Month: March 2015

Land Claim Could Halt South Africa Renewable Energy Project

(Bloomberg) — A land claim brought against South Africa’s largest sugar farmer threatens to stop a 1.1 billion rand ($90 million) renewable-energy project that will produce electricity by burning leftover cane leaves and tops.

Charl Senekal Suiker Trust, which has 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of irrigated cane land and is a grower for Tongaat Hulett Ltd., is part of a group that plans to build a 16.5 megawatt biomass facility in KwaZulu-Natal, according to a presentation on the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s website. Talks to settle claims by four communities bordering part of his farm will take place on Friday, Charl Senekal, the white owner, said by phone on Wednesday.

The government of Africa’s most industrialized economy is promoting agriculture and providing access to land as part of redistribution policies to compensate black South Africans for the seizure of property under white-minority rule that ended in 1994. At the same time, the country is turning to renewable energy as it struggles to meet power demand after failing to invest in generation even as the government expanded supply to millions of households.

“The whole project can collapse if they don’t accept our offer,” Senekal said, declining to give details because they are private. “We’ve made a very reasonable proposal to the government and we hope that this will be successful. I am sure it will be accepted. It’s a great project.”
No Power

Work on the plant in Mkuze is scheduled to start in August if all the communities agree to the offer, with the first electricity to be produced 22 months later, Senekal said. It may create about 400 jobs, and the project will be able to repay its debt in eight years, he said. All four of the community groups need to support the plan for it to go ahead, he said. South Africa has a 24.3 percent unemployment rate.

The development must continue regardless of the outcome of the claim, Dumisani Myeni, chairman of Silwane Trust, established to handle the claims, said by phone from Mkuze. Community groups will be open to leasing the land should the claim succeed. The groups include the Myeni, Ngwenya and Zulu tribes.

“Most of the community doesn’t have power,” Myeni said. “The project will help. Senekal will just need to be a bit flexible. We definitely want to work with him and any developers who come here. We won’t chase anyone away from the land, we just want partnerships. We will reach agreements and work with them.”
Electricity Shortages

A claim against the land was dropped in November 2010 after studies commissioned by Senekal found the area had been occupied by whites since 1880, Johannesburg-based Beeld newspaper reported. The land claims office in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment it said on March 10 will take two weeks to be processed.

South Africa has raised 140 billion rand from private investors for 3,900 megawatts of power as part of a renewable energy program, President Jacob Zuma said on Feb. 13.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the state-owned utility that provides about 95 percent of the country’s electricity, has instituted rolling power cuts since November as part of plans to prevent a total collapse of the grid serving the continent’s second-biggest economy. The cuts have curbed production and forced businesses to shut doors at peak times.
High Probability

Eskom suspended four executives while the government starts an inquiry into the business, Chairman Zola Tsotsi said on Thursday. There’s a “very high probability” of blackouts Thursday evening, the utility said on its Twitter account.

Senekal’s trust will own 30 percent of the project, Building Energy Development Africa 3 SRL, a technical partner, a 51 percent stake, and local communities 2.5 percent, according to the presentation to regulators, dated February 2014. Cape Town-based H1 Capital (Pty) Ltd., a group of black investors, will hold the balance. The project will be 60 percent funded by debt and 40 percent equity.

“I dearly would like it to be one of my legacies,” said Senekal, whose farms produce about 360,000 metric tons of sugar a year. “It’s in the interests of the area, the province and the country that this power plant come off the ground.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Xola Potelwa in Johannesburg at xpotelwa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vernon Wessels at vwessels@bloomberg.net Emily Bowers

China to Battle GMO Crop Fear From Field to Dinner Table

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — The Chinese government is trying to convince Zhou Guangxiu that the corn in the congee she wants to feed her son is safe. That may not be easy.

Zhou, the owner of a recycling business in the northeast coastal city of Weihai, said one source of her concern was an anonymous article shared online by her friends that alleges genetically modified crops cause infertility in Asians, part of a U.S. ploy against China. She fears her 21-year-old son won’t have his own family if she feeds him the corn-meal porridge.

“I definitely won’t let my son eat it,” Zhou said by telephone. “It’s not just me. All our friends are worried. All the corn grown now is genetically modified.”

China, the world’s most-populous country and the biggest consumer of rice, soybeans and wheat, has begun a campaign to push genetically modified organisms as it seeks to expand food supplies. While no domestic grain crops are bioengineered, President Xi Jinping has endorsed the technology used to boost output everywhere from the Americas to Africa. China’s Ministry of Agriculture said Sept. 28 it would use media, seminars and street advertising to combat the perceived risks.

Meat consumption has surged in China as the economy expanded almost six-fold over the past decade and incomes rose. That led to an increase in livestock herds and demand for feed. The nation is already the biggest soybean buyer and will become the top corn importer by about 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Most of its overseas supplies are produced from seed genetically engineered to grow with certain traits, like killing pests or tolerating herbicides.
‘Controversial Views’

“There has been a lot of opposition against GMO in China not based on science, which, if left unchecked, can weaken government support for the development of biotechnology,” Li Qiang, chairman of Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., the country’s largest independent agriculture market researcher, said by telephone from Shanghai on Oct. 7. “The agriculture ministry probably feels compelled to do some education.”

Because the technology is new, “it’s reasonable that society should hold controversial views and doubts,” Xi told the Communist Party conference on rural works last December, the Beijing Evening News reported on Sept. 28. China should ensure biotechnology is safe and should not allow foreign companies to control the market for gene-modified products, he said.
‘Very Big Problem’

The concern among some Chinese consumers about genetically modified grains dovetails with broader worries about food safety. Fears have been fanned by high-profile incidents, including rice found with cancer-causing heavy metals; rat, fox and mink sold as mutton; cooking oil salvaged from sewers; and baby formula laced with chemicals. About 41 percent of Chinese consumers in a 2012 Pew Research Center survey considered food safety a “very big problem,” up from 12 percent in 2008.

The state-led campaign to promote GMOs comes at a time when meat has become a popular choice at meals, requiring more corn, wheat and soybeans to feed livestock. China is the world’s largest pork consumer, ranks second in chicken demand, and trails only the U.S. and Brazil in beef, USDA data show.

In December, the country announced a new food-security strategy that will allow “moderate” grain imports for feed, while maintaining self-sufficiency in wheat and rice, a break from previous policies to ensure the nation grows 95 percent of the corn, wheat and rice it needs, according to an April report by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
More Meat

Per-capita demand for corn more than doubled in the past two decades, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Beef consumption in China, which the USDA estimates already raises and eats half the world’s pork, could surge by more than 70 percent from 2013 to 2030, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said Sept. 5.

China’s demand for corn and soybeans will continue to rise in line with economic growth, according to the USDA report in April. The economy, which has the world’s biggest meat industry, may expand 6.9 percent in 2016, more than twice as fast as the U.S., according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The country imported 63 million metric tons of soybeans last year valued at $38 billion, accounting for more than 60 percent of global exports, customs data show. It also shipped in 3.3 million tons of corn, according to the data. Soybean purchases will climb to 96.9 million tons by about 2020, with corn reaching 16 million tons, according to a long-term projection made by the USDA in February.
U.S. Grains

Most of the soybeans and corn China imports are grown with engineered seeds, including those with built-in resistance to Monsanto Co.’s Roundup herbicide, Zhang Xiaoping, chief representative of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, said by telephone Sept. 30.

China’s biggest supplier is the U.S., where GMO crops account for 93 percent of all corn produced and 94 percent of soybeans, USDA data show. While the U.S. is the largest user, Brazil and Argentina sowed a combined 64.7 million hectares (160 million acres) of GMO corn, soybeans and cotton in 2013, with another 21.8 million hectares planted in India and Canada, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

“China doesn’t have a choice when the top suppliers all employ the technology,” Zhang said.

Corn in China trades at almost three times the U.S. price. Futures for December delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.4 percent at $3.4175 a bushel at 6:08 a.m. On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the grain was at 2,342 yuan a ton, or about $9.70 a bushel.
Not Unique

Concern that GMO crops are unsafe isn’t unique to China. Only 27 countries planted genetically modified crops in 2013, ISAAA data show, and at least 60 have labeling requirements, including Japan, Brazil and the entire European Union. Surveys in the EU show opposition by consumers, who worry about risks such as human resistance to antibiotics and the development of so-called superweeds that are impervious to herbicides.

China approved strains of genetically modified rice and corn in 2009, saying at the time that mass-production will be allowed only after trial planting and public acceptance. Cotton is the only bioengineered crop widely grown.

Unlike the U.S., Brazil and Argentina, China doesn’t raise gene-altered food crops on a commercial scale, according to Huang Dafang, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and former member of the agriculture ministry’s biosafety committee. Instead, it only buys them, though the government has rejected some imports with unapproved traits, including an insect-repelling variety developed by Syngenta AG. Imports must be processed, mostly into animal feed and cooking oil, he said.
Consumer Concern

Even as the top leadership has approved the safety of domestically developed genetically modified corn and rice, they haven’t been cultivated outside labs, according to Huang. No one at China’s agriculture ministry replied to a request for comment sent by fax.

“The main reason for China’s slow adoption of biotech grain crops isn’t so much that the government is swayed by public opinions,” Shanghai JC Intelligence’s Li said. “It’s that China doesn’t have leading, marketable biotechnologies and is afraid of having the market controlled by foreign companies once commercialization is granted.”

Genetically modified foods currently available show no effect on human health among the populations where they’ve been approved and likely aren’t a risk, according to the World Health Organization.

That hasn’t prevented consumers from expressing concern about food safety. China Central Television reported illegal sales of unapproved GMO rice in supermarkets in central Hubei province, prompting a pledge by the government that it would crack down on illegal growing and selling.

“We don’t know what GMO is and what it really does to our bodies,” said Zhou, the mother in Weihai who expressed fear of feeding her son corn porridge. “Hopefully, the government can help us understand what the truth really is.”

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: William Bi in Beijing at wbi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net Sungwoo Park

bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-15/germans-tired-of-greek-demands-want-country-to-exit-euro

(Bloomberg) — Berlin cabdriver Jens Mueller says he’s had it with the Greek government and he doesn’t want Germany to send any more of his tax money to be squandered in Athens.

“They’ve got a lot of hubris and arrogance, being in the situation they’re in and making all these demands,” said Mueller, 49, waiting for fares near the Brandenburg Gate. “Maybe it’s better for Greece to just leave the euro.”

Mueller’s sentiment is shared by a majority of Germans. A poll published March 13 by public broadcaster ZDF found 52 percent of his countrymen no longer want Greece to remain in Europe’s common currency, up from 41 percent last month. The shift is due to a view held by 80 percent of Germans that Greece’s government “isn’t behaving seriously toward its European partners.”

The hardening of German opinion is significant because the country is the biggest contributor to Greece’s 240 billion-euro ($253 billion) twin bailouts and the chief proponent of budget cuts and reforms in return for aid. Tensions have been escalating between the two governments since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took office in January, promising to end an austerity drive that he blames on Chancellor Angela Merkel.
War Reparations

Tsipras has also stepped up calls for war reparations from Germany for the Nazi occupation during World War II and Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has been locked in a war of words with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble. Last week, the Greek government officially complained about Schaeuble’s conduct, to which Schaeuble replied that the whole matter was “absurd.”

It was Varoufakis’s behavior in the spotlight last night when German public broadcaster ARD showed a video of him shot at a 2013 event saying: “Greece should simply announce that it’s defaulting … and stick the finger to Germany.” He then raises his middle finger.

Varoufakis, who was a guest on ARD’s Guenther Jauch program, acknowledged the footage was from the speech but said that the “video was doctored. I never gave the finger.” ARD told German newspaper Bild that it has found no evidence of tampering with the video. A Greek finance ministry spokesman didn’t respond to two phone calls seeking comment.

“The way the Greeks have been behaving has been impossible,” said Dorli Schneider, an interpreter waiting for a train at Munich’s central station. “Greece should pay back what they owe. We can’t forever give them more money.”
Growing Umbrage

The shift in German sentiment comes as Greece, at risk of running out of cash this month, battles with European officials over the release of more bailout funds. Tsipras will join European leaders Thursday for talks in Brussels.

German voters’ growing umbrage may make it harder for Merkel to sell any possible deal down the road to the German public and Bundestag, which would have to vote on it. She also has to be wary of the anti-euro AfD party trying to peel off her voters, said Juergen Falter, a political scientist at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.

“The pressure is coming from two sides: the public and some opposition parties,” he said. “The government will probably now react more decisively.”
More Aggressive

Some in the community of 315,000 Greeks living in Germany say they sense the hardened view that has developed as the crisis drags on.

“People are now quicker to point the finger, and the tone is becoming more aggressive,” said Kostas Tassopoulos, who came to the German capital in 2008 and has thrived producing electronic music under his stage name Ekkohaus. “It’s a bit silly of the Greeks to say their problems are the Germans’ fault, and it’s just as silly that the Germans are trying to put all the blame on the Greeks.”

While Merkel’s government says Greece doesn’t have a blank check to do as it pleases, Germany’s official aim is to keep the euro area together. Just 40 percent of Germans now say they want Greece to remain in the euro.

“The German government could support the Greeks more,” said Manfred Ukleja, a 55-year-old teacher. “The Greeks are founding fathers of the European Union, and they have more significance than just their economy.”

Nonetheless, many Germans say they’ve lost faith in Greece. According to the ZDF poll, 82 percent of respondents doubt that Greece will honor its agreed budget cuts and reforms, while only 14 percent trust that it will follow through. The poll was conducted March 10-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

“It’s so frustrating that they constantly criticize us, that they don’t appreciate our help,” said Erika Schmidt, a 53-year-old kindergarten teacher from Augsburg. “I’ve got nothing against Greece, but the way they behave and talk about Germany makes me angry.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Dalia Fahmy in Berlin at dfahmy1@bloomberg.net; Elisabeth Behrmann in Munich at ebehrmann1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net; Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net; Chris Reiter at creiter2@bloomberg.net Chad Thomas, Celeste Perri

Keystone XL Opponents Seek Halt to TransCanada Land Grab

(Bloomberg) — Nebraska landowners opposed to TransCanada Corp.’s plan to run the Keystone XL oil pipeline through the state asked two judges to block the Canadian company from seizing property.

The requests, made Wednesday at state courthouses in the Nebraska cities of O’Neill and York, followed by a day a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report that production of crude to be transported from Canada’s oil sands will significantly increase greenhouse gases tied to global warming. President Barack Obama, citing environmental concerns and litigation, has yet to decide whether to approve the pipeline, which crosses an international boundary.

About 90 Nebraska property owners have now joined in two lawsuits to block TransCanada’s bid to acquire easements across privately owned land through which the proposed pipeline will pass. It will extend to a junction in the southeast corner of the state, from where oil will be shunted to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The filing follows the state Supreme Court’s Jan. 9 ruling that landowners couldn’t challenge a state law allowing TransCanada to seize land because it was unclear that their property was in the pipeline’s route. Four of seven judges ruled in favor the landowners, one vote shy of what they needed to prevail under Nebraska’s constitution.
New Request

In the latest request to block TransCanada, the landowners argue that they’ll prevail in a renewed bid to strike down the law because they now know for certain that they’re in the path.

“There is a substantial likelihood” the landowners “will prevail,” their lawyers, David Domina and Brian Jorde, said in court papers.

The company has acquired almost 90 percent of the land it needs in Nebraska and all the property rights sought in Montana and South Dakota, Shawn Howard, a spokesman for Calgary-based TransCanada, said.

“We have received the paperwork that has been filed and we are currently reviewing it,” he said in an e-mail about the new court filings.

Arguments will be heard in court later this month.

The cases are Steskal v. TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP, CI 15-6, Holt County District Court (O’Neill) and Dunavan v. TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP, CI 15-12, York County District Court (York).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in federal court in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net David Glovin, Charles Carter
Continue reading Keystone XL Opponents Seek Halt to TransCanada Land Grab

What to do with the Precarious Precariat?

This is a bit dated. However, PM David Cameron has declared his party’s new position on the jobless youth is to commit to community service or an apprenticeship if they are to receive any further aid from the government.

“You should be earning or learning” 

-David Cameron

On the surface, this is a good idea. Youth who are not enriching their lives could lead to delinquency, sure. However, there is an aspect of examining continued change of the role of the state in its citizens lives. Cameron claimed this program isn’t pursued for the sake of saving money. With that statement in mind, we can see this program as a proletarianization process. This is apparent in the Cameron’s arguments that he thinks 18-21 year olds should not be living on the taxes of the “working people.” Additionally, this seems to de-commodify the community in that caring for the community should no longer be something voluntary; rather it is punishment for not being a capable figure of society–e.g. not “earning or learning.”

The Collapse of the USSR & Stability in Africa

To compliment Halperin’s discussion of the role of destabalization of African countries with the large import of cheap weapons during the Cold War in her chapter “The Globalization Redux,” there is another aspect of the fall of the USSR that greatly impacted the stability of African governments: the withdrawal of Soviet troops. This is an intriguing article because it discusses the impact of the loss of Soviet military support for the constrcution of modern day African countries, namely Angola. The article states: “In other countries, like Ethiopia, when the Soviet Union stopped backing the government, rulers were quickly ousted. Other Soviet-backed leaders, such as Benin’s Mathieu Kerekou, renounced Marxism and then lost multi-party elections.” Thus this period of the rise of new movements is also impacted by the loss of Soviet-supported regimes. This withdrawal of troops and funding is just one of many impacts of the collapse of the USSR.

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

In Desmarais’ discussion of La Via Campesina, African farmers were not as represented as farmers from other continents. She remarked that this is because African leaders wanted to establish a stronger regional identity and presence as small farmers before joining in the global movement. While this is not necessarily an article, I wanted to take this opportunity to draw attention to the African regional effort to establish food sovereignty and small farmer rights against land grabs and seed patents (exactly in line with La Via Campesina, just on a regional rather than global scale). The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa is a platform for mutliple organizations fighting for the rights of small farmer and African indigenous peoples. One of the most intersting concepts they focus on is “seed sovereignty.” I think this is a crucial terminology to include in the discussion of peasant and small farmer rights. Desmarais also discusses this concept (big business is controlling seed patents, making farmers dependent on the market for means of production – seed sovereignty thus is the right of small farmers to control their own seeds rather than relying on the market), but the phrase is crucial I think so that this discussion can be more widely known.

Global Counter Movements: ISIL as an Anti-Globalization Movement

Polanyi’s discussion of anti-globalization movements mentions the various different ways that globalization is changing interactions, one of which is the changing social relations. ISIL, according to Polanyi’s definition, is very much an instance of an anti-globalization movement, going against the loss of community and non-Western identity (in this case, Muslim identity). In this context, the creation of ISIL, and the draw of foriengers to join the cause of creating a united Islamic State with a strong identity (very contrary to the loss of cultural identity and community of the globalized world) is understandable. This article from Aljazeera explains how the loss of meaningful social connections and the denial of differences of identity caused by the globalization project allows the creation and draw of ISIL. By examining a Belgian recruit’s experience, it is evident that the ramifications of globalization is present across the globale, not just the Global South. It supports the notion of what positive efforts to “combat extremism” can look like:

“Finding the right mix of punitive and preventive measures has proved challenging for the authorities. But social workers and policymakers in the town of Vilvoorde, near Brussels, believe they have found an effective balance. Although 28 people from the town have gone to fight in Syria, not one has left since May 2014, according to Mayor Hans Bonte. As a result, the mayor receives invitations from as far away as Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, to share the town’s recipe for combating extremism.

“Vilvoorde’s formula? Bringing parents, friends, mentors and security personnel together to map possible recruits’ emotional well-being and devise a plan to reintegrate them into the community. This “injection of warmth” is paired with theological guidance provided by experts in Islam who can help alter people’s extremist outlook, Bonte said. There is no cookie-cutter profile of foreign fighters, he added. Those who have left Belgium for Syria include men and women from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, and their ages have ranged from 15 to 35. “What they all have in common is a feeling of rootlessness, of not belonging.”

“Alienation and indoctrination are recurring themes in the stories of those lured to Syria, according to Vrije Universiteit Brussel researcher Bilal Benyaich. Sharia4Belgium encouraged its members to stop talking to their parents, quit school, grow a beard and wear traditional Islamic clothing, according to court documents, and it offered them a place in an alternative community.”

Is the era of Big Food coming to an end?

Sarah Shemkus

Food giant Kellogg is removing the genetically modified ingredients from its Kashi Golean cereals. Competitor ConAgra is launching a line of minimally processed frozen meals under the brand name Healthy Choice Simply. And General Mills last fall snapped up Annie’s, a popular brand of organic pastas, snacks and condiments.

As consumer demand for local, organic and fresh foods continues to grow, the enormous multinational firms that are collectively being called Big Food are in the position of having to rework, reshape and reimagine themselves. Although this changing consumer landscape has contributed to lackluster growth among some of the industry’s major players, the consensus among producers, analysts and healthy food advocates is that the major food companies – and their influence – are still going strong. For now.

“These companies make billions of dollars every year. The issue isn’t profits — these are massive – it’s growth,” says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University, and an advocate for healthy food policy.

Indeed, growth has been a challenge for many in the industry over the past year.

Net sales at Kellogg – maker of Cheez-Its, Pringles and Keebler cookies in addition to its well-known cereals – decreased by 1.4% to $14.6b in 2014, a performance CEO John Bryant called “disappointing” in the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. Declining sales of breakfast foods and snacks contributed to the downward trend. At Kraft – home of brands including Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Velveeta – net revenues edged down 0.1% in 2014.

Consumers’ growing appetite for foods that feel healthier, fresher and less processed is one of the significant obstacles to growth. In remarks at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in February, Campbell’s CEO Denise Morrison said: “we are also confronting profound shifts in consumers’ preferences and priorities with respect to food”, pointing to an “explosion of interest in fresh foods” and “a mounting distrust of so-called Big Food”.

Sales on the perimeter of the supermarket, where fresh produce, meat and dairy are generally sold, have risen about 5% over the last year, while sales of the more processed and packaged items sold in the aisles have increased only 1%, says Erin Lash, food industry analyst for investment research firm Morningstar.
More Americans are interested in produce and fresh, healthy food.

“Consumers just want to overall feel like they are eating healthier,” Lash says. “That’s one of the biggest trends, especially in the US.”

Big food companies have seen some of these changes coming and attempted to prepare for them. Kellogg acquired whole-grains-focused Kashi in 2000, the same year General Mills bought organic food company Small Planet Foods, which produces Cascadian Farms vegetables and Muir Glen tomatoes.

“We have a strong portfolio of natural and organic brands, which has been growing double digits since [the Small Planet acquisition],” says General Mills spokeswoman Bridget Christenson, valuing the company’s natural and organic portfolio at $600m.

The trend shows no signs of slowing, with plenty of examples of big companies redoubling their investments in healthy food initiatives.

Nestlé USA announced last month that it will stop using artificial colors in its chocolates by the end of 2015. ConAgra has been expanding its “all-natural, gourmet-inspired” Alexia brand, adding frozen vegetables, side dishes and breads to the line. Campbell’s launched an organic soup line last month, and Morrison, in her remarks at the analyst conference, promised an investment in “packaged fresh” foods.

At the same time, while fresher, healthier foods may be grabbing more room in the lineup, there is reason to believe that the appetite for convenient packaged foods remains strong. Kraft’s fourth quarter earnings release (pdf) points to increased sales of Lunchables prepackaged lunches and “ongoing growth in bacon” as key factors driving higher revenues in its refrigerated meals category. Sales of Pringles are increasing, Kellogg’s Bryant said at the analysts conference. ConAgra’s pot pies and Chef Boyardee canned pastas are both seeing increased sales.

“People who don’t consume Chef Boyardee might comment on the processed nature of it, but when we talk to people who depend on that product, it’s something that they dramatically love,” says Thatcher Schulte, ConAgra’s director of insights and analytics.

The future, as always, is uncertain. And it’s unlikely all the companies’ efforts will share the same fate. After all, some companies have done a better job of positioning themselves than others. Lash points to Kellogg and Campbell’s as two companies that have struggled. Kraft, on the other hand, has been doing a good job refocusing its marketing efforts, and General Mills is getting some traction with its Greek yogurt offerings, she says.

Lash says that the future looks bright for those that are willing to adapt: “The companies that you see that are focused on innovation, focused on bringing to market new products – they have the opportunity to continue to realize decent growth.”

The food hub is funded by The Irish Food Board. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/12/big-food-agriculture-brands-health-organic-packaged

Labor Insecurity and Big Business

This article from Aljazeera conveys how American big business is hampering the ability for new businesses to emerge. While there is a concept that the US economy is condusive to small business creation, this article argues that this is not possible in the current situation of the power nature of these huge corporations. Thus, business is getting older, as there is no room for new business to develop. This has huge implications on the creation of new jobs and sources of employment: “First, a 2001 study by economists Charles Brown of the University of Michigan and James L. Medoff of Harvard challenged the widely held belief that mature businesses pay higher wages. On the contrary, while mature firms offered better fringe benefits and greater job stability, older firms actually paid workers less than newer firms once the experience, education, skill and age of workers were taken into account. How could the older firms get away with paying less? Risk aversion: Workers who have a stable job with a firm that seems likely to endure are likely willing to tolerate less pay rather than take a gig for better pay at a new firm that may fail.”

In other words, the power these large firms hold is greatly impacting the creation of the Precatariat, and the subsequent lack of job security, low wages, and high turnover rates. A concerning trend indeed.