral and its carbon credit sales also attracted interest.
The British-Swiss company reported that 3,000 of its CowCredits were purchased by well-known UK businesses, including a household brand in financial services, driving "much-needed capital into sustainable agriculture."
CowCredits are issued by Washington, DC headquartered non-profit organization, Verra, and are generated based on a reduction of methane from enteric fermentation in cattle. They are the first of their kind in the world, according to Mootral, which developed them. The audited credits originate from UK dairy farms using Mootral's feed supplement, which according to that developer, reduces methane emissions by up to 38%.
Thomas Hafner, CEO of Mootral, said the sales indicate the strength of the demand for such hyperlocal, high-quality credits as firms seek to credibly offset their carbon footprint.
The company maintains that UK businesses are proactively seeking the “highest quality credits” to meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets and protect their reputation amid an offsets credibility crunch. “CowCredits offer a premium, local alternative to international offset projects.”
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A review of Cargill's latest Aqua Nutrition Sustainability Report proved to be popular as well.
Aquaculture’s carbon footprint mainly stems from the mix of raw materials in the feed. Cargill highlighted how last year it teamed up with eight UK farms to pilot climate-friendly regenerative agriculture practices to achieve a 1,000-ton carbon reduction. Its goal for 2023 is to sign up more farmers and avoid over 10,000 tons of emissions.
“Regenerative agriculture aims to restore the soil’s health and resilience, using techniques like low- or no-tilling, planting cover crops to prevent runoff and oxidation, crop diversity, and pollinator strips. As a result, the soil becomes a carbon sink instead of a source of emissions, reducing the carbon footprint of crops grown in it.”
The company reported how its work to improve the sustainability of marine ingredients continued last year, with it buying certified fishmeal and oil as before, but with an increased engagement in fishery improvement programs (FIPs) to develop more sustainable management and fishing practices, and an increase in the use of fishery by-products as feed ingredients.
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Our report on research summarizing potential strategies to mitigate methane emissions in grazing dairy systems also made it into the Top 10 most read stories on FeedNavigator in August.
Low-input, long-acting strategies are needed, according to the experts.
Breeding animals for reduced CH4 emissions shows promise, as long as the purchase of such animals is not cost-prohibitive and animal production is not impaired, they said.
Development of vaccines that target methanogen reduction would be especially useful on grazing farms where cows cannot be supplemented continuously, though they are some years away in terms of commercial development, they added.
The authors also pointed out that further research on slow-release delivery technologies would be beneficial, technologies that provide a constant supply of CH4-inhibiting activity in the rumen for cows not supplemented continuously.
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Coming in ninth place in the most read story rankings for August was a piece on CH4 Global Inc raising US$29m in a Series B funding round. The capital, said the company, underscores market demand for safe, viable solutions to reduce methane emissions from ruminant livestock.
Founded in 2018, CH4 Global is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, in the US, with subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand.
The Series B round was led by DCVC, DCVC Bio, and Cleveland Avenue with participation from additional investors that have a strong interest in climate change, bringing the total the US based startup has raised to date to nearly US$47m.
CH4 Global will use the capital to build and validate its CH4 Global EcoPark, an aquaculture and production facility designed to make its signature Methane Tamer product, based on Asparagopsis seaweed, at scale.
Photo Credit: GettyImages/Andrii Yalanskyi
The tenth most popular article last month was one reporting on the first major pet food packaging update in the US in over 40 years.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) approved new labeling guidelines that included standardized nutrition information, clear ingredient statements, and storage and handling instructions.
The design and updated information will ensure consistency and transparency, so consumers can easily make more informed buying decisions for their pets, said the organization.
AAFCO said it and its key stakeholders have worked together over the past eight years to develop the revised Pet Food Model Regulations.
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