Trend forecasters Kantar Worldpanel has estimated that there will be a rise of 38% in the amount of meals eaten at home during the coronavirus lockdown. But what will we be eating?

If you are the sort to follow so-called influencers on social media (silly you), you might be in for a surprise. Rather than producing a complicated hot chocolate matcha marble cake or majoring in seed-soaked trendy gluten-free vegan options, Kantar Worldpanel say consumers are less likely to experiment in uncertain times, and we should expect a rise in family favourites, especially those that can "fill up" the family such as stews and casseroles, curries, and shepherd's pies.

What are we buying?

Figures from America show that the trend towards buying more fresh or organic foods has been reversed. Basically, shoppers are reaching for oven chips and boxes of sugary cereal rather than organic food and whole grains.

So processed food is back?

For the moment, yes. It's good news for firms producing tinned and frozen foods, though it might not be quite so good for our waistlines.

What's the appeal?

It's hard to be certain but it seems the pull of comfort food is strong. This generation of parents were often brought up in the 1970s and 1980s. Back then, a trip to Fine Fare or William Low was a highlight of the week.

Supermarkets were exciting?

Yes. People increasingly had freezers and microwaves, more disposable income than before, and more women were working full-time, and that led to a boom in convenience food. For the first time, the mass of people had a choice when doing the messages. Supermarkets brought colour into our lives.

So oven chips are cool again?

Treats for this generation of parents included Findus Crispy Pancakes and French bread pizzas, Viennettas, microwave curries and black forest gateau. The emotional pull of processed food, or "food" as it was know then, remains strong.

What about Ice Magic?

Sadly, you can no longer buy the treat, which was poured over ice cream, and would set within moments. The advert lives on on YouTube though. Described as the most exciting thing that has ever happened to ice cream, it showed a very attractive lady skier out-running an avalanche of chocolate, without spoiling her back-combed hair.

Are snacks back too?

Kantar Worldpanel expect to see a significant rise in home snacking. Indulgent categories including chocolate and sweets as well as ice cream. As George Orwell found in The Road to Wigan Pier, in tough times most families prefer to buy something tasty to enrich their dull lives. Lots of sugar, basically.

Will this last once the lockdown is over?

Robert Moskow, an analyst at Credit Suisse, says: We counted three economic recessions in the past 30 years, and in each of them the data show that consumers shifted more toward at-home food consumption to save money. I would expect food-at-home consumption to increase, and not just for the next two months but for the next 12 months.

GARRY

Link:

Issue of the day: Forget the healthy stuff, processed food is back - HeraldScotland

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Every day, grocery workers are restocking toilet paper, eggs, produce and canned goods as fast as the items fly off the shelves.

They disinfect keypads, freezer handles and checkout counters as hundreds of people weave around them, sometimes standing too close for comfort amid the coronavirus pandemic. Some work for hours behind clearplastic barriersinstalled at checkout counters, bulwarks against sudden sneezes or coughs that can propel germs.

They arent doctors or nurses, yet they have been praised for their dedicationby Pope Francis, former U.S. President Barack Obama and countless people on social media, as infections and death counts rise.

From South Africa to Italy to the U.S., grocery workers many in low-wage jobs are manning the frontlines amid worldwide lockdowns, their work deemed essential to keep food and critical goods flowing. Some fear falling sick or bringing the virus home to vulnerable loved ones, and frustration is mounting as some demand better workplace protections, including shorter hours to allow them to rest, and hazard pay for working closely with the public.

Everyone is scared everywhere, here in South Africa and everywhere in the world, said Zandile Mlotshwa, a cashier at Spar supermarket in the Johannesburg suburb of Norwood.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and the vast majority survive. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can be more severe, even causing pneumonia or death.

In the U.S., a handful of states Minnesota and Vermont were the first have given grocery workers a special classification that allows them to put their children in state-paid child care while they work. Unions in Colorado, Alaska, Texas and many other states are pressing governors to elevate grocery workers to the status of first responders.

The governments responsibility is to step up in these moments, said Sarah Cherin, chief of staff for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union in Seattle, the first U.S. epicenter of COVID-19.

The union, which represents about 23,000 grocery workers and 18,000 health care workers, won early concessions for higher pay.

We have always been a group of people who come to work when others stay home, Cherin said. Our workers need the same protection others get.

U.S. grocery and food delivery workers are insisting employers pay them more and provide masks, gloves, gowns and access to testing. Whole Foods workers called for a recent sickout to demand better conditions, including double pay. A group of independent contractors for the Instacart grocery delivery service walked out to force more protections.

Some of the biggest employers in the U.S. are responding.

Kroger, the nations largest grocery chain, said it will give all hourly employees a $2-an-hour Hero Bonus through April 18. That follows temporary $2 pay bumps by Walmart, Target and others.

Walmarts raise is just for hourly employees in distribution centers, but its also giving bonuses to full- and part-time workers. Walmart, the nations largest private employer, and Target will provide masks and gloves to front-line workers and limit the number of customers in stores. Walmart is taking the temperatures of its nearly 1.5 million employees when they report to work.

Most will see it as a welcome relief, Walmart spokesman Dan Bartlett said of the new measures.

But that doesnt alleviate the fear when shoppers wont follow the rules, including social distancing.

Jake Pinelli, who works at a ShopRite in Aberdeen, New Jersey, said customers dont stay 6 feet (2 meters) away from others and typically dont wear masks or gloves. Staffers have protective gear, but the younger employees often give it to older co-workers or those they know have health conditions.

Most of us are terrified, Pinelli said. But he stays on because he wants to help.

I have not only bills to pay, but its the only way right now I feel like I can do anything for my community and help out, Pinelli said.

Some have fallen sick.

The Shaws supermarket chain told workers last week at six stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont that one of its employees had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The company reminded workers to wash their hands regularly and stay home if they dont feel well.

At the Organic Food Depot in Norfolk, Virginia, cash is no longer used. Customers cant bring reusable bags. Children under 16 are banned.

If somebody fell sick in the store, the store is most likely going to shut down, manager Jamie Gass said.

Gass, 47, said his wife has asthma, which means she would be more vulnerable to the coronavirus. Yet he feels pride going to a job that helps ensure people get fed in a crisis.

Am I scared that I could catch this? Absolutely, Gass said. But Im sure everybody is in that position. Im just taking as many precautions as I can, so I dont have to worry as much.

In Italy, where more than 14,000 people have died of COVID-19, consumers seem to prefer smaller, family-run stores and markets.

One of them, the Innocenzi grocery store in Rome, was established in 1884 by Emanuela Innocenzis grandfather. Its wooden shelves, marble entrance steps and cherished custom of clerks waiting on each customer hearken back to another era. The small store now allows in only two customers at a time.

A dentists office provided masks, which employees wipe down with alcohol each day and reuse.

Emanuela Innocenzi shrugged off the popes praise.

The doctors, the nurses have special training, she said. This is our work.

Associated Press writers Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Michael Casey in Boston; Alexandra Olson and Anne DInnocenzio in New York; Frances Demilio in Rome; Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg; and video journalist Rodrique Ngowi in Quincy, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.

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Grocery workers are key during the virus - and they're afraid - Shelbyville Times-Gazette

Reading Time: 12 minutes

Gibran Khalil Gibrans poem Pity the Nation, published in 1933, could almost have been written about lockdown in modern day Lebanon. Most prophetic is the line pity the nation that eats a bread it does not harvest. Lebanon is indeed far from harvesting its own bread, given that we import 85 percent of our food needs and that even what we produce locally is reliant on imported items, be it in the packaging or raw material.

Amidst the ongoing economic crisis, now compounded with coronavirus crisis, prices on a wide range of imported and locally produced food items (based on individual and collective observations)including basics like potatoes, pasta, and riceare on an increasing trajectory, while consumers purchasing power is simultaneously decreasing.

Back in November 2019, the World Bank warned that, if the economic situation continued to worsen, 50 percent of Lebanese could be living below the poverty line. With the situation showing no signs of improvement anytime soon, a growing number of Lebanese are worrying about how to feed their families and collectively we have all been reminded of the importance of well-developed agriculture and agro-industry sectors. Unfortunately, the agriculture sector in Lebanon is underdeveloped and contributes a mere 5 percent to GDP, with an additional 5 percent coming from agro-industry, according to the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

It is this reality that is facing local stakeholders in food production who tell Executive, via telephone interviews, about the challenges of operating under the existing crisis and how the agriculture and agro-industry sectors can be supported in order for Lebanon to meet more of its food demands locally, and so decrease its dependency on imports.

Lebanons compounded crises have created new challenges for local food production sectors and brought them to the forefront of public debates on social media and news programs. However, agriculture and agro-industry had been struggling long before Lebanons economic woes accelerated in the last quarter of 2019. Before we talk about the crisis, we have to know that the agro-production sector was facing many problems even before the economic crisis, says Marc Antoine Bou Nassif, founder of LAtelier du Miel, a honey production company that has been in operation since 2012.

One of the problems facing agro-industry, according to Bou Nassif, is a lack of government imposed regulations and control over food production, which creates a chaotic local market and regulatory barriers to exporting Lebanese products in external markets (he gives Executive the example of not being able to export honey to European markets because a test for a certain enzyme is not available in Lebanese government labs).

The regional export market is another area where the food production industry has been suffering since the onset of the war in Syria in 2012 and the subsequent closure of land borders (the impact of which was felt starting 2015), says Mazen Khoury, production manager at Khoury Dairy. Because of the longer routes refrigerated trucks had to take to reach Iraq, in the example Khoury gave, the cost of transport increased from 10 percent of overall production cost to 40 percent. The regional market, according to him, is still suffering from many of the same factors today.

Indicative of a weakening economy, and another detrimental factor to local agro-industrialists according to Khoury, was the closure of regional (in 2017) and local (in 2018) supermarket chains. These closures in addition to the smaller markets who were also struggling with paying back the credit they owed us caused us an estimated annual loss of $500,000, he says.

It is in this fertile ground of challenges that buds of Lebanons ongoing economic crisis made their first appearance. As the agro-industrialists interviewed for this article explain, Lebanons food production industry is a value-added one, in the sense that almost all raw materials are imported, paid for with foreign currency, and are used in Lebanon to make the final product.

Food producers were faced with a severe cash flow problem when, after the banks reopened on November 1, 2019 (following almost two weeks of closure), their credit lines were cut and access to their dollar accounts severely restricted. Its like somebody opened a new company on November 1 and they have zero cash flow, says Youssef Fares, general manager of olive production company Olive Trade, which owns Lebanese olive oil brand Zejd. Our only cash flow is the stock we have at hand and so we are trying to sell that and use the money to buy our supplies, because the money we have in the bank has no meaning anymore. This is the big problem. Fares tells Executive that he only imports the bottles and containers for his olive oil because Lebanese glass production factory Soliver shut down in 2017.

The increased parallel foreign exchange (FX) rate coupled with the restrictive banking policies led to both financial and access related difficulties across the sector. Speaking for Biomass, a company which produces an organic line of fresh produce, dairy products, and pantry items, its executive manager Mario Massoud says: Most of the organic raw material we use in farming [from the seeds and animal feed to the greenhouses and equipment] is imported. This has dramatically increased in cost and became more scarce, making it more costly to operate than before October 2019, because of the halting of the credit lines and the issues with the FX exchange. He says that buying from local agricultural distributors is also costly since their prices have increased as well (the price of organic seeds has increased threefold, for example) and they ask to be paid in cash dollars.

Khoury also tells Executive about the increased costs from local suppliers, saying that even the price of the milk they use as raw materialwhich they buy from the local farms they control to supplement their own supplyhas increased from LL900 per liter to LL1,350 (which was the amount set by the Ministry of Agriculture on March 4 to support farmers, who have had pay the increased cost of imported cattle feed). Khoury says their cost of production has increased by roughly 50 percent because of these factors.

Another major consequence of the economic crisis, according to Nadine Khoury, CEO of Robinson Agri, is that the halting of credit lines means the company can no longer extend credit to farmers, who are dependent on that support. The problem with the agriculture sector is that banks do not give loans to individual farmersyou need land or assets as collateral, when most farmers rent the landso what usually happens is that private sector agriculture companies lend to most farmers, she explains. The economic crisis cut off our credit limits in the banks so we were no longer able to lend to these farmers and started asking for payments in cash. Robinsons Khoury explains that since the spreading of COVID-19 and increased fear about possible food shortages and limited imports during the crisis, several NGOs, in collaboration with agriculture companies, have launched campaigns to support small growers and sustain the agricultural sector. These interventions could help in alleviating the hard times we are going through, although they are not enough on their own, she says.

The coronavirus has largely made matters worse for Lebanons food producersalthough some have seen sales pick up with Lebanese in lockdown looking for healthier options.

Local sales of Taqa, a Tripoli-based wholesale bakery that produces healthy snacks, had decreased by 35 percent since the start of the economic crisis in October 2019, but Soumaya Merhi, founder of BreadBasket sal, which owns Taqa, says they have stabilized since the beginning of 2020 with the start of the coronavirus lockdown. We have experienced a positive shift in our product sales because people are looking for healthy products to consume at home, she says.

Massoud has also noticed this increased demand on health-conscious products since news of the coronavirus hit Lebanon, although he says it is too soon for him to quantify it. Also, people are now experimenting with cooking in their homes like never before, he says. For farmers and sellers of fruits and vegetables or healthy foods, this is opening a bigger market for them [as those looking to prepare healthier meals at home source fresh produce]. According to Massoud, demand for Biomass products has increased tremendously in the past month, both regionally and locally, to an extent that he is worried they wont be able to keep up in the supply side (these observations are based on feedback at points of sale, when asked for a percentage increase he told Executive no figures had been finalized yet). If we want to increase the production of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, we should have done so three months ago, he says. We are starting to do this now and expect the augmented harvest in August. We expect the demand to remain high because people are now more aware of the benefits of eating healthy, fresh, and organic foods.

Those Executive spoke with have attributed the desire to cook at home and eat more healthily as behind consumer decisions they have witnessed during the lockdown period, though caution it is too early to determine the longevity of these trends or their impacts on their businesses long term. Increased interest in eating healthy and home cooked meals aside, the coronavirus crisis has caused disruptions to the food production business. Besides making imported goods even scarcer and costlier to secure, Massoud says coronavirus has had a negative impact on their exports. We used to export via air freight with Middle East Airlines but today the airport is closed, he says. We do have a few cargo planes, such as DHL, but they are not enough and so everyone is fighting for cargo space in air freights. Because of the corona[virus] lockdown, export is kind of limited or more expensive.

A big percentage of Zejds clients are in the hospitality sector, from caterers to restaurants and hotels, according to Fares. With hospitality outlets across the country shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Zejds local market demand is down to almost zero. While Khoury admits that agro-industry is faring better under the coronavirus lockdown than other sectors that have been completely shut down, he tells Executive that despite it being too early for exact numbers he has noted a drop in consumption of dairy products that he attributes both to a decrease in consumer purchasing power and to people being more conscious of food waste (buying only the quantities they need and avoiding wasting food).

Food producers struggles with the increased cost of production, and the other operational pressures they are dealing with, makes it increasingly difficult for them to sustain their businesses without increasing their prices. Producers are in full knowledge, however, that most consumers are struggling financially and cannot afford excessive price hikes, and so tell Executive they are trying to maintain a balance between managing their costs without pricing out their customers.

Most of the agro-industrialists interviewed mentioned relying on their export markets to introduce fresh money into their local accounts, which, in turn, are used to pay their suppliers. With the high conversion rates, its almost impossible for you to continue without guaranteeing fresh money so, for me, its become essential to keep my good books with my export partners in order to sustain my purchasing power, says Merhi, who imports 20 percent of her raw material and now exports almost 50 percent of her production to Qatar, Canada, and very recently to Saudi Arabia.

Merhi says she has been able to keep Taqas price as is not only by relying on exports but also through producing less quantities, trying to access raw material locally when possible, negotiating the best possible deals with her suppliers, and creating synergies with local producers who use similar ingredients as her.

Khoury says that, despite a long resistance to doing so, those in the dairy production sub-industry could no longer absorb the compounding cost increases and so hiked their prices by 8 percent in January 2020, followed by another 8 percent increase in March. He explains that while Dairy Khourys prices have increased by 16 percent so far this year, their cost of production has increased by around 50 percent. Biomass also only recently, in early April, introduced an average price increase of 15 percent on some products, although they are trying to keep their prices in check by leveraging both their export markets and stocks and attempting to negotiate better deals with their suppliers, according to Massoud.

This increase in the price of food, in a time when a big percentage of Lebanese are losing their jobs or experienced reductions in their salaries, has scary implications. The potential problem is bigger than a factory closing or companies going bankrupt, says Khoury. Today, if people can no longer afford to feed their children, we will be facing a social problem where people might steal or commit crimes before they allow their family to go hungry. The problem started with an economic crisis and corona[virus] but it is heading to an even worse direction of a problem of famine.

Given this scenario of increased prices on imported foodstuffs (and the upward creeping prices of locally produced ones) it has become clear that if the Lebanese government wants to avoid the looming threat of hunger among the countrys population, then one of the immediate and more effective ways of doing so is through supporting local food producers. Today the crisis is an opportunity to solve the key problems facing beekeeping and agro-industry in general,Bou Nassif. It is forcing us to give importance to our local production since we can no longer import at the same rate as before. We also have to export agro-industry products to get fresh money into the country so thats another reason to support the sector. Supporting local food production, according to Merhi, also has the added benefit of employing Lebanese, decreasing dependency on imported foods, and therefore benefiting the local economy through generating a circular economy.

Both Fares and Robinsons Khoury tell Executive separately that the government should subsidize some of the food production industrys imports. A new strategy should be placed by the government who is the body responsible to provide real solutions to the current economic collapse, Khoury says. What is needed in the short is an immediate action plan to assist the agri input companies by subsidizing their import needs just like they are doing with fuels, grains, and medical supplies. We still only need $75 million till the end of 2020. She explains this figure is based on the cost estimations made by the association of the distributors of supplies for agricultural production in Lebanon, and was presented to Riad Salameh, the governor of Banque du Liban, Lebanons central bank, and the agriculture minister separately a couple of months ago. For Mazen Khoury, the short term measures the government can take in support of the sector are subsidizing the difference in the currency exchange or, if that is not possible, supporting agricultural businesses with exports so they can sustain themselves with the fresh money accounts.

While short-term measures such as subsidies are vital to offer immediate support to the sector, it is also important to keep the lessons learned during these crises in mind and foster long-term measures to develop the food production industry. The aim, according to those interviewed for the article, is not to have food production be the sole, or even the strongest contributor to GDPas there are too many obstacles in the way for that (see article on food sufficiency)but rather to develop it enough to at least meet local demand and be less dependent on imports. I hope now we understand that the economy should be built on a multitude of factors, such as a well-planned agriculture sector that can contribute 8 percent to GDP, good industry (including agro-industry) that is 20 to 25 percent GDP, and also services and tourism, says Atef Idriss, CEO of MENA Food Safety Associates. That way, if one sector is hit the other sectors can support it. We got to a time when our economy became too dependent on services and tourism and we spent a big portion of our budget to develop infrastructure, real estate, and tourism in urban areas, forgetting that we have citizens in rural communities such as areas of the Bekaa who can only live from their land, or in the south who want to export their olive oilone does not cancel the other. We need a minister of economy who can look at the big picture and develop an interconnected economic model for Lebanon.

The need for a long term vision and plan developed by the public sector that would guide the development of the food production industry was stressed by all those to whom Executive spoke. The plan would have, as its main pillar, the reduction of dependency on imports both for needed ingredients in the agro-industry and the supply chain materials for agriculture. For local consumption to [help improve Lebanons trade balance], it is important to produce locally and try as much as possible to meet local demand in some products, such as wheat or potatoes, through local production, Fares says. There needs to be a strategy to provide food for people at lower costs, so that means with reduced imports.

To Merhi, any plan to support the agro-industry sector through the production of raw material should follow through the production process until the end product. To invest in agro-industry, you need to have the supply chain buckled, she says. To simply plant something is not enough, you need to think of distribution, supply, and workers [employed] under good working conditions. She adds that, in order for this to succeed, it needs private sector initiative from individual companies with the support of the public sector, the latter of which she sees as having failed agro-industrialists to date.

We are living in unprecedented times globally, where nothing is certain and the future is obscure. In Lebanon, this is compounded by an ongoing economic and financial crisis. Lebanese are dealing with the very real worry of going hungry, having lost parts of their incomes or their jobs and seen prices of food increase. This should not be a time to panic and give in to despair, however, it should instead be the time for the government to take immediate measures to support local food production. Lebanese food producers were succeeding prior to these crises, despite all the obstacles in their pathsall they are asking for now is for some support to be able to feed the nation.

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Lebanese agro-industrialists discuss challenges and opportunities in times of crisis - Executive

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Organic Food Market to Develop New Growth Story: Emerging Segments is the Key - Science In Me

Its August and 38C outside a greenhouse on a fruit farm in suburban Nanjing, China. Inside the farmhouse, customers sample organic grapes and peaches.

Ms. Wang, who owns the farm, carefully lifts the cover off a large bin of earthworms. She is raising thousands of them to produce organic fertilizer for her farm.

Wang is one of an increasing number farmers in China who are cutting back on fertilizer and pesticide use, and tapping into consumer demand for organic and sustainably grown food.

Chinas total grain output has almost quadrupled since 1961, when the great famine ended. But its success has come at a heavy environmental cost: China uses four times more fertilizer per unit area than the global average and accounts for half the worlds total pesticide consumption. Overall, chemical use on Chinese farms is 2.5 times the global average per acre of land.

The overuse of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides has led to soil contamination, algae blooms and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond the ecological consequences of the rapid rise in crop yields, Chinese consumers as well as farmers and farm workers have faced health problems. Over-application of fertilizers has led to chemical residues in food and nitrogen infiltration into groundwater.

Read more: Organic agriculture is going mainstream, but not the way you think it is

But sustainable agriculture practices and organic food production are on the upswing in China. The total area of certified organic agriculture cultivation increased more than five-fold between 2005 and 2018, to 3.1 million hectares, according to a 2019 government report. China ranked third in certified organic area in 2017, after Australia and Argentina. Total organic sales in China ranked fourth globally, after the United States, Germany and France. Uncertified organic production is also widespread.

This shift is seeding a transformation towards a more sustainable food system within China and around the world, given the US$65 billion of agri-food commodities exported from China each year. This transformation provides lessons for the rest of world, in terms of efforts at both ends of the food supply chain to shift away from chemical-intensive agriculture towards a healthier system for people and the planet.

Chinese farmers are ditching chemical agriculture for reasons of personal health, ecological protection and economic motives, propped up by a range of state supports. Chinese consumers are keen to sink their teeth into chemical-free food, primarily for health reasons.

Demand for organic and so-called green foods is growing rapidly, especially among the middle and upper classes. Japan, Europe and the U.S. are the biggest markets for Chinese organic food exports according to the Chinese Report on Organic Agriculture Certification and Industry Development in 2019.

Sustainable agriculture practices in China such as using compost and animal manure instead of chemical fertilizer, cover crops, crop rotations and intercropping (growing different varieties of crops on one field) are contributing to healthier soils. Ecological farms also avoid the use of antibiotics and hormones in livestock.

Organic social movements and organic markets have often emerged in countries with private land ownership, declining numbers of small farms and growing consolidation of food supply chains. Chinas organic and ecological food sector is emerging amidst a different set of social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions.

This distinctive context in China has led to the development of a formal organic sector, created by top-down government standards and regulations. Alongside this, an informal organic sector has taken shape through bottom-up grassroots struggles for safe, healthy and sustainable food.

Through these top-down and bottom-up efforts, China is emerging as a global leader in developing sustainable food systems. A protracted food safety crisis was a driving force for shifting to more sustainable food production and for creating a domestic market for organic and ecologically grown food.

In response to food safety concerns, plus Chinas ecological crisis, various levels of government in China now provide a wide range of supports to organic farms. These measures are unparalleled around the world. They range from covering the cost of organic certification, to finding land, funding on-farm infrastructure and organic fertilizers, to training and marketing assistance.

Read more: Lessons from China: Ensuring no one goes hungry during coronavirus lockdowns

Alongside these state supports, bottom-up, civil society-driven efforts have also helped. A group of passionate food activists has introduced community supported agriculture farms, farmers markets and buying clubs. This has contributed to a revolution in ecological food and ethical eating in Chinas cities.

As our research shows, people have enthusiastically embraced these new community-based initiatives. They cherish the opportunity to access safe and healthy food, even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online sales, including of ecological and organic foods, are booming, particularly among the middle and upper classes.

Despite these positive developments, Chinas organic agriculture sector faces some critical challenges. For example, small-scale farmers cannot generally afford the paperwork for organic certification.

Fake organic certification labels have tested public trust of organic products and the prices for organic foods can be five to 10 times greater than other food. And state officials are wary of promoting the model more widely as they remain skeptical that the yields are large enough to feed Chinas huge population.

Some of these issues could be addressed by investing in more research, and having organic sector support organizations provide training and information sharing. China also has few environmental NGOs to provide public education and connect farmers with one another for mutual support.

The world often views Chinas environmental record in a negative light. But much can be learned from both policy and grassroots efforts in this country. Farms like Ms. Wangs fruit farm are taking root to reconnect farmers and eaters. And the national sustainable agriculture plan and policies to curb agrochemical use shed light on the prospects for sustainable agriculture in China.

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Why China is emerging as a leader in sustainable and organic agriculture - The Conversation CA

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CNET TAKE: Green Chef is a healthy organic meal-kit delivery service that will tailor your plan to maintain a paleo, keto, vegetarian (plant-powered) or just a steady balanced diet. Roughly 90% of the ingredients included in Green Chefs meal kits are certified organic and meats are sustainably fished, farmed and raised without hormones or antibiotics.

Like Blue Apron or Sun Basket, Green Chef provides all the organic ingredients needed to cook a fairly simple meal generally in less than 30 minutes and thoughtful recipe cards with photos make following instructions easy like with the simple teriyaki pork meatballs.

Pricing and subscription: Green Chefs organic meals start at around $8 per serving and allow you to customize or skip weeks when traveling, etc.

Green Chef is a healthy organic meal-kit delivery service that will tailor your plan to maintain a paleo, keto, vegetarian (plant-powered) or just a steady balanced diet. (Green Chef/CNET/TNS)

The following CNET staff contributed to this story: Chowhound editor and CNET contributor David Watsky, Copy editor Jim Hoffman and Senior Editor Laura K. Cucullu. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit http://www.cnet.com.

2020 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Best healthy organic meal kit: Green Chef - The Southern

Being stuck in our homes, with limited access to personal outdoor space, can be challenging. While most grocery stores are stocked with the items we need to eat, its a good idea to plan ahead and think about what you could grow if you had your own garden patch. It is not a new concept for citizens to turn to the home garden in times of hardship.

The United States has a long history of creating home gardens when there is economic instability. As part of the World War II war effort, the government rationed foods. Labor and transportation shortages made it hard to harvest and move fruits and vegetables to market. So, the government turned to its citizens and encouraged them to plant Victory Gardens. They wanted individuals to provide their own fruits and vegetables. Americans planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives. By 1943, the nearly 20 million Victory Gardens across the country were growing 40 percent of the nations food! In addition to self-sufficiency in times of crisis, victory gardens have other benefits.

Plants capture greenhouse gasses naturally through photosynthesis, the process by which light energy is turned into plant food. This ability to capture greenhouse gases is why many experts believe regenerative agriculture, also known as carbon farming, could play an important role in fighting climate change. Eric Toensmeier, author of the Carbon Farming Solution estimates that his own tiny carbon-rich backyard garden, about a tenth of an acre, can offset the carbon emissions of one American adult per year.

Backyard garden

My family has a 1/3 of an acre backyard in mid-town Tulsa. On our relatively small, organic plot we can grow enough tomatoes to supply us with yummy, summer salads and canned sauce all winter. We grow enough greens to munch on all spring, enough chili peppers to have hot sauce year-round, and enough flowers to keep us with a steady stream of bouquets through spring, summer and fall. We have berry bushes we enjoy in the early summer and fresh herbs to add to our meats and stews. Each plant I grow in my garden feels like a victory. It is so satisfying to grow and harvest your own food!

Not only is planting an organic victory garden a great way to save money and combat climate change, it is also a wonderful activity to do with your children! To learn more about starting a garden check out this TulsaKids blog post. There is so much to learn when you plant a garden; here are a few of the life lessons I have noticed in my 20 years of growing organic gardens and teaching children to garden.

Planting joy

Thankfully plant nurseries are still considered essential business and there are so many great local ones to support! Most will let you order your plants and soil over the phone and bring it to your car. To get started with your organic victory garden get tips and advice from Tulsa Master Gardeners online resource.

My Favorite local plant nurseries are listed below.

Groggs Green Barn

Stringers Nursery

Riddle Plant Farm

Southwoods Plant Nursery

Here is a chart from the OSU extension office on the best vegetables to grow in April. Here is a link to the best flowers to grow in Oklahoma.

Go forth and plant an organic victory garden, it is a hopeful and viable act in these hard times!

Blanket Flower

Margaritte Arthrell-Knezek is a naturalist, writer and community educator committed to teaching the skills of sustainability and instructing children and adults on how to connect with the natural world that surrounds them daily. Arthrell-Knezek hails from New Haven, Connecticut where she began her work in the arts and environmental activism in 1997.

She graduated from The Evergreen State College In Olympia WA, 2010, with a bachelors degree in multi-media art and sustainability studies. She has traveled the world and landed in Tulsa, OK, where she is the Executive Director and Lead Educator of Under The Canopy LLC. Margaritte is a parent to two awesome children and wife to Mykey Arthrell-Knezek.

You can learn more about the programs she teaches atwww.underthecanopy.orgShe is a regular contributor to TulsaKids.com and also keeps a personal blog about parenting in all its real and messy forms calledTap the Root. She was also publishedin Hilary Franks 2019 book, Weird Parenting Wins.

Excerpt from:

Organic Victory Gardens in the Time of COVID-19 - tulsakids.com

EVANSVILLE, Ind., April 8 (UPI) Nutrition scientists fear this years list of the dirty dozen produce items those most highly treated with pesticides will scare people away from eating fruits and vegetables at a time when healthy eating is critical.

The list is compiled annually by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It uses data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rank produce based on the level of pesticides present on an item when it is offered for sale to consumers.

Topping this years dirty dozen list, issued in March, are strawberries, spinach and kale.

Let me be clear, we want people to eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables, said Thomas Galligan, an EWG toxicologist and co-author of the groups 2020 Shoppers Guide for Pesticides in Produce, which includes the dirty dozen list.

The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables outweighs the risks from pesticides, he said. But we do think you should find ways to reduce your overall pesticide exposure if you can. Thats why we make this list.

To avoid that pesticide exposure, the organization recommends eating organic produce, especially for the dirty dozen foods. The other fruits and vegetables on the list are nectarines, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, tomatoes, celery and potatoes.

Some people in the nutrition field say the list scares consumers away from eating fresh produce especially low-income consumers who cant afford organic food.

A 2015 study conducted by researchers at the Illinois Institute for Technologys Center for Nutrition Research found exactly that.

The study surveyed low-income people about their likelihood to buy fresh produce after hearing various statements about organic foods, including data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the USDA, several studies and the EWGs dirty dozen list.

Roughly twice as many people said they were less likely to buy fruits and vegetables after hearing about the dirty dozen list.

The EWG has criticized the study, pointing out that 51 percent of the people surveyed said they were more likely to buy fresh fruits and vegetables after hearing the groups message rather than shun fresh produce.

Theyre not wrong, said Britt Burton-Freemon, the centers director, who co-authored the study. You can read the data that way. But, where were concerned is this shifting behavior.

Burton-Freemon said her center performs these kind of studies to learn about how consumers hear and apply different messages about nutrition and food safety.

If the message is that you should be eating organic, and you cant afford organic, the thought is Ill just eat nothing,' she said.

This is not a good outcome, Burton-Freemon said. People should be encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables, whether or not they are organically grown.

That is especially true now, said Elizabeth Shaw, a registered dietitian in California. The spread of the coronavirus pandemic means that people should be doing everything they can to bolster their immune systems and consuming fruits and vegetables has been proven to do that, she said.

I call it immune support, Shaw said. And its so important, especially in the time were in right now. We need to be encouraging more fruit and vegetable consumption.

Shaw added that conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are safe to eat even those on the dirty dozen list.

The EPA sets standards for the amount of pesticides that can be present on produce offered for sale in the United States, and those standards are far below harmful levels, she said.

Our typical exposure to pesticides is far lower than levels of health concern, Carl Winter, an emeritus cooperative extension specialist in food and science technology at the University of California-Davis, said in an email.

A graduate student and I published a paper in 2011 relating dietary exposure to toxicity for the 10 most frequently detected pesticides found on the EWGs 2010 Dirty Dozen list, he said. Estimated exposures were far below levels of toxicological concern. Recommending consumers reduce their consumption of conventional fruits and vegetables on the Dirty Dozen list is unwarranted. The EWG agrees that the produce it lists does meet EPA standards for pesticide levels, but questions whether those standards are safe.

The group points to studies that show how pesticide exposure can harm individuals, and that people who consumer more organic produce have a lower risk of certain cancers.

Theyre not illegally toxic or illegally dangerous, Galligan said. But we argue that legal does not necessarily mean safe.

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Nutrition experts fear dirty dozen produce list will put off consumers - Gephardt Daily

RawJce,a South Florida-basedrestaurant that offers organic cold-pressedjuices, smoothies, acai bowls, and other organic foods, has teamed up withHouse of Athletefounded byNFL veteran All-Pro receiver Brandon Marshall, to support frontline healthcare heroes in South Florida throughNourish and Recover the Frontlines South Florida Fundduring the COVID-19 crisis.

House of Athlete and Raw Jcee goal is simple: raise enough money to purchase and donate at least 30,000 nourishing, revitalizing Raw Jce meals to South Floridas healthcare workers. To kick off the fundraising efforts, the Raw Jce and House of Athletehave each donated $5,000.

Donations are tax deductible and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of funds will go toward providing meals. Additionally, anyone who contributes will receive a 25-cent credit in the Raw Jce app for every dollar donated. (Learn more about the Raw Jce apphere.) Credit will be applied at the end of the fundraising period.

It all started with Tricia Krefetz, owner ofClick. Capture. Create. Photography in Deerfield Beach,

who, after speaking with some local superheroes at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, realized the need for healthy, nourishing food, and support from the community. Tricia contacted Raw Jce and partnered with them to provide 50 meals to Boca Regional healthcare workers and 75 meals to Boca Hospital workers. After working with Tricia, Raw Jce knew it had to get more involved and reached out to Brandon Marshall in an effort to provide more resources to South Floridas healthcare providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Raw Jces mission has always been focused on supporting our universe in its journey to live a healthy lifestyle, says Raw Jce co-founder Jeff Levine. As we navigate the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, our team came together to think of ways we could support our local communitys healthcare heroesand what better way than to deliver healthy and nutritious meals as a thank you for their tireless work and sacrifice during these trying times.

Marshall added: "We still have two to three months ahead of us in this fight if we're lucky. We simply cannot afford to fail at taking care of our healthcare professionals. We feel that if we can have a positive impact on the lives of those we need the most right now, we will have done something to help in the fight. House of Athlete is partnering with local hospitals to provide recovery rooms, proper nutritional support, and mental fitness tools to their healthcare professionals. We would like to call upon other health, nutrition, and wellness brands who can serve their communities in the same capacity. We believe that during times like these, we are always stronger together. It is our hope that we can increase our impact on the national and even global level."

Benefiting hospitals include:

Hospitals in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties interested in receiving meals as part of the Nourish and Recover the Frontlines South Florida project can contactinfo@rawjuce.comto get involved. Those interested in donating can visit the officialGoFundMepage

News and information presented in this release has not been corroborated by QSR, Food News Media, or Journalistic, Inc.

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Raw Jce Teams with NFL Vet Brandon Marshall to Support Healthcare Workers - QSR magazine

Mr. Mackey grew Whole Foods from one store into a household name, has a remarkable mind for business, talent for leadership and heart for the world, says Martin Ploy, president of the Foundation board of directors, and president of AICO/Amini Innovation Corp. We are very fortunate to engage Mr. Mackey, who as a working CEO, grants very few speaking engagements. He will be another only at the Hall of Fame speaker who will inspire us as we induct new members.

Mackey built the natural and organic grocer from a single store in Austin, Texas, in 1978 into a Fortune 500 company, which went public in 1992, and was purchased by Amazon in 2017. Today Whole Foods Market is a top U. S. supermarket with more than 510 stores and 100,000 team members across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

While devoting his career to helping shoppers satisfy their lifestyle needs with quality natural and organic foods, Mackey also has focused on building a more conscious way of doing business. He was the visionary for the Whole Planet Foundation to help end poverty in developing nations, the Local Producer Loan Program, which provided $25 million in low interest loans to help local food producers expand their businesses, and the Global Animal Partnerships rating scale for humane farm animal treatment.

He has been recognized as one of Fortunes Worlds 50 Greatest Leaders, Ernst & Youngs Entrepreneur of the Year Overall Winner for the United States, Institutional Investors Best CEO in America, Barrons Worlds Best CEO, MarketWatchs CEO of the Year, Fortunes Businessperson of the Year and Esquires Most Inspiring CEO.

A strong believer in free market principles, Mackey co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Movement and co-authored the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business to encourage a way of doing business that is grounded in ethical consciousness. Mackey cut his pay to $1 in 2006 and continues to work for Whole Foods Market.

Most recently, Mackey has focused on returning to the companys roots around healthy eating and lifestyle choices. A passionate advocate of healthy eating education, he laid the foundation for health and wellness programs for team members and customers. Mackey is co-author of The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity and The Whole Foods Cookbook: 120 Delicious and Healthy Plant-Centered Recipes. He is an avid backpacker and long-distance hiker, and he lives in Austin with his wife, Deborah.

The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Induction Celebration Oct. 18 will again be hosted by TV personalities and entrepreneurs Drew and Jonathan Scott, and produced by Event Chair Michael Amini at the Sheraton Greensboro Four Seasons. Tickets for this years event are $250 per ticket for members ($2,500 for a table of 10) and $300 per ticket for non-members ($3,000 for a table of 10). For more information about the celebration or to purchase tickets, visit the events website at http://www.exploredreamcreate2020.com.

About The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc.: The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Foundation is an industry-wide organization founded to preserve its history, to celebrate exceptional individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the U.S. home furnishings industry, and to inspire a new class of innovation and leadership. Membership includes eligibility to nominate candidates for consideration by the Selection Committee, and the opportunity to help preserve the history and heritage of the industry. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, 92 percent of all funds support our history and leadership programming. The organization currently is based in High Point, North Carolina, at 202 Neal Place, Suite 101, and can be reached at 336.882.5900. Watch for ongoing developments and details about the grand opening of a new permanent home, which is targeted for April 2021.

Furniture Industry News and in depth magazine articles for the furniture retail, furniture manufacturers, and furniture distributors. Read other articles by Nic Ledoux

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Hall of Fame Induction Celebration to Present John Mackey As Keynote Speaker - Furniture World Magazine