Plant-based bubble bursts
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird Ventures, and its products are no longer available in supermarkets.
The payout news has been pretty average recently, so no surprises that confidence in the industry isn’t at an all-time high.
However, if Rural News Group’s Fieldays Previews are any indication, the mood is not overwhelmingly negative; extensive previews in Dairy News and its stablemate Rural News are well supported by advertisers.
Dairy News ran a 20-page preview highlighting the Fieldays themes, activities and exhibitors; Rural News did a 27-page preview along the same lines, complete with a glossy lift-out map.
These sorts of features and their level of advertising well indicate how bullish or bearish the service and supply side of the industry is about the outlook for agriculture. While no one is pretending the short term outlook is a bit flat, these Fieldays previews suggest agribusiness is confident in the medium-long term story for farming.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.