Bunge and Saudis take Leadership in Wheat Board

The Canadian grain handling landscape just got more interesting. With the acquisition of a majority ownership of the Canadian Wheat Board, Bunge Canada and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) are providing more options and important equity into the handling system. It is interesting times.

From the press release:

G3 Global Grain Group invests in CWB

G3 Global Grain Group (G3), a newly established agribusiness joint venture based in Canada, has been named the successful investor in CWB. The investment of C$250 million (subject to certain closing conditions and adjustments) will result in G3 acquiring a majority ownership interest of 50.1% in CWB, with the minority ownership interest to be held in trust for the benefit of farmers. The transaction is expected to close in July 2015. Read More

4R Nutrient Stewardship

Agriculture is under continual pressure and incentive to improve its use of resources. For two decades the fertilizer sector has been promoting ways to make sure the right amount of fertilizer gets used by applying the 4Rs – Right source, Right rate, Right time and Right place.

The International Fertilizer Industry Association recently released this neat infographic that illustrated these four principles to help promote their 4R Nutrient Stewardship Policy Toolkit (PDF, 1.5MB).

4R Principles of Nutrient Stewardship

Ag Research Getting Focused on the SDGs

Having been working on the process to create new Millennium Development Goals, to be called Sustainable Development Goals with a strong focus on agriculture, nutrition and food, it is exciting to see the galvanizing role they are playing

In a guest post on Farming First, a global coalition for sustainable agricultural development, Frank Rijsberman, CEO of CGIAR Consortium outlines how the world’s biggest agricultural research partnership intends to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals, and not just the ones that relate to hunger.

You can read the full post here: http://www.farmingfirst.org/2015/04/frank-rijsberman-how-cgiar-will-deliver-on-sustainable-development-goals.

IFA Outreach in New York, 23rd-27th March

A delegation of fertilizer industry leaders from across the globe was present in New York during the week of the 23rd to 27th March for the latest session of negotiations surrounding the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are meant to follow on from the Millennium Development goals, which are to be realized in 2015, and will play a large role in setting the agenda for worldwide development policies in the near future.

It is with this in mind that the delegation of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) conducted bilateral meetings with representatives from over a dozen United Nations bodies and national delegations. These proved to be an excellent opportunity for a frank exchange of views concerning the central importance of agriculture for sustainable development, and the role that private sector actors can play in alleviating poverty and achieving food security. The IFA delegates were able to have honest and rewarding conversations with those at the heart of the negotiations, and to establish and strengthen relationships that will be useful for a wide range of activities.

Hopefully, these efforts will prove to be a solid link in the chain pulling the world towards a more food secure future. This future cannot be forged by government actors alone, and it is vital that the private sector be able to engage with them in order to achieve sustainable agricultural intensification to meet the planet’s growing food and nutrition needs.

Reduce and Research, the Key to Food Security and Nutrition

From Reduce and Research, the Key to Food Security and Nutrition, The Huffington Post, March 23, 2015.

According to the WFP, “There are 805 million hungry people in the world and 98 percent of them are in developing countries.” According to the World Food Program, hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

These sad facts are even sadder when we consider that an estimated one-quarter of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted each year. Halving that would save enough to feed the whole population that lives in hunger.

Food loss and waste occurs both in developed and developing countries. In the developed it tends to happen more at the end of the food chain — on the store shelf and in the kitchen. In developing countries food losses are mostly at production, post-harvest and processing stages. This is largely due to the lack of infrastructure — from accessible roads to poor storage facilities.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center has taken on the task of examining the costs and benefits of reducing post-harvest losses and their findings can be found in the report Benefits and Costs of the Food and Security Nutrition Targets for the Post 2015 Development Agenda. What really struck me were the figures on research and development.

The paper studied different scenarios to show that investment in infrastructure contributes to lower food prices, improved food security and has positive economic rates of return. Such improvements are estimated to cost $240 billion over the next 15 years, but will reduce the number of hungry people by 57 million, avoid the malnourishment of four million children and generate $13 of benefits per dollar spent. Although this would be a significant step towards the achievement of the sustainable development goals, there may be a better way. Read More