40% of UK's arable land devoted to livestock feed

© Joseph Gray/WWF-UK

Agriculture / Agribusiness

WWF Calls for UK Farmland to Feed People, Not Livestock

A report by conservation organisation WWF has claimed that two-fifths of the UK’s arable land is being used to grow crops to feed farmed animals. Half of the wheat grown in the country — enough to produce over ten billion loaves of bread — is fed to livestock in a process the organisation described as “inherently inefficient”. When the land used for raising and grazing livestock is also taken into account, 85% of the UK’s farmland is devoted to animal agriculture. This is despite the fact that only a third of calories consumed in the country comes from animal products. The solution According to WWF, Brits currently eat more animal protein than is recommended and should aim to replace some of this with plant-based foods. …

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Oceanium Kelp

© Oceanium

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Scottish Seaweed Specialist Oceanium to Receive WWF Investment in £2 Million Seed Funding

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) counts itself among a group of investors in Oceanium, a Scottish company specialising in the cultivation and processing of seaweed. The company has announced the first closing of its seed II round led by Green Angel Syndicate, raising around £2 million (equivalent to €2.3 million). “Oceanium’s groundbreaking expansion of cultivated algae processing capacity is an exciting step for the industry as a whole.” Oceanium plans to use the fresh capital to scale its proprietary biorefinery and processing model to market to the emerging sustainable algae farming industry. The company’s technical and innovative refining method has been developed to use marine algae for multiple applications such as plant-based food and sustainable packaging material as an alternative to plastic. WWF’s Paul Dobbins …

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Gastronomy & Food Service

Sodexo “Future 50 Foods” to Bring Sustainable Plant-Based Meals to 5000 Hospitals and Businesses

Global food services company Sodexo joined forces with Knorr Professional (Unilever) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to write the Future 50 Foods report which identified 50 healthy foods which offer a low environmental impact. Sodexo, the first global player to serve the Future 50 Foods on a large scale, will begin a roll out  of 40 plant-based recipes containing the 50 foods, to kitchens around the world.

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