QuornPro staff at Biohub

QuornPro's staff at Biohub - Image courtesy of Biohub at Ings Farm

Sustainability / Environment

UK’s Biohub Regenerative Farm Celebrates First Year with Continued Support from QuornPro and Levy UK

UK’s Biohub at Ings Farm, a regenerative farm in North Yorkshire that educates chefs and farmers on sustainable farming practices, is marking its 1st anniversary with long-term support commitments from sponsors QuornPro (previously Quorn Professionals), the food service division of the meat-free brand, and Levy UK + Ireland, leading sports and entertainment caterers. In the last 12 months, over 800 people have visited the farm and participated in regenerative farming activities designed, developed, and showcased on a 92-acre plot intentionally left ungrazed to recover the soil’s fertility, explained the Biohub in a statement. The Biohub has been developed by RegenFarmCo, a specialist regenerative agriculture consultancy founded by Vincent Walsh, supported by Yorkshire Water, the second-largest landowner in Yorkshire. Regenerative interventions QuornPro has used the farm to educate and …

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Oatly F.A.R.M. The Future Agriculture Renovation Movement

© Oatly

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Oatly Launches Regenerative Agriculture Movement to Slash Climate Footprint by 70%

Oatly has announced the launch of a global regenerative agriculture movement that will work with farmers to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Called F.A.R.M (Future Agriculture Renovation Movement), it aims to restore carbon, improve biodiversity, and support farm viability. The movement will test several different models of regenerative agriculture; pilots are currently taking place in Canada, Sweden, the US, Finland, and the UK, and will scale globally if successful. In 2022, 22 corn and soy farmers participated in the pilot schemes by adding oats as a third crop in their rotation. Oatly says it consults with farmers to find out what works and provides financial incentives to those who take part in the pilots. “The whole idea of planting clover and other cover crops kind …

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Milkadamia Vegan Milk Tea

©Milkadamia

Products & Launches

Milkadamia to Debut More Sustainable Dairy-Free Milk Tea in 2023

Dairy-free brand milkadamia announces the debut of Milk Tea, a new ready-to-drink tea featuring macadamia milk and black tea, which will launch at major retailers in January 2023.  According to milkadamia, the global popularity of milk tea – typically rich black tea made with condensed or evaporated milk – is increasing exponentially among Millenial and Gen-Z consumers. Blending black tea with milkadamia’s “slightly decadent” macadamia nut milk, the new Milk Tea contains 100 calories per serving, and will be the first US brand offered in 32 oz. multi-serve cartons, versus less sustainable single-serve packaging. Each carton will retail for an MRP of $6.99.  Healthy benefits Native to Australia, macadamia nuts offer a host of nutritional benefits, including Vitamin E, antioxidant compounds, healthy fats and soluble …

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quorn proteins in meatballs, pasta served at a big meal

© Quorn

Sustainability / Environment

Quorn Regenerative Farming Initiative Educates Chefs & Farmers on Sustainable Practices

Biohub at Ings Farm is a regenerative farming initiative in the UK to educate current and aspiring chefs and farmers on sustainable farming practices. The project launched in collaboration with Quorn Professionals, the food service division of the meat-free brand; RegenFarmCo (CIC), a specialist regenerative agriculture consultancy founded by Vincent Walsh; and Yorkshire Water, the second largest landowner in Yorkshire. Levy UK + Ireland, the catering and hospitality partner of sport, leisure, heritage, and performing venues, has announced plans to join the collaboration by sponsoring Biohub at Ings Farm. At the farm, Levy UK + Ireland has the opportunity to grow its produce, which the company would use to serve at its partner venues across the UK. The company says that participating in a regenerative farming …

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spiber spider silk

Brewed Protein silk© spiber.jp

Materials

ADM and Spiber Sign New Agreement to Support Regenerative Farming of Brewed Protein in Iowa

Agribusiness leader ADM and biotech company Spiber announce a new joint agreement to support the adoption of regenerative farming practices for Spiber’s Brewed Protein™. Through the agreement, the companies will work with corn farmers in Iowa to implement sustainable farming practices for the production of Spiber’s biomaterials.  Made from corn-based dextrose, Brewed Protein is a next-generation polymer that replaces petroleum-derived materials in a variety of applications, ranging from clothing to car seats. ADM and Spiber first partnered in 2020 to build a manufacturing facility in Clinton, IA to convert corn dextrose into Brewed Protein using ADM’s massive microbial fermentation capabilities.   Now, both companies are working to expand the environmental impact of Brewed Protein by encouraging Iowa farmers to adopt regenerative farming practices such as the …

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Beans Willicroft

©Willicroft

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Willicroft Sows First White Beans in Renegenerative Farming Project, Preparing For 2023 Upscale

Willicroft, the Netherlands brand which became the first plant-based cheese B Corp this March, reveals to vegconomist it has sown its first white beans — the staple ingredient in the brand’s cheese recipes — as it prepares to upscale in 2023. Two years ago, Willicroft became aware of the extremely high emissions of cashews — the previous main ingredient — through an initial lifecycle assessment. The team set about looking for alternative ingredients that could tackle a multitude of factors – lower emissions, similar nutritional profile, neutral colour and flavour to name a few. Most importantly, this new base ingredient needed to be grown within or close to its consumer base in the Netherlands. Two weeks ago, the first seeds of white beans were sown …

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Farmer Toolkit

Farmer Toolkit

Society

Miyoko’s Creamery, Mercy for Animals and Animal Outlook Launch Toolkit to Help Farmers Transition to Plants

Three of the largest organizations in farmed animal welfare have joined forces to launch The Farmer Toolkit – a first-of-its-kind online information hub to help US farmers transition away from industrial animal agriculture.  Mercy for Animals’ Transfarmation project partnered with Animal Outlook and Miyoko’s Creamery Dairy Farm Transition program to construct the Toolkit, which provides extensive guidance and support for farmers looking to shift from animal agriculture to plant-focused farming.  Among many benefits, The Farmer Toolkit provides: State-by-state resources Funding opportunities Marketing guidance for selling products Information on growing specialty crops Enterprise budgets Webinars Publicity Facilitating better farming Through its programs, Mercy for Animals’ Transfarmation has already assisted numerous animal farmers to successfully shift their farms to grow sustainable crops like hemp and mushrooms.  As …

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OatUp, Dirty Clean Foods

OatUp, © Dirty Clean Foods

Products & Launches

Australia: WOA Brand Dirty Clean Food to Launch OatUP Milk in Woolworths

Australia’s Wide Open Agriculture (WOA) just announced a distribution agreement with Woolworths for Dirty Clean Food’s oat milk OatUP. Dirty Clean Food is the food brand of Wide Open Agriculture and is known for producing animal meat through Regenerative Agriculture. Woolworths appears an ideal partner for the distribution of new plant-based brands in Australia, continually expanding its vegan range over the past two years. The retailer now stocks products such as OmniFoods’ plant-based spam and pork mince, Deliciou’s vegan snacks and seasonings, Veganz’ plant-based pizza, and Fable Foods’ vegan beef. The chain has also been considerably increasing its range of vegan meats and cheeses, and recently invested in plant-based brand Harvest B. Wide Open Agriculture expects the agreement to generate sales of more than $750,000 …

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LIVEKINDLY Co / Puris

Agriculture / Agribusiness

PURIS to Work on Regenerative Farming in South Africa With LIVEKINDLY Co

Pure play plant-based ingredients company PURIS Holdings, the largest North American producer of pea protein and key supplier of plant protein to Beyond Meat, today announces the formation of two new joint ventures with the LIVEKINDLY Collective. They will begin in South Africa, where PURIS says its pea variety has excelled in early trials, on a “mission to introduce protein-rich, sustainable crops globally.” Puris, which received an injection of $75 million from Cargill in 2019, when the pea protein industry began to witness phenomenal growth following the initial success of the Beyond Burger, also developed a pea starch alternative to gelatine, which is usually fabricated using animal bones. The first new venture between LIVEKINDLY Co and Puris “will deliver innovation against plant protein industry waste …

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