DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

"China was initially in discussions to be part of the project," the official said, declining to be named as the information was deemed sensitive. China has since banned the sale and consumption for food of wildlife animals. China's public security organs have handled more than 70,000 criminal cases involving wild animals from 2020-2022, confiscating 1.37 million wild animals in the process, state news agency Xinhua has reported. SLOW STARTThe SAFE project surveys only began in October last year, when the project's assessors visited Khao Kheow zoo and a cafe in Thailand. The wet markets targeted are markets where wild animals are sold alongside fresh meat and vegetables.

☆ World food prices fall for 12th month running in March - FAO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROME, April 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations food agency's world price index fell in March for a 12th consecutive month, and is now down 20.5% from a record high hit one year ago following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 126.9 points last month against 129.7 for February, the agency said on Friday. The FAO cereal price index fell 5.6% month-on-month in March, with wheat registering a 7.1% drop, maize a 4.6% decline and rice easing 3.2 percent. FAO also raised its forecast for world cereal production in 2022 to 2.777 billion tonnes, just 1.2% down from the previous year. World cereal utilisation in the 2022/23 period was seen at 2.779 billion tonnes, FAO said, down 0.7% from 2021/22.

HONG KONG, March 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In the biblical parable of the prodigal son, a repentant wastrel returns home to a forgiving and beneficent father. In China, Alibaba (9988.HK) founder Jack Ma's homecoming and rehabilitation appears to be part of an official campaign to revive flagging private sector investment. However, if officials believe the mere sight of Ma in public will revive business confidence, that hope has a whiff of desperation. Ma the prodigal entrepreneur has returned, but perhaps not for long. Shares of Alibaba rallied as much as 4% in Hong Kong following the SCMP report before closing flat at HK$85.25 on March 27.

☆ Hasbro 2023 forecasts disappoint as inflation hits toy demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Deborah Mary Sophia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Hasbro, Inc. logo is seen on the Star Wars Galactic Snackin Grogu toy in the FAO Schwarz toy store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 24, 2021. The overall revenue is projected to be down low-single digits, while Wall Street analysts were expecting a 2.5% increase to $6 billion. "It's a cautious outlook...(but) what I'm most concerned about is that Hasbro doesn't lose sight of the consumer products segment," said James Zahn, Editor-in-Chief of trade magazine "The Toy Book". "Consumer products is what Hasbro is rooted in as a business." Hasbro expects 2023 adjusted per-share earnings in the range of $4.45 to $4.55 compared with estimates of $4.88 per share.

☆ Hasbro 2023 profit forecast disappoints as toy demand drops sharply
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Hasbro, Inc. logo is seen on the Star Wars Galactic Snackin Grogu toy in the FAO Schwarz toy store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 24, 2021. Toy demand has typically remained resistant to economic uncertainties, but it fell sharply in the holiday season, with Hasbro rival Mattel Inc (MAT.O) earlier this month projecting 2023 profit below expectations. For Hasbro, Walmart accounted for around 13% of sales, while Target made up for roughly 8% of sales in 2021. The toymaker said it will take a nearly $300 million hit to 2023 revenue from the licenses and brands that it exited. Hasbro said it expects 2023 adjusted earnings in the range of $4.45 to $4.55 per share, well below analysts' average estimate of $4.88 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ Indonesia's seafood farming industry faces a 'technology gap' — and startups are raising big bucks to fill it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

And we are third in aquaculture production after China and India. Aquaculture production and exports by country in 2020 Aquaculture (animals, not including algae) Top producing countries in 2020 Top exporting countries in 2020 1. Aruna, for its part, helps to connect Indonesia's small-scale aquaculture farmers to buyers. Indonesia has the puzzle pieces to become a global leader in aquaculture and seafood production. "Indonesia has the puzzle pieces to become a global leader in aquaculture and seafood production.

But to reach its ultimate destination - supermarket shelves - cultivated meat faces big obstacles, five executives told Reuters. California-based cultivated meat company GOOD Meat already has an application pending with the FDA, which has not been previously reported. Regulatory approval is just the first hurdle for making cultivated meat accessible to a broad swath of consumers, executives at UPSIDE, Mosa Meat, Believer Meats, and GOOD Meat told Reuters. But it will take hundreds of millions of dollars for GOOD Meat, for example, to build bioreactors of the size needed to make its meat at scale, Tetrick said. But cultivated meat companies have the advantage that they can claim their product is real meat, Tetrick said.

☆ Gina Lollobrigida, post WWII Italian film diva, dies at 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROME, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, a sultry Mediterranean diva who came to represent Italy's vibrant rebirth after World War Two, has died aged 95, her former lawyer said on Monday. "Farewell to a diva of the big screen, protagonist of more than half a century of the Italian film history. Ciao Lollo," Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano wrote on Twitter. One of her last appearances was a cameo in an Italian film in 2011. In an interview with Reuters in the Rome villa in 2006, she complained about intrusive photographers, saying they were still trying to invade her privacy.

☆ War and drought drove global food prices to record high in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, dipped by 1.9% in December from a month earlier, the Rome-based organization said Friday. “Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years,” FAO chief economist Maximo Torero said in a prepared statement. With critical Black Sea supplies disrupted, food prices rose to record highs, increasing inflation, poverty and food insecurity in developing nations that rely on imports. The organization’s Vegetable Oil Price Index hit an all-time high last year, even as it tumbled in December to its lowest level since February 2021. For all of 2022, the FAO Dairy Price Index and Meat Price Index also were the highest since 1990.

☆ World food prices hit record high in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sybille De La Hamaide | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021, and the highest since records started in 1990, the agency said on Friday. Food prices surged after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year on fears of disruptions to Black Sea trade. "Calmer food commodity prices are welcome after two very volatile years," FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said. Still over the whole of 2022, four of the FAO's five food sub-indexes - cereals, meat, dairy and vegetable oils - had reached record highs, while the fifth one, sugar, was at a 10-year high. The FAO Cereal Price Index index rose 17.9% in 2022 due to factors including significant market disruptions, higher energy and input costs, adverse weather and continued strong global food demand, the FAO said.

☆ Macy's CEO says he was told being openly gay would harm his career when he started in 1983
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette was told being gay would harm his career, per The Wall Street Journal. Gennette, who started at Macys in 1983, said he got pushback for his sexuality. He worked almost his entire career at Macy's, and was made CEO in 2017. Gennette was describing the attitudes to his sexuality in 1983, when he joined Macy's and was open about being gay. In July, Gennette told Time magazine "there were no gay CEO examples" for him to look up to in his early career, and that he felt "like an outsider" while he was the only gay person in Macy's senior leadership.

Below are the events, trends and topics investors expect to shape the outlook for emerging markets next year. "The economic downturns along with the aggressive monetary tightening and geopolitical and commodity shocks that induce them will be temporarily painful in financial and emerging markets," said David Folkerts-Landau, group chief economist at Deutsche Bank. Globally, the war has transformed energy markets and inflation pressures, food security and geopolitical risk perception - factors that are often more keenly felt in emerging economies. "There's not actually a lot of debt maturing next year," said Carmen Altenkirch, emerging markets sovereign analyst at Aviva Investors. 6/ TURKEY ELECTIONSPresident Tayyip Erdogan could face the biggest political challenge of his two decades in power as Turks head to the ballot box in the most high-profile vote in emerging markets.

☆ Target hopes value-hungry shoppers will come to the rescue this holiday season
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Melissa Repko | CNBCTarget has more than 1,700 toys that are exclusive to its stores and website this holiday season. Target is also trying to cut through the noise of a more promotional holiday season. And, as shoppers juggle holiday parties and hit stores again, Target wants shoppers' store visits to be convenient and fun, said Cara Sylvester, chief guest experience officer. She said the goal is to be a "holiday happy place" where shoppers want to stay awhile and fill up their carts. Baker said investors hope to see signs Target's sales are picking up as the holiday rush gains steam.

☆ World food prices ease further in November, says FAO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 135.7 points last month, down from 135.9 for October, the agency said on Friday. Lower readings for cereals, meat and dairy products in November offset higher prices for vegetable oils and sugar, the FAO said. The slight decrease in November meant that the FAO food index is now only 0.3% above its level a year earlier, the agency said. The FAO warned last month that expected record food import costs in 2022 would lead the poorest countries to cut back on shipped volumes. In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO lowered its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.756 billion tonnes from 2.764 billion estimated last month.

☆ Trapview: Can an AI-powered insect trap solve a $220 billion pest problem?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Tom Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN Business —Pests destroy up to 40% of the world’s crops each year, causing $220 billion in economic losses, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Trapview is harnessing the power of AI to help tackle the problem. Targeted interventionsThe automated devices have been used to monitor grapes, tomatoes, olives, tree fruits, and, pictured here, brassicas. Štefančič says that Trapview can significantly reduce the use of chemical sprays and the need for farmers to visit their fields. Trapview says it has sold over 7,500 devices in more than 50 countries since it launched in 2012.

Rising salinity in the Delta has multiple causes, experts and farmers say, including overextraction of groundwater and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. "With time, with the sea level higher, that line of salinity will go down into the Delta. EVAPORATIONSea water intrusion and salinity also threaten the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. "You have to do much better job in a place like the Nile Delta because the water just evaporates quickly," she said. Rice cultivation helps wash the soil, but the government has imposed restrictions on the crop in parts of the Delta to conserve scarce water.

The company said Wednesday it now plans for a weaker holiday quarter. Target did not provide an outlook beyond the holiday quarter, but said it expects tough conditions to persist. So far this fiscal year, those losses have had a more than $400 million impact on Target’s operating margin. Comparable sales, which track Target sales online and at stores open at least 13 months, rose 2.7% over the year-ago period. Target will share more details about its cost-cutting plan at an annual investor day, which is scheduled for March.

Farmers in both are fighting a losing battle to save the soil that produces our food. By contrast, there's not enough water in the vast Yangtze basin, which produces a third of China's crops. Soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Similarly, other measures such as digging thousands of new wells and encouraging farmers to switch crops to boost yields have limited impact. Options include not tilling soil to reduce erosion, and planting off-season cover crops to prevent erosion and nutrient loss.

☆ Ukrainian farmers turn to UN-supplied grain sleeves to save their business
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] A general view of grain sleeves, temporary grain storage solution, loaded with the grain in the village of Kozyn in Kyiv region, Ukraine November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Murad SezerKYIV, Nov 10 (Reuters) - On a crisp and sunny November morning, Ukrainian farmers lined up to collect U.N.-supplied grain sleeves to store crops over winter as the country faces a significant shortage of storing capacity caused by Russian shelling. Local grain prices have fallen after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, and Ukrainian farmers say they face difficulties exporting and high costs because of power outages after Russian missile and drone attacks on energy facilities. "We are trying to encourage (farmers) to keep the grain and wait for a better price... "Prices for diesel, petrol and spare parts have grown, while prices for our produce, for wheat, corn, they have decreased significantly," she said.

The plan would show how the food industry and farming can align with the world's goal of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, Food and Agriculture Organization Deputy Director Zitouni Ould-Dada said. More than forty investors managing a combined $18 trillion urged the FAO in June to create a plan to curb emissions in the sector, often overlooked in global warming debates yet one of the biggest sources of climate-damaging emissions. "There has never been this much attention to food and agriculture anytime before. Livestock accounts for nearly a third of the global methane emissions linked to human activity, released in the form of cattle burps, manure and the cultivation of feed crops. Reporting by Simon Jessop and Sarah El Safty; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Meet Donald Trump's children with Ivana Trump, Marla Maples, and Melania Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Business Insider | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Donald Trump has five children between two of his former wives and his current wife Melania Trump. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump are children with his first wife, Ivana Trump, who died on July 14. Getty Images/Joe CorriganNow a father of five, Donald Trump Jr. was 12 when Ivana Trump and Donald Trump Sr. divorced. In 2001, a year after he graduated from college, Donald Trump Jr. went to work for his dad for the second time. He told New York magazine that Donald Trump Jr. is like his mentor and Ivanka Trump is like his second mother.

☆ World food index slips in Oct despite higher cereal prices -FAO
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday that its price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 135.9 points last month versus a revised 136.0 for September. The index has fallen from a record of 159.7 in March, but remained 2.0% higher than a year earlier. While prices dipped overall, the cereal index rose 3.0%, with wheat up 3.2%, mostly reflecting uncertainties related to exports from Ukraine and also a downward revision for U.S. supplies. Rising international quotations for sunflower seed oil were more than offset by lower world prices of palm, soy and rapeseed oils. In separate cereal supply and demand estimates, FAO lowered its forecast for global cereal production in 2022 to 2.764 billion tonnes from a previous 2.768 billion tonnes.

☆ New York Developer Related Cos. Bets Big on West Palm Beach
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Deborah Acosta | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

During the pandemic, New York’s Related Cos. turned much of its attention to South Florida, and West Palm Beach in particular.BloombergNew York real-estate developer Stephen Ross built an outdoor mall in downtown West Palm Beach with an FAO Schwarz, a Macy’s and a Barnes and Noble that opened in 2000. The project never quite found its footing back then and struggled financially. Two decades later, the Related Cos. founder and chairman is making a much bigger and more upscale bet on this waterfront city, located about 70 miles from downtown Miami.

☆ How an Xprize-winning group developed an AI assistant to help African farmers increase their crops and adapt to the climate crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-10 | by ( Sarah Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Penn State's PlantVillage uses technology solutions and field teams to increase farmers' crop yield. As warming temperatures spawn more crop pests, groups, including PlantVillage, are increasingly using artificial intelligence to protect agriculture. Each year, plant diseases cost the global economy more than $220 billion, while invasive insects cost at least $70 billion. The climate crisis increases crop diseases and pests — like the desert locust, which could spread because of warming temperatures. Farmers are encouraged to plant trees with biochar, a soil additive that can store carbon dioxide for centuries.

☆ Meet the chef who wants to change our diets one bug at a time
▼ + stars: | 2021-11-23 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York City-based chef Joseph Yoon started cooking insects four years ago for an art project. He now wants to change our perceptions of creepy crawlies so that we can have “delicious,” “nutrient-dense,” and “sustainable” insect diets. “I absolutely love insects,” says Yoon, who is the executive director of Brooklyn Bugs, an organization that promotes edible insects. An edible insect farm, Next Millennium Farms, opened in Canada in 2014. Incorporating edible insects into your diet once a week can make a big difference.”

Persons: CNN —, Joseph Yoon, Yoon, it’s, Joseph Yoon's, Patrick Crowley Organizations: CNN, United Nations Food, Agriculture Organization, FAO, Cricket Locations: New York City, Brooklyn, America, American, United States, Canada, Europe

Search resuls for: "FAO"

25 mentions found