1. The fire at BASF's Ludwigshafen plant
Our top story this year has been our report on the fire at BASF's Ludwigshafen site on July 29. This facility produces aroma ingredients and precursors for vitamin production.
BASF declared force majeure on vitamin and carotenoid supply nine days after the incident, with that article also drawing significant reader interest.
2. dsm-firmenich's business separation
In February, dsm-firmenich announced plans to separate its animal nutrition and health (ANH) business from the rest of the group to focus on human health, nutrition, and beauty.
The review of this strategic move, aimed at realizing the full potential of the ANH business through a different ownership structure, proved highly relevant for our audience.
3. Can cows flip the climate narrative?
The third most popular story with readers delved into the potential of cows to change the climate narrative. Over the past five years, the Archbold–Alltech Alliance has developed tools for estimating the carbon footprint of grazing ruminant animals, yielding surprising results.
The research, conducted at Archbold’s Buck Island Ranch in Florida, revealed that grazing cattle could benefit the environment by enhancing carbon cycling and sequestration in the soil.
The findings, said the researchers, challenge the common perception of cattle production's environmental impact by highlighting the importance of considering the entire carbon cycle, not just greenhouse gas emissions.
4. EU agriculture ministers rally behind Austria's bid to revise EUDR
The fourth most read piece was from April, and it focused on the support from agriculture ministers from 20 of the EU's 27 member countries for Austria’s proposal to revise the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Austria's demands included a call to reduce the burden of certifying products as deforestation-free within the EU and postponing the compliance deadline. Environmental groups strongly opposed this move, arguing it undermined the law's purpose. The original enforcement timeline for the regulation was set as January 1, 2025.
Other EUDR stories such as the Biden administration urging the EU to delay the implementation of the new rules until "substantial challenges" are addressed and Brazilian soy trade groups' reflections on the regulation also ranked highly.
5. M&S to help dairy farmers slash methane emissions
Coming in at number five is the story about M&S’s £1m investment to change the diet of cows within its milk pool to mitigate methane emissions. Aiming for net zero status across all operations and its value chain by 2040, M&S is collaborating with all 40 dairy farmers in its UK milk pool. This initiative is projected to eliminate around 11,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, reducing the carbon footprint of its fresh milk by 8.4%. The effort includes using methane-suppressing feed additives, a move supported by UK farmers, who expressed willingness to adopt such measures if financially incentivized.
Dennis Rijnders from dsm-firmenich highlighted this initiative as a milestone in reducing Scope 3 emissions and setting an industry example.
