DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ War on cow gas is stinky but necessary job in climate-change struggle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Karen Kwok | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet, governments from New Zealand to Europe are zeroing in on livestock, whose burps and farts help generate 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, United Nations estimates show. Cattle is a major contributor to methane emissions from agriculture, which hit 142 metric tons in 2022, triple the amount of those from the oil sector, according to the International Energy Agency. But like fossil fuels ten years ago, this will be the start of a long but necessary battle. CONTEXT NEWSEuropean Union countries agreed on March 16 to try to reduce the number of farms covered by proposed rules to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. French dairy company Danone on Jan. 17 pledged to reduce methane emissions from its fresh milk supply chain by 30% by 2030 from its 2020 level.

☆ Meet the 'methane man' with a mission: Using microbes to eat up the greenhouse gas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Most recently, he's zeroed in on the idea of using methane-eating microbes to combat climate change. The startup was founded in 2022 and sells methane-eating microbes, or methanotrophs, to its pilot customers, farmers. "If you only look at the long term, and you don't spend anything on short term, you end up tripping over your feet," Silverman told CNBC. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Windfall’s propriety methane-eating microbes seen here under a microscope. First, they will move to other types of livestock farms, like cows, pigs and chickens, Silverman told CNBC.

☆ I'm a software engineer who struggled with procrastination until I tried 'monk mode' — here's how it saves me up to 3 hours a day
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

2 hours of 'monk mode' at a timeI began by committing to two-hour blocks of monk mode at a time. To prepare for my time in monk mode, I eliminated as many distractions as I could. I was finishing my work day in about six to seven hours instead of working nine to 10 hours. Monk mode can be intense, so it's important to take care of your physical and mental health. Keep track of your progress with monk mode and adjust your approach as necessary.

Biden will be in the capital Ottawa on Thursday and Friday to address Parliament and meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Despite the unity over Ukraine, the U.S. is less happy with Canada over its defense spending, which has long failed to meet the 2% target of GDP set by NATO members. But Canada's defense spending is around 1.3% of GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. David Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, told CTV that defense spending would be "a topic of ongoing conversation ... because we do need more dollars for defense." Trudeau is likely make a commitment of sorts on Haiti but less than Washington is pressing for, said a source briefed on the summit.

☆ The 'Harvard diet' may be the standard for living a long and healthy life—here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

You've definitely heard of the Mediterranean diet and the MyPlate method , but what about Harvard University's Healthy Eating Plate ? The Harvard diet is actually Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate, and it can be used as a guide for "creating healthy, balanced meals," according to "The Nutrition Source," a section of Harvard's site that provides nutritional information. Add in whole grains (1/4 of your plate)In comparison to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPlate method, the Harvard diet specifies the type of grains that you should eat. Get some healthy protein (1/4 of your plate)More than most diets, the Healthy Eating Plate dives into which proteins are healthy for you and which you should limit in your diet. The Harvard diet encourages you to alternate between water, tea and coffee to pair with your meals, especially with little to no sugar.

☆ Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway rejects call for silence on hot-button issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 17 (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), run by billionaire Warren Buffett, on Friday urged shareholders to reject proposals that it avoid discussing hot-button social and political issues, and competing proposals that it disclose more about its climate change and diversity efforts. While Buffett's salary is low, his 15.6% Berkshire stake comprises most of his $101.6 billion net worth, which Forbes magazine said makes him the world's sixth-richest person. Berkshire's more than $60 billion of stock repurchases since the end of 2019 helps preserve Buffett's voting power. Abel would become chief executive and Buffett's son Howard Buffett would become non-executive chairman if Warren Buffett could not continue. Berkshire's businesses include Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom and many others.

☆ Layoff anxiety is real—but you can still thrive during challenging times. Here’s how
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"I often ask myself, 'Why am I working right now if I might not have a job in two months?'" Living in fear of losing your job can be crippling — but confronting your layoff anxiety head-on is the best way to beat the panic. Here are three strategies to cope with layoff anxiety. Detach your identity from your jobSpending more time on the hobbies, relationships and interests that bring you joy outside of work is another powerful antidote to layoff anxiety. Being his own boss, Jacobowitz jokes, gives him ultimate job security: "It's not like I can fire myself!"

☆ New Zealand's Fonterra profit jumps 50% on stronger dairy prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 16 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd (FCG.NZ) on Thursday said first-half profit jumped 50% due to higher prices for its dairy products and strong margins across its cheese and protein division. The co-operative, which controls almost a third of global dairy trade, also said it expects to earn between 55 and 75 NZ cents per share for fiscal 2023, from an earlier forecast of 50 to 70 NZ cents per share. Favourable margins in the dairy co-operative's protein portfolio during the half year offset lockdown-driven weakness in demand from China. The world's biggest dairy exporter reported normalised net profit after tax of NZ$546 million ($338.19 million) for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with NZ$364 million a year earlier. Fonterra declared an interim dividend of 10 NZ cents per share, compared with 5 NZ cents per share declared last year.

☆ How ‘Forever Chemicals’ Are All Around Us, From Winter Coats to Fast-Food Wrappers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Jemal R. Brinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing the first federal limits for six PFAS chemicals in drinking water. The chemicals have been used in industry and consumer products worldwide for more than 70 years because of their ability to resist water, grease and stains and to put out fires. PFAS, also dubbed forever chemicals, have been found in firefighting foam, drinking water, fast-food containers, dental floss, landfills, hazardous waste sites, manufacturing or chemical-production facilities, fish caught from contaminated water and dairy products from livestock exposed to the chemicals.

☆ The Next Frontier in Farming? The Ocean.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Somini Sengupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

For centuries, it’s been treasured in kitchens in Asia and neglected almost everywhere else: Those glistening ribbons of seaweed that bend and bloom in cold ocean waves. Far beyond South Korea, new farms have cropped up in Maine, the Faroe Islands, Australia, even the North Sea. But even as its champions see it as a miracle crop for a hotter planet, others worry that the zeal to farm the ocean could replicate some of the same damages of farming on land. “Seaweed is not going to replace all plastic, but seaweed combined with other things can tackle single use plastic,” he said. Seaweed farms are a far cry from the rows of corn and wheat that make up monoculture farming on land.

☆ AI Food Startup NotCo Hires Activision’s Fernando Machado as CMO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

NotCo co-founder and Chief Executive Matias Muchnick, right, with Chief Marketing Officer Fernando Machado. Mr. Machado will develop a marketing plan to help the plant-based food startup break through into the U.S. market, according to Mr. Muchnick. The Not Co. or NotCo, a Chilean startup that uses artificial-intelligence technology to produce plant-based foods that mimic dairy and meat products, has hired Fernando Machado as chief marketing officer. He succeeds Flavia Buchmann, who left the company in late 2022. NotCo has also brought on an unnamed U.S. general manager to work alongside Mr. Machado and will announce that hire in the coming weeks, according to a company spokeswoman.

☆ In California, a Race to Capture the Water Before It Escapes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jim Carlton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PETALUMA, Calif.—Neil McIsaac has something many other dairy farmers here don’t: a storm-runoff capture system that can provide backup water for his herd when local reservoirs go dry, as they did last year. Already, he and others involved in the project say it has proven its worth. It has captured 670,000 gallons so far this winter, enough to slake the thirst of his 700 cows for a month, Mr. McIsaac said.

☆ Whole Foods' CEO doesn't drink caffeine—here's what he eats every day to stay 'focused and energized'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jason Buechel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel grew up in rural Wisconsin, where he developed his love for food. Today, he's cut back from caffeine and goes for plant-based foods to boost his energy. Today, as the CEO of Whole Foods Market, my love for food connects me with our 100,000-plus team members. The 365 by Whole Foods Market Crunchy Peanut Butter is also a staple in my pantry. When I need an extra boost, I'll reach for some almonds or blueberries.

☆ Berkshire Hathaway resumes Occidental purchases, stake reaches 22.2%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Berkshire paid about $355 million for 5.8 million Occidental shares between March 3 and March 7, according to the filing. Buffett's company now owns about 200.2 million Occidental shares worth $12.2 billion, based on Tuesday's closing price of $60.85. Berkshire also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock that throws off $800 million of annual dividends, plus warrants to buy another $5 billion of common stock. Occidental ended January with about 900 million shares outstanding. Berkshire ended 2022 with $128.6 billion of cash and equivalents.

☆ Reese's calling its new peanut butter cups 'plant-based' is the clearest sign the term has lost all meaning
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Hershey is debuting a chocolate bar and Reese's peanut butter cups that are plant-based. The candies use oat milk instead of dairy milk. It's the latest plant-based version of a packaged food as the term becomes over-used. The Hershey Co., which makes both of the candies, will start selling plant-based peanut butter cups this month, the company said Tuesday. The peanut butter cups will be the first vegan chocolates that the company has sold across the US, the company said.

Carlsberg shares have risen more than 60% during Hart's tenure, outperforming AB Inbev and Heineken, whose shares have dropped around 47% and risen around 45% respectively. Carlsberg's shares fell 3.5% at market open in Copenhagen, but later pared losses and were 0.7% lower at 1118 GMT. "Cees 't Hart has delivered remarkable results during his time at Carlsberg," Supervisory Board Chair Henrik Poulsen said. It is also seeking an option to buy back the Russian business in the future. With only around 16% of revenue coming from Eastern Europe, Carlsberg's biggest markets are Western Europe and Asia.

☆ Hershey launches vegan Reese’s
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Vegan Reese’s are happening. Hershey, which makes Reese’s along with Hershey bars, Kisses and other chocolates and candies, announced two new dairy-free products on Tuesday: Reese’s plant-based peanut butter cups, and a vegan chocolate Hershey bar with almonds and sea salt, each made with oats instead of dairy and designed to taste like milk chocolate. The new Reese’s variety will be available nationally this month, and the new Hershey bar is arriving in April. The company is the latest to introduce a vegan chocolate in hopes that it will attract more customers. Mondelez (MDLZ) acquired Hu, a company which makes vegan chocolate, that year, as well.

☆ Toblerone forced to replace iconic Matterhorn on packaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The peak-shaped treat made with honey and almond nougat will also lose the iconic Matterhorn mountain from its packaging after Mondelez (MDLZ), which makes Toblerone, decided to shift some manufacturing to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. “For legal reasons, the changes we’re making to our manufacturing mean we need to adjust our packaging to comply with Swissness legislation. We have removed our Swissness claim from the front of the Toblerone pack and changed our description ‘of Switzerland’ to ‘established in’,” a Mondelez spokesperson told CNN. Mondelez’s new packaging includes “a distinctive new Toblerone typeface and logo” and the signature of Theodor Tobler, the spokesperson added. Tobler created the chocolate bar in 1908 together with his cousin Emil Baumann, according to the Mondelez website.

☆ Toblerone chocolate could lose its iconic Swiss mountain logo because it won't be able to meet the country's standard of 'Swissness'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Toblerone is set to drop the iconic image of Switzerland's Matterhorn mountain from its packaging. Switzerland has laws regulating the use of national symbols and products claiming to be Swiss-made. Toblerone's new branding will feature a "modernized and streamlined" logo instead of the Matterhorn's jagged outline, per Aargauer Zeitung. The Matterhorn debuted on Toblerone's packaging in 1970, according to its brand page. "We'll relaunch the Toblerone packaging from this summer, saying the brand was 'established in Switzerland,'" Livia Kolmitz, a Mondelez spokeswoman, told Reuters.

☆ American-made cheese can still be called 'gruyère,' a court ruled, and cheese makers in France and Switzerland aren't happy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

"Gruyère" can be used for cheeses produced in the United States, an appeals court ruled. It's a victory for dairy groups in the US, but cheese-makers in Switzerland and France aren't happy. Gruyère is a firm yellow cheese named after the town of Gruyères in Fribourg, Switzerland, where it originated. "Cheese consumers in the United States understand 'gruyère' to refer to a type of cheese, which renders the term generic." Krysta Harden, president of the US Dairy Export Council, called the ruling an "outstanding result for manufacturers and farmers here in the United States," per Reuters.

Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruling that "gruyere" can legally be used to describe cheese regardless of where it was made. The USPTO rejected a bid by two groups representing cheese producers from Switzerland and France for a mark that would restrict the use of "gruyere" to cheese from Gruyère itself. Gruyere cheese, "widely considered among the greatest of all cheeses," was first made in the Swiss district of La Gruyère in 1115, the court said. Switzerland's Interprofession du Gruyère and France's Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Gruyère asked the USPTO in 2015 to certify that gruyere cheese only comes from the Gruyère region. Circuit Court of Appeals, No.

☆ Companies could lower grocery store prices if the US passed immigration reform, says a major food CEO: 'It's a crisis out here in terms of labor availability'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford told Time that allowing more immigration would help ease costs in the stretched industry. One food CEO is pointing to an untapped pool of people who could help businesses ease their labor shortage and lower prices for Americans: immigrants. To get some immigration reform," Beth Ford, the head of Land O'Lakes, a massive supplier of dairy goods, told Time's John Simons. It's a crisis out here in terms of labor availability." Amid labor shortage problems, Ford said that it's important to keep in mind that the demand for food is only growing.

REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerBILOZERKA, Ukraine, March 1 (Reuters) - When Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November, Andrii Povod returned to find his grain farm in ruins. The institute's Baliuk said the war damage could lead to an alarming loss of fertility. ECHOES OF WORLD WAR ONEA working group of soil scientists created by the Ukrainian government estimates it would cost $15 billion to remove all mines and restore Ukraine's soil to its former health. If studies of damage to land during World War One are anything to go by, some areas will never recover. To be sure, World War One lasted four years, and the war in Ukraine only one year so far, but lead remains a key component of many modern munitions, Rintoul-Hynes said.

☆ Woody Harrelson Can Play Anyone. It’s Being Himself That’s Hard.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

“I’m an A personality and a B facade,” says Woody Harrelson, and that’s as good an explanation for his charm and success as you’re likely to find. I don’t know. I could go hang off one of those big mountaintop-remover coal things, but that’s not going to stop it. I meet with the director, and I’m going to do it — they’re making it for like $500,000 — then the guy just goes with someone else! I have a gluttonous side, and I know that’s not going to help me be a spiritually better person.

☆ UBS says Berkshire Hathaway is still an attractive play after earnings miss, sees 20% gain ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

BRK.A 1Y mountain Berkshire Hathaway Still, UBS is bullish on Omaha-based Berkshire for several reasons. Berkshire's insurance and other businesses held cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills of $125 billion at the end of 2022, which included some $95 billion in U.S. Treasury Bills. Some of the short-term Treasury bills are now yielding 5% and more. Finally, UBS said Berkshire shares remain attractively valued, trading at a level where Buffett has historically bought back shares. Berkshire used $2.855 billion to buy back shares in the fourth quarter, bringing the 2022 total to nearly $8 billion.

Search resuls for: "Dairy"

25 mentions found