Food
Putting Strawberries on a Water Diet without Losing Their Weight
In May 2016, Innocent Drinks was rewarded as the winner of the water category of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards with its Irri-fresa app. This application supports strawberry farmers in Southern Spain to drastically reduce their water usage. In order to scale up Irri-fresa’s impact, the company has embarked on a journey for which partnering is key.
Community Supported Agriculture at the Kattendorfer Hof
As part of their round-the-world sailing trip in search of sustainable solutions, the Sailors for Sustainability recently came ashore in Kattendorf, Germany. This is their report on a visit to Kattendorfer Hof, an organic farm that works on the basis of Community Supported Agriculture.
Food Waste: $940 Billion Losses and 8% of GHG
It has been one year since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted globally. The past year showed us that businesses are indispensable in achieving the new global goals. With approximately $5-7 trillion needed to finance the goals on an annual basis, the private sector has a crucial role to play as the engine behind innovation and technological development and an investment source. The Champions 12.3 coalition recently published a progress report assessing the world’s progress towards achieving SDG target 12.3 on tackling food waste and losses.
Value Proposition Design: Zero Waste Supermarket
Founders Sara Wolf and Milena Glimbovski of Original Unverpackt (OU) say there is a rising demand for products and services that deal with sustainability and that people demand alternatives to the “abundant” handling of resources. When the two started in 2014, their zero waste supermarket was financed with €100.000,- crowdfunding money that enabled them to open their first store in Berlin. Celebrating their first year in business, they look back at serving 120 customers on a daily basis and managing to save significantly on packaging with the product groups milk, tomatoes and quinoa as frontrunners.
Food Waste: a Double-Edged Sword or Saviour in Disguise?
One third of all food produced globally for human consumption is lost. Even more baffling: Africa produces enough food to feed the continent, it's just that 50% gets wasted. Food waste is a multifaceted challenge that concerns the entire value chain, from farm to fork. Food spills and waste occur in different phases in the food value chain as a result of various root causes. In a series of articles on food waste Finch & Beak wants to peel the onion on the different challenges of food waste, and provide best practices and solutions of how to overcome the hurdles. In this first part of the series, we explore the issue of food waste and its main causes.
Biobased Coffee Capsules Are the Answer to Nespresso's "What Else?"
Global coffee consumption is still moving more and more towards specialty coffees and single-serve pod machines. The Nespresso coffee capsule system has become the worldwide standard for single served capsule systems. Every year around 15 billion of capsules are sold. Although the single served capsules are really convenient, it has one drawback: the aluminum and plastic they are made of, create a lot of waste.
From BlackRock to Black Angus: Adapting Global to Local
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has recently called for "urgent concerted policy responses" to deal with the growing threat of climate change to global food security. With predicted demand for ruminant meat to almost double between 2000 and 2050, which is in line with earlier reports concerning the growth effects of dairy and poultry on global warming, the FAO flags potential problems to be addressed – particularly on the issue of water scarcity. When looking at the broader range of materialities surrounding the highly globalized food industry, there appears to be a strong need for a local approach to address these issues in an effective manner.
Moche Marketing: Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder
In Europe a new tendency for combating food waste is going on at supermarkets. Various food retailers picked up the idea to sell misshapen, lumpy and ugly fruits and vegetables (in French: des fruits et legumes moches), to prove unattractive products are just as edible. It’s fun to know that the concept of branding imperfection isn’t new at all. If you compare the food industry with the aviation industry, you will notice that previously, budget airlines, such as EasyJet, made a strong case for moving beyond physical appearance.
McDonald's Ambitious Targets for 2020
Although McDonald’s is not typically perceived as one of the frontrunners in sustainability, it has built up a sound track record recognized by leading benchmarks such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Great Place to Work, and Fortune. Over the past few years, the company has been working on a global sustainability framework and collaborated with stakeholders to define goals for the year 2020. Where is the company on its sustainability journey and how is McDonald’s collaborating with locally operating companies?
