A new study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine raised some uncomfortable questions about dietary advice and nutritional research. NutriRECS researchers published their findings concluding that there was only “low- or very low-certainty” evidence...
The Freshagenda Blog
Freshagenda’s blogs offer insights from our team of specialist consultants with extensive expertise in interpreting trends in the food industry
The end of animal ag?
Think tank RethinkX paints a grim picture for the future of animal agriculture in a recent report, predicting that ‘precision fermentation’ will be the most profound disruption in food and agriculture for 1,000 years. The change will be driven by economics, with...
GM laws in the news
There have been reviews of the last remaining state GM moratoriums in Australia carried out almost simultaneously in recent months. In South Australia the government has announced it will lift its GM ban, allowing for GM food crops to be grown on the mainland from...
The Fed reaches far
The spectacle of US President Trump, attacking his own hand-picked Federal Reserve head Jerome Powell might seem to be just another sideshow. However, the President’s brazen attempts to influence Fed interest rate policy to save the US economy is more than alarming...
Winning the war on waste
While there’s lots of hype in the media about changing diets to save the environment, another less sexy reform for the food system remains an imperative – cutting food waste. Halving food waste by 2030 is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving that...
What’s after globalization?
For decades it’s been assumed countries would become more open, liberal and cooperative with international institutions overseeing trading and finance. However in his new book “The Levelling”, former investment banker and Princeton economist Michael O’Sullivan...
Plant protein takes off
Almost every day there is some new media story about the inexorable rise in plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products. Most recently, widely reported data from the Good Food Institute and Spins highlights the growth in US sales of dairy product substitutes...
Driving to neutral
The North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCo) has launched the “Australia’s first certified carbon-neutral beef”. Five Founders is the first branded beef product for NAPCo and has been given carbon neutral accreditation based on Australian Government criteria. NAPCo...
Vegan protestors hit the streets
Earlier this month, people travelling to work in Melbourne’s CBD were delayed when around 150 activists blocked traffic in front of the busy Flinders street station. Trams and busses were disrupted as vegan protestors sat down in the busy intersection while holding...
Hollow US WTO victory
As bilateral talks between the US and China continue to overhang the global economy, a recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling put additional pressure on Chinese agricultural subsidies. The WTO ruled in favour of a 2016 US complaint, finding China has...
Regenerative ag: a saviour?
There’s a new label in town when it comes to differentiating farming methods and products: regenerative farming. General Mills recently revealed plans to start using regenerative practice on a million acres. “Regenerative agriculture practices are a key way to improve...
Big Food = Big Tobacco
The recently published EAT-Lancet Commission report - Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems - warns obesity, undernutrition and climate change are the biggest threats to humanity and called for a global...