45th Edition

1st to 15th Sep, 2017

Contents

Suruchi Endeavor in Skill/Entrepreneur Development Domain

Indian News Animal Health/Protection Marketing Health/Awareness Regulatory/Legal Survey/Report

Foreign News

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Dairy Pulse 45th Edition(1st to 15th, Sep 2017)

ContentsSuruchi endeavor in Skill/ Entrepreneur Development Domain...........................................................2

Indian News

Animal Health/Protection ..................................................................................................................3

Dairy farmers can get sexed semen for native cattle breeds within India ....................................................3

Marketing .........................................................................................................................................4

Baba Ramdev: Patanjali to enter dairy, apparel businesses this year ...........................................................4

Keventer Agro raises USD 25 mn to grow dairy, agri businesses ..................................................................5

Mother Dairy, Maha Govt tie up for processing plant ..................................................................................6

Rajasthan’s biggest cow milk dairy plant to be set up in Ajmer ....................................................................6

AAVIN introduces milk packets for Rs 10 ......................................................................................................7

Mandya to get mega dairy.............................................................................................................................8

Dairy foods brand Ananda Group announces its first TV campaign..............................................................9

Indian dairies building captive power plants to meet new demand...........................................................10

Butter prices rise 3.8% at Global Dairy Trade..............................................................................................11

Zomato has cut losses; gears up for fight with rivals ..................................................................................12

Gujarat, GCMMF, dairies jointly to provide nutritive foods to anganwadies children and women ...........13

NDDB launches milk fortification project ....................................................................................................14

Health/Awareness........................................................................................................................... 15

Cabinet approves plan to develop dairy sector ...........................................................................................15

Govt approves Rs 10,881 crore fund to give a boost to dairy sector ..........................................................16

‘Overcrowded’ dairy farm struggling to sell milk ........................................................................................17

Silvopasture to support dairy farmers.........................................................................................................18

New method can keep vitamins intact in fat-free milk ...............................................................................18

Remembering Kurien on 5th anniversary....................................................................................................19

What Did Demonetisation do to India's Beleaguered Rural Economy ........................................................20

Cow's milk harmful for toddlers below one year ........................................................................................23

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Farmers told to use modern technology .....................................................................................................24

LECTURE TO HONOR MSU ALUMNUS WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE IN INDIA’S MILK INDUSTRY .................24

Madhya Pradesh launches scheme to help rural youth set up food processing units................................25

WhatsApp to soon launch app for businesses.............................................................................................26

Regulatory/Legal ............................................................................................................................. 27

FSSAI establishes Smart Consumer app integration to redress complaints ................................................27

Hurdle Technology For Milk Products .........................................................................................................28

Banks must give loans to youth: MLA..........................................................................................................30

Bankers urged to promote dairy..................................................................................................................30

Survey/Report................................................................................................................................. 31

Increasing Awareness about Health Benefits of Dairy food Will Drive Major Growth In Dairy BlendsMarket 2017-2024 .......................................................................................................................................31

Fermented food like yoghurt good source of nutrients: experts ................................................................33

In light of Kwality's woes, how did Indian dairy majors fare in the past 5 years?.......................................34

Milk analysis required to stall adulterated milk sale, states IndiFoss .........................................................37

Foreign News

Text message network connects offline farmers in Kenya ................................................................. 38

Raw milk is the craft beer of the milk industry.................................................................................. 40

Cargill's Big Data Makes Happier And More Productive Cows............................................................ 42

State Fair dairy display provides educational experience for kids ...................................................... 43

Stung by drought, farmers invest more in animal feed...................................................................... 43

Butter, cheese sales boost payout to Euro farmers ........................................................................... 45

Dairy sector can play ‘key role’ in feeding world and must 'remain relevant' ..................................... 46

Irish dairy farmers fortunate that consumers drinking ‘real milk’ ...................................................... 47

Cow cooling technologies tested at UC Davis dairy facility ................................................................ 48

M&S launches the first ever RSPCA assured milk .............................................................................. 49

Project attracts new skills to dairy.................................................................................................... 50

The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant by showing what the future of farming could look like........................................................................................................................................................ 52

Report: Emerging technologies could help address dairy industry challenges .................................... 57

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Suruchi endeavor in Skill/ Entrepreneur Development Domain

Diploma in Dairy Technology (DDT) inalliance with IGNOU

Study Center authorized by School of AgricultureIndira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)Details as below:

Academy of Dairy Skill Development (ADSkiD)Unit of Suruchi ConsultantsC-49, Sector-65, Noida U.P – 201307SC/PSC Code: 39018PProg. In-charge: Mr. Sanjay SinghalContact no. : +91-0120+4370845Email: adskid39018p@gmail.com

New admissions are Closed for July, 2017

Aspiring entrepreneurs might attend ourintroductory session (Free) on how to set updairy farm and plant on every2ndand4thSaturday of month from 2 PM to 5PM, Prior registration is must and for thatcontact our office.For more information please email oninfo@suruchiconsultants.com or contact at +910120 4320845

51st Dairy Entrepreneurship DevelopmentProgram (DEDP) at Suruchi Consultants, C-49, Sec-65, Noida 29th, 30th & 31st Oct,2017 with Guided Tour to a Dairy Farm plus amilk processing plant.

For more information please follow the link:http://www.suruchiconsultants.com/pageDownloads/downloads/training/3_49th%20DEDP%20BROCHURE%20.pdf

Suruchi is launching 2nd Second Level DairyEntrepreneurship Development Program(DEDP- Level II) 2017 one week intensivehand on Dairy Plant. To be held on 3rd to 8th

Oct, 2017.

For more information please email oninfo@suruchiconsultants.com or contact at +910120 4320845

Suruchi is launching 1st Second Level DairyEntrepreneurship Development Program(DEDP- Level II) 2017 one week intensivehand on Dairy Farm. Dates will be announcedsoon.

For more information please email oninfo@suruchiconsultants.com or contact at +910120 4320845

Suruchi is launching 1st Global DairyEntrepreneurship Development Program(GDEDP) the dates will announce soon.

For more information please follow the link:

http://www.suruchiconsultants.com/pageDownloads/downloads/training/5_1st%20%20GDEDP%20BROCHURE.pdf

Suruchi has launched 1st Online DairyEntrepreneurship Development Program(ODEDP). It is 12 weeks program.Registrations are open. WatchVideo:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iS432VlGc8&t=42s

For more information please visit on websitehttp://skilldairy.com/

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Indian News

Animal Health/Protection

Dairy farmers can get sexed semen for native cattle breeds within IndiaTNN | Sep 1, 2017, 07:42 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/dairy-farmers-can-get-sexed-semen-for-native-cattle-breeds-within-india/articleshow/60315931.cms

handigarh: For the first time, dairyfarmers will now have the optionof sexed semen for desi cattle breeds

like Sahiwal, Gir and Red Sindhi cows and Murrahbuffaloes. Sexed genetics, which is used toproduce offspring of a desired sex, was notavailable for these breeds till now.

ABS India (ABS), a division of Genus Plc, onThursday launched 'sexed dairy genetics' inChandigarh. The technology is designed todeliver more high-value pregnancies to dairyherds countrywide. Priced differently fordifferent genetics, ABS Sexcel will be available tothe Indian dairy farmers at approximately 30-40% less than the import price of the sexedsemen.

At a press conference to announce the launch,British deputy high commissioner, Andrew Ayresaid, "It is an important day for the UK and theIndian dairy industry to extend Sexcel benefits to

Indian dairy farmers, helping them to doubletheir income by 2022 as targeted by thegovernment."

Arvind Gautam, managing director, ABS Indiasaid it would give farmers a new option forachieving their desired genetic blueprint andwould help them profit through geneticprogress. "We have a unique product and trialresults are very effective. For the first time,sexed semen of indigenous cattle breeds likeSahiwal, Red Sindhi and Gir cows and Murrahbuffaloes is available in India."

Rahul Gupta, head (production) of the companyadded, "Dairy farmers may now breed their cowswith the sexed genetics specifically designed toproduce more female cows using this newtechnology. The technology produces femalesexed semen through a new, cutting edge, laser-kill technology."

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Marketing

Baba Ramdev: Patanjali to enter dairy, apparel businesses this year

Patanjali Ayurved founder Baba Ramdev says the total market size of dairy and apparel business will beRs20 trillion, takes potshots at Hindustan Unilever

Last Published: Fri, Sep 15 2017. 12 00 AM IST

atanjali Ayurved Ltd will launch productsin the dairy and apparel business thiscalendar year, said its founder Ramdev.

“With this we will be in 11 categories,” Ramdevsaid on the sidelines of Globoil India 2017, anedible oil conclave. “The total market size (ofthese two categories) will be Rs20 lakh crore. Wewill enter both within this year.”

Ramdev also took aim at Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL), India’s largest consumer packaged goodsfirm.

“We are number one in trust and we will be No.1 in turnover in a year,” he said. “We havedone shirshasan (laid down) of many largecompanies. Only Unilever is left.”

“What are foreign companies doing for India?What has Hindustan Unilever done forHindustan, what gate has Colgate opened, andwhat birds has Nestlé given flight to?” Ramdevasked at the event.

HUL, the maker of iconic brands including Lux,Surf Excel, Fair & Lovely and Kissan, had anannual turnover of Rs34,487 crore in fiscal year2017 (FY17), making it the country’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company. That sameyear, Patanjali Ayurved’s turnover stood atRs10,561 crore and the firm announced it willcross sales of Rs20,000-25,000 crore inFY18, Mintreported on 4 May. The company sellsAyurvedic personal care and food products,including flagship toothpaste brand Dant Kanti.It launched a packaged drinking water brandcalled Divya Jal last month, Mint reported on 30August.

“I have the trust of over 100 crore people ofIndia, and I am converting this trust, faith, loyaltyinto a brand with no personal wealth,” saidRamdev.

An HUL spokesperson said, “We have nocomments to offer.”

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Keventer Agro raises USD 25 mn to grow dairy, agri businessesPublished: September 14, 2017 6:27 PM ISThttp://www.india.com/news/agencies/keventer-agro-raises-usd-25-mn-to-grow-dairy-agri-businesses-2471664/

e have secured a capital of USD25 million (about Rs 170 crore)from Mandala Capital. The

capital raised will be utilised for future expansionplans,” a company statement said here.

Keventer Agro is currently on an aggressivegrowth, path eyeing significant surge in itsbusiness scale. The company has revamped itsbusiness strategy and to this effect, thegoverning board of the company has rearrangedthe key functions of its top management.

“We have charted out a robust growth plan foreach of our businesses, namely dairy, banana orfrozen foods. With this fresh infusion of capital,we intend to invest about USD 100 million intoour dairy business in West Bengal within the nextfive years and grow our food processing businessexponentially – all towards our endeavour ofturning into a USD 500 million company by2022,” Keventer Agro Chairman and ManagingDirector Mayank Jalan said.

With an objective to become one of the leadingdairy companies in Eastern India, KAL Group-owned Metro Dairy will see a four-fold increase

in production from the current 2.5 lakh litres aday to 1 million litres a day, he said.

Established in 1986, the company acquired theKolkata franchise of Edward Keventer’soperations and now aims to take the 127 yearslegacy in food & dairy to new heights.

The Rs 800 crore Keventer Agro is the flagshipenterprise of Rs 1,800 crore Keventer Groupwhich has diverse interests in food andbeverage, hospitality, realty, infrastructure andexports.

Mandala Capital currently holds a portfoliowhich includes organisations across thespectrum of food related businesses such asseeds, biotechnology, sugar, biochemical,irrigation, food processing, solar, agro-financing,logistics and cold chain, dairy, beverages andfresh produce.

“We believe there is significant potential in thefood processing sector and Keventer Agro has allthe right ingredients to become the leadingplayer in Eastern India,” Mandala Capitalmanaging partner Uday Garg said.

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Mother Dairy, Maha Govt tie up for processing plant

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/nddbs-mother-dairy-maha-govt-tie-up-for-processing-plant/article9854317.eceAHMEDABAD, SEPT 11:

he Maharashtra Government andMother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt.Ltd, a subsidiary of National Dairy

Development Board (NDDB), on Monday,announced signing of a lease agreement to setup a state-of-the-art milk and milk productsprocessing plant.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,and NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath were amongthose present on the occasion in Mumbai.

As per the MoU, a dairy development initiativewill begin in Vidarbha and Marathwada regionsto provide access to milk producers to markets inNagpur and Mumbai. Apart from transferring theNagpur dairy on lease and land for setting up anew dairy at Gove Bhiwandi, Maharashtra willprovide assistance, including funds, for a

coordinated approach to improve productivitythrough animal breeding, nutrition and health.

Mother Dairy has already initiated milkprocurement operations in Amravati, Wardha,Nagpur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Osmanabad,Buldana and Yavatmal. At present, about 11,437milk pourers in 573 operational Milk PoolingPoints (MPPs), covering 924 villages arecollectively pouring about 70,580 litres of milkper day. All the milk producers are receivingpayment directly in their bank accounts. A totalof Rs. 37.1 crore has been paid to milk producersfrom November 2016 until August 2017.

The Nagpur dairy plant has been refurbished andliquid milk packed at the dairy is being marketedin Nagpur city, Rath informed.

Rajasthan’s biggest cow milk dairy plant to be set up in AjmerUpdated: Sep 10, 2017, 06:15 IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/rajasthans-biggest-cow-milk-dairy-plant-to-be-set-up-in-ajmer/articleshow/60444215.cms

AIPUR: Ajmer is set to get Rajasthan'sbiggest cow milk dairy plant. Chief ministerVasundhara Raje would soon the lay the

foundation stone for the Rs 253-crore dairy plantin Ajmer, co-operative minister Ajay Singh Klicksaid. The plant will be exclusively dedicated forthe processing of cow milk, he said.

"This is the first dairy plant for cow milkprocessing set up in the state. Consideringthe demand for cow milk, the proposed plantwould go a long way in meeting the need. Also,the dairy farmers will get remunerative price forthe milk," the minister said.

An MoU for the dairy plant would be signedshortly, Klick added.

Rajasthan is among the top five milk producingstates in the country. The state also caters to thedemand for milk in the national capital Delhi.State's milk brand Saras is one of the top brandsand also the highest paying milk co-operative inthe country.

Rajasthan Co-operative Dairy Federation (RCDF)is one of the biggest dairy co-operatives in thecountry, collecting 24 lakh litres of milk per day,on an average. It has milk collection unions in 21

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districts of the state with a turnover of over Rs4,500 crore.He claimed that the Gopalan department paid asubsidy of Rs 133 crore to 1,191 gaushalas in thestate.

There was no provision for subsidy to gaushalasearlier, he said. Under chief minister VasundharaRaje's stewardship, the Goplalan departmentwas created for the first time in the state andspecial attention has been given to thedevelopment and upkeep of the gaushalas.

Rs 225 crore for the welfare of cows wasgenerated though cess on stamp duty whichwould be utilized for the storage of fodder andwater facilities, the minister said.

Rajasthan is the only state in India which has adedicated cow ministry. Rajasthan governmenthad imposed a 10% cow cess as surcharge onstamp duty for protection and propagation ofcows in the state in 2016. The surcharge will beapplicable on non-judicial instruments. The cesswill have a bearing on cost of making documentslike property sale or lease deeds, rentagreements, mortgage, et al.

AAVIN introduces milk packets for Rs 10Published: September 8, 2017 7:35 PM ISThttp://www.india.com/news/agencies/aavin-introduces-milk-packets-for-rs-10-2458935/

amil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers’Federation Ltd, popularly known asAAVIN, widening its product portfolio,

today introduced milk packets at Rs 10.

The State-government backed firm alreadyretails milk packets in 500 ml and one litrequantities produced from its manufacturingoutlets.

The company has milk dairies at Ambattur,Madhavaram, Sholinganallur producing 11.50lakh litres of mil per day.

Milk and Dairy Development Minister K TRajenthra Bhalaji at a function held today,introduced the 225 ml milk packets that will besold for Rs 10 at the retail outlets, three type of

ice-cream variants and re-introduced AAVINDelight milk.

The AAVIN Delight milk is available in 500 mlpacket and come with a shelf life of 90 days. It ispriced at Rs 26.

The ice cream variants include — mango bar,strawberry, grape duet, two-in-one ice cream.Each would be sold at Rs 20.

AAVIN has registered monthly sales of Rs 3.25crore which is 23.64 per cent higher than it wassold last year.

AAVIN Managing Director C Kamaraj, JointManaging Director R Seethalakshmi and seniorgovernment officials participated in the function,the release added.

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Mandya to get mega dairy

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/mandya-to-get-mega-dairy/article19634145.eceMANDYA,SEPTEMBER 07, 2017 00:00 IST

fully automated and sophisticatedmega dairy, with a processing capacityof 12 lakh litres a day, will come up in

the district at a cost of Rs. 227.47 crore.

The tender process for civil works has beencompleted. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah isexpected to lay the foundation stone for theproject on Thursday at Mandya MilkManufacturers’ Union Ltd. (MANMUL) inGejjalagere near Maddur.

The milk union has sought financial assistance ofRs. 100 crore from the National DairyDevelopment Board (NDDB) for the project. Itwill contribute the remaining amount from itsinfrastructure fund. According to officials, in casethe union doesn’t receive NDDB support, it willproceed by applying for bank loan.

The district has been procuring 8.67 lakh litres ofmilk a day. The production in Mandya isincreasing by around 10% every year, and thecurrent milk processing capacity is 4.5 lakh litresa day.

Between 4 and 5 lakh litres of milk goes forconversion (to manufacture milk powder) andproduction of milk products. Suresh Babu,

managing director, MANMUL, said the projectaims to enhance the union’s processing level.

Construction of a mega dairy will explore thepotential of Mandya in dairy farming andimprove the financial stability of farmers. It willhelp the union improve production of itsproducts and expand its marketing network, saidM. Rajashekara Murthy, manager (dairy),MANMUL. He told The Hindu that MANMULplans to complete the work in 15 months.

The proposed project is expected to be energy-efficient, require limited manpower, andminimise the role of middlemen. It will help theunion in getting sophisticated chilling plants andother advanced infrastructure for preserving,processing and packaging.

Other products

The union has plans to start and improveproduction of milk, ultra-high temperatureprocessed milk, panneer, curd, skimmed milkpowder, and other items.

MANMUL has established 1,174 milk producers’cooperative societies across the district tocollect milk. There are 96,900 milk producersregistered as members with these societies.

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Dairy foods brand Ananda Group announces its first TV campaign

The TV campaign has been conceptualised by Singapore-based advertising and marketing agency, Bates

September 06, 2017, 15:00 IST

http://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/dairy-foods-brand-ananda-groups-first-tv-campaign-is-here/60390790

nanda Group, dairy foods brand,launched its first television campaign onthe lines of its brand proposition:

“Anand Karo!”. The TV campaign conceptualisedby Singapore based, advertising and marketingagency, Bates CHI & Partners, showcases thediverse products of Ananda through a heart-warming family story, which will be closelyfollowed by extensive 360 degreecommunication across electronic, print, radio,outdoor and digital across North India.

The campaign focusses on an elderly relativevisiting the house, a role played by veteranactor Sudhir Pandey, praising the flavors of farmfresh dairy products without knowing the factthat the food products being served are of‘Ananda’. When the products are unveiled at theend, the ad campaign shows happy and smilingfaces, cherishing delightful dishes prepared with‘Ananda’ products.

On the launch announcement of the TVCampaign, R. S. Dixit, chairman, Ananda Group,said, “at Ananda, our first priority is alwayshealth and goodness, and we aim to put thatvery goodness straight from “farm to fork”, andon the tables of families everywhere. This

campaign focuses on that promise and showshow, through our products, we are bringingsmiles and joy into every household, bringing ourbrand proposition ‘Anand Karo!’ to life.”

The man who conceptualised this campaign, V.S. Srikanth, CEO, Bates CHI & Partners, opined,“when the makers of a product truly believe inthe product, it makes our job a lot easier, andAnanda truly has great products that we hope tointroduce to more people through thiscampaign. We were propelled by Mr. Dixit andhis team, who had a clear vision on how theywanted to position the brand in an extremelycommoditised market. ‘Anand Karo!’ helped uscreate a fresh story backed by real insight,brought alive in an interesting and effectivemanner.”

The campaign will be closely followed bycommunication that will cover all of Ananda'sproducts and product innovations and conveyAnanda's promise of health, goodness andquality.

A radio jingle, “Ananda Anand Karo!”, sungby Kailash Kher, has been on air preceding thecampaign and sets the tone for the brand.

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Indian dairies building captive power plants to meet new demandBy Ashish Kulshrestha, ET Bureau|Updated: Sep 06, 2017, 12.33 PM IST

HYDERABAD:

ndian dairies are increasingly setting upcaptive power plants to meet the growingpower requirements propelled by improved

focus on value-added products, where thepower consumption levels went up multi-foldfrom the time of mere liquid milk productionthrough chilling units.

Attractively lower production costs of renewableenergy thanks to falling prices of solar panels,coupled with erratic power supply in manystates, were being cited as key reasons for dairyfirms tapping the renewable energy sources,helping them significantly reduce power costsand improve profit margins.

While Hatsun AgroBSE -0.81 % and HeritageFoods are among those who had already set upcaptive power plants, others like Prabhat Dairyare now looking at setting up renewable energyunits.

"The demand for power in the dairy industry hasgrown at a compounded growth of over 20% inthe last couple of years, propelled by 15-17%increase in milk volumes and driven by highermanufacturing of value-added products whichrequires sophisticated equipment and constanttemperature control," said Shailesh Kumar,senior analyst, Sunidhi Securities.

Nara Brahmani, executive director at HeritageFoods, which was founded by Andhra Pradeshchief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, said,"Around 55% of our processing facilities are runon renewable energy based captive powerplants which we plan to increase up to 70-80%by 2022. This focus is mainly due to the reducingcost of setting up solar and wind power unitscoupled with rising per unit power cost fromconventional sources."

According to solar and wind power producerMytrah, wind and solar energy prices havereduced by 42% and 69%, respectively, in the lastfive years. In the same period, conventionalenergy prices have decreased by only 13%.

Heritage Foods has so far invested nearly Rs 50crore in setting up 8.2 MW of solar and windpower plants and is setting up another 2.1 MWwind power plant at an investment of about Rs14 crore, which will be operational in the nextcouple of months. Similarly, Hatsun Agro, earlythis year, commissioned 12 wind power plants of2 MW each and a 550 KW solar plant that willmeet nearly 75% of its power requirement at aninvestment of Rs 180 crore.

Heritage's Brahmani said setting up of captiverenewable power plants has helped save over25% on power costs. The company now plans totake this up to 40% in over the next five years.

The saving on power cost is expected to helpdairies improve their financials.

"Section 32 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, allowsfor up to 80% depreciation in the year ofcommission itself in renewable energy powerplants, which helps in writing off 80% of theinvestment. This leads to lower tax outgo and,hence, improves cash flow for the company,"said Kumar of Sunidhi Securities.

D Sunil Reddy, managing director at privateequity TPG Growth-backed Dodla Dairy, said, "It(captive renewable energy plant) improvesEBITDA (earnings before interest, tax,depreciation and amortisation) by 0.5-1%, andthe power cost is almost negligible after a couple

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of years."

While Hatsun saw an improvement in profitbefore tax by 0.9%, Heritage posted up to 2.5%growth in EBITDA, thanks to captive renewableenergy projects.

The government till last year had allowedexemptions under the Income Tax Act for

income generated through captive power plants.RG Chandramogan, chairman of Hatsun Agro,said, "Any income arising out of the captivepower plants, when in surplus, in the first 10years of its commissioning, used to get taxexemption under 80A and, hence, it was anattractive proposition for dairies. However, thisbenefit was discontinued this year and wouldonly be applicable for units set up before March31, 2017.”

Butter prices rise 3.8% at Global Dairy TradeBy Patrick Donohoe on 05 September 2017http://www.farmersjournal.ie/butter-prices-rise-3-8-at-global-dairy-trade-306292

verall prices at the Global Dairy Trade(GDT) auction in New Zealand rosemarginally at Tuesday's auction.

Butter prices increased by 3.8% $5,954/t at theGDT with the overall price index up by 0.3% to$3,323.

Cheddar prices were up by 2.5% to $4,118/t,while whole milk powder prices dropped 1.6% to$3,100/t and skim powder prices fell by 1.2% to$1,944/t.

GDT prices

Butter demand

ICMSA’s dairy chair Gerald Quain has againdrawn attention to what he called “the hugelyconcerning gap” that has opened up betweenIrish dairy prices and those of our mainland EUcounterparts.

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Quain said that his association shares theanalysis of other experts within the sector inpredicting a continued strengthening of dairymarkets through the remainder of this year witha further milk price expected for August supplies.

"The widespread sector optimism is based onmarket data showing butter shows spot pricescontinuing to reach record highs in terms ofEuropean and Dutch quotes in the last month.Dutch quotations are returning butter at€6,800/t compared with €3,500/t 12 monthsprevious, a rise of over 94%," he said.

Zomato has cut losses; gears up for fight with rivals

Needs new funding without much delay; its rivals have overtaken it on this account

Karan Choudhury | New Delhi Last Updated at September 6, 2017 01:21 IST

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/zomato-has-cut-losses-gears-up-for-fight-with-rivals-117090501027_1.html

ust around a year and half earlier, Zomato,the food ordering and restaurant discoveryplatform, was vulnerable. In the foodtech

meltdown that saw at least twodozen companies being shut, the Gurugram-based entity faced its own challenges. Thebusiness was floundering, it got backlash fromusers for advertising on pornography sites andthe losses were mounting.

It was timely advice and guidance from SanjeevBikchandani, founder and executive vice-chairman of Info Edge, the main investor inZomato, which helped in keeping the companyafloat.

Amid the turmoil, Zomato founders DeepinderGoyal and Pankaj Chaddah reached for advice toBikchandani and Hitesh Oberoi, Info Edge'smanaging director and chief executive, whoseonline portfolio includes Naukri.com and99acres.

Oberoi says Bikchandani and he have been onlygood sounding boards. "To be honest, we havelittle to do with the companies (we invest in).They have managed it quite well. During the

bloodbath, we advised them to focus oncustomers, build intellectual property -- ouradvice to all our companies. We are alwaysavailable as a sounding board, I am sure they talkto Sanjeev but the founders are the ones whorun the show," says Oberoi.

The focus on business has helped Zomato,founded in 2008. It has been able to cut losses by34 per cent, to Rs 389 crore in 2016-17 from Rs590 crore the previous year, according to theannual report of its largest shareholder, InfoEdge. Its revenue also saw a spike of 81 per centto Rs 333 crore, from Rs 184 crore a year before,the company said.

It has to do more. While on track to aturnaround, Zomato has struggled to raise freshfunds, while rivals Swiggy and Foodpanda havebeen able to get multi-million dollar chequesfrom global investors. Sources in the companysaid valuation has been an issue. According tosources, the company is finding it hard to get avaluation of a billion dollars or more.

It has so far held talks with major investors suchas Baidu, Tiger Global and now Alibaba's fintech

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arm, Alipay. The company started talks withBaidu in January last year, in hopes of raising$200 million. This coincided with the time whenthe company broke even in six markets,including India, UAE, Lebanon and Qatar.

"When they were planning to raise funds in2016, the timing was bad and no one was readyto give a foodtech company, even the largestone, a billion dollar valuation. Now, though,interest is back, with Swiggy and Foodpandamanaging to raise funds. However, it is still notenough to give the company a billion dollarvaluation," said a source close to the company.

Zomato is reportedly raising $200 mn, at avaluation of around $900 mn. In May, rivalSwiggy raised $80 mn from investors led bySouth African internet entity Naspers. The samemonth, Foodpanda raised $431.5 mn fromNaspers for its global operations, which includesIndia. Zomato needs new funds to capitaliseitself for competing with these two, in additionto UberEATS which is aggressive on India.

"Zomato has been doing well but needs themoney for the next level of expansion.Foodpanda, after being on the block in 2015, hasnot only managed to revive but to raise morethan $450 mn, which might be all the money itneeds for expansion andprofitability. Zomato needs to up its game," saida source. Hopefully, if it closes the funds fromAlibaba, it can.

AN UPHILL CLIMB

According to sources, valuation was an issue dueto which Zomato failed to raise funds till now

Zomato has been able to cut losses by 34%, to Rs389 cr in 2016-17 from Rs 590 cr the in previousyear

Its revenue also saw a spike of 81% to Rs 333 cr,from Rs 184 cr a year before

Its rivals Swiggy and Foodpanda have been ableto get multi-million dollar cheques from globalinvestors

Gujarat, GCMMF, dairies jointly to provide nutritive foods to anganwadieschildren and women

Bharat Yagnik| TNN | Sep 6, 2017, 20:47 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gujarat-gcmmf-dairies-jointly-to-provide-nutritive-foods-to-anganwadies-children-and-women/articleshow/60395940.cms?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIMobile

AHMEDABAD:

n the present of Chief Minister Mr. VijaybhaiRupani in Gandhinagar, the Women & ChildWelfareDepartment of the Gujarat

Government, Gujarat Milk MarketingFederation and three leading dairies have signedtripartite MOU to save the children ofanginawadi from malnutrition.

According to the MOU, under the 'Take HomeRation' district dairies in cooperation with the

milk marketing federation will provide nutritivefoods to more than 42-lakh children of 53029anaganwadies, pregnant-mothers, fostermothers and young girls.

It should be noted that under the Take HomeRation, through the GCMM, district milkproducing cooperative sangh is preparingdevibhog (nutritive foods) for the infants (agedbetween six months and five years), pregnant-

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mothers, foster mothers and young girls. Underthe scheme, each child gets 125 gms of Balbhogevery day and pregnant-mothers, foster-mothers, and young girls get daily devibhog of145 gms to provide necessary, sufficient caloriesand proteins to the body.

Besides this, the GCMMF has prepared a recipebook to teach the beneficiaries that what kind of

food items can be prepared from the Take HomeRation.

Others, who remained present on the occasion,included women and child welfare state ministerDr. Nirmalaben Waghwani, Chief Secretary Dr.J.N.Singh, chairman of the milk marketingfederation and MDs of Banas, Sumul and Amuldairies and other senior officials.

NDDB launches milk fortification project

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nddb-launches-milk-fortification-project/1/1041495.html

September 5, 2017 | UPDATED 20:10 IST

Mumbai,

he National Dairy Development Board(NDDB) today launched a pilot milkfortification project in collaboration with

the World Bank and Tata Trusts.

"Vitamin A and D deficiencies are widelyprevalent in India. Fortification of appropriatefoods with vitamin A and D is a viable strategy totackle micro-nutrient malnutrition," NDDBchairman Dilip Rath said while launching a pilotmilk fortification project at Anand in Gujarattoday.

The World Bank, Tata Trusts and NDDB arecollaborating to implement this pilot milkfortification project. The Tata Trusts will providefortificants (vitamins) free of cost for first sixmonths and at 50 per cent cost for next sixmonths to the milk unions and milk producercompanies participating in this pilot initiative, astatement issued here said.

Since milk is consumed by majority, fortificationof milk with vitamin A and D is an excellent wayof addressing dietary deficiencies, Rath said.

This pilot initiative is financed by the South AsiaFood and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI),administered by the World Bank. SAFANSI seeksto address chronic malnutrition by fosteringcross cutting actions to achieve measurableimprovements in food and nutrition security inthe countries of the South Asia region.

The NDDB will develop protocols for milkfortification, train participating milk unions andproducer companies to fortify milk, build humanresources to provide support to theseinstitutions for fortified milk production/associated quality control and conductdissemination workshops to share theoutcomes.

The Board also organised milk fortificationawareness workshop today. MDs of federations,CEOs of milk unions/ producers companies,officers of the World Bank, Tata Trusts, FSSAI andNDDB, participated in the workshop. It providedan opportunity to representatives from over 70institutions for project briefing, open discussionsand experience sharing on milk fortification.

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Health/Awareness

Cabinet approves plan to develop dairy sectorPublished: September 12, 2017 7:21 PM ISTBy IANS Feedshttp://www.india.com/news/agencies/cabinet-approves-plan-to-develop-dairy-sector-2466652/

he Cabinet Committee on EconomicAffairs, chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, on Tuesday approved a

Rs 10,881 crore fund, for the period 2017-18 to2028-29, to develop the country’s dairy sector,benefitting 95 lakh farmers and generatingnearly 2.5 lakh jobs.

The Dairy Processing & InfrastructureDevelopment Fund (DIDF) will focus on buildingan efficient milk procurement system by settingup of chilling infrastructure and installation ofelectronic milk adulteration testing equipmentand creation, modernization, expansion ofprocessing infrastructure and manufacturingfaculties for value added products for the milkunions and producers, said a cabinetcommunique.

“Out of Rs 10,881 crore of financial outlay forproject components of DIDF, Rs 8,004 crore shallbe loan from NABARD to National DairyDevelopment Board (NDDB) and National DairyDevelopment Cooperation (NCDC), Rs 2,001crore shall be end borrowers contribution,” itsaid.

In addition, Rs 12 crore would be contributed bythe NDDB and the NCDC while Rs 864 crorewould come from the Dairy Department towardsinterest subvention.

Benefiting 95 lakh farmers in about 50,000villages, the project is set to generate 40,000direct and two lakh indirect employmentopportunities for skilled, semi-skilled andunskilled manpower, the statement said.

“Direct employment opportunities for about40,000 people will be created under the schemethrough project activities like expansion &modernisation of existing milk processingfacilities, setting up of new processing plants,establishment of manufacturing facilities forvalue added products and setting up of Bulk MilkCoolers (BMCs) at village level,” it added.

The benefits also include creating additionaldaily milk processing capacity of 126 lakh litres,daily milk drying capacity of 210 tonnes, dailychilling capacity of 140 lakh litres, setting up ofof 28,000 BMCs along with electronic milkadulteration testing equipment and daily valueadded products manufacturing capacity of 59.78lakh litre of milk equivalent.

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Govt approves Rs 10,881 crore fund to give a boost to dairy sector

Vishwa Mohan| TNN | Sep 12, 2017, 18:33 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/govt-approves-rs-10881-crore-fund-to-give-a-boost-to-dairy-sector/articleshow/60480746.cms

he government on Tuesday approved Rs10,881 crore fund to give a boost to thecountry's dairy sector. The fund will be

spent on creating necessary infrastructure andsupporting dairy farmers over a period of 12years during 2017-29.

Projects under the fund - called Dairy Processing& Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) - willfocus on building an efficient milk procurementsystem by setting up of chilling infrastructure &installation of electronic milk adulterationtesting equipment,creation/modernization/expansion ofprocessing infrastructure and manufacturingfaculties for value added products for milkunions and milk producer companies.

"With this investment, 95 lakh farmers in about50,000 villages will be benefited", said thegovernment through an official statement afterthe Union cabinet, chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, approved the DIDF.

The project will be implemented by the NationalDairy Development Board (NDDB) and NationalDairy Development Cooperation (NCDC) directly

through end borrowers such as Milk Unions,State Dairy Federations, Multi-state MilkCooperatives, Milk Producer Companies andNDDB subsidiaries.

"The implementation of DIDF scheme willgenerate direct and indirect employmentopportunities for skilled, semi-skilled andunskilled manpower. Direct employmentopportunities for about 40,000 people will becreated under the scheme through projectactivities", said the statement.

The project activities under the scheme willinclude setting up of 28,000 Bulk Milk Coolers(BMCs) at village level. Under the scheme,additional milk processing capacity of 126 lakhlitre per day and milk chilling capacity of 140 lakhlitre per day will also be created.

Initially, 39 profit making milk unions of 12 stateswill get assistance under the scheme. But, othermilk cooperatives, once become eligible on thebasis of their net worth and profit levels, can alsoapply for loan under the DIDF in subsequentyears.

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‘Overcrowded’ dairy farm struggling to sell milk

Manish Anand, one of the board members, said, “There are no proper sheds to tie the animals here, theyare served food in an extremely unhygienic space. There is no compound wall here, which makes it difficultto keep the animals within the farm limits.”

Written by ANJALI MARAR | Pune | Published:September 12, 2017 8:22 am

HE ANIMAL dairy farm in Gawaliwadaarea of Khadki houses nearly 800 cowsand buffaloes, which is almost five times

more than its actual capacity.

The three-decade-old farm is entirely run bycivilians and operated under the KhadkiCantonment Board (KCB). However, poorhygienic conditions have led to a drastic dip intakers for the milk reared from the animals at theshelter.

A review meeting was recently held in thematter, following which the board has sought areport from the officials concerned.

Talking to The Indian Express, KCB CEO AmolJagtap said, “A committee has been entrustedwith visiting the farm and keeping a check on theanimals. Depending on the findings, we will takerequired steps.”

According to KCB members, one of the mainreasons for the “dismal” situation of the farmwas “years of negligence”.

Most people depended on milk from militaryfarms and, of late, have been going for packagedmilk.

At present, every owner whose animal is beingreared at this farm has to pay Rs 5-10 per month,said a member.

Manish Anand, one of the board members, said,“There are no proper sheds to tie the animalshere, they are served food in an extremelyunhygienic space. There is no compound wallhere, which makes it difficult to keep the animalswithin the farm limits.”

He added that there have been instances in thepast when animals have attacked people andentered the homes of locals.

Another member added that the government,during 2008-2014, had sanctioned a sum of Rs 25lakh for renovation and upgradation of the farm,however, nothing translated on ground level.

Anand said, “The building being an old one,needs urgent repair works. If there are propersheds provided, there can be better utilization ofavailable space, which can then accommodateanimals in a proper manner.”

Asked about the repair work the board was likelyto focus on if the number of animals at theshelter increased, Jagtap said, “We will takeaction against the owners and rehabilitate them.Repair work of sheds is the only feasible option.”

A board member added that if the farm was runin a systematic manner, the board can improveits revenue along with providing better livingconditions for these animals, the boardmembers suggested.

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Silvopasture to support dairy farmersBy Express News Service | Published: 12th September 2017 02:56 AM |

Last Updated: 12th September 2017 07:08 AM | A+A A- |http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2017/sep/12/silvopasture-to-support-dairy-farmers-1655814.html

he district administration has planned toundertake silvopasture project in ninevillages in Kuchinda sub-division under

MGNREGS to provide support to dairy farmers.

Silvopasture is a practice of combining forestryand harvesting of green fodder for domesticanimals. The silvopasture also helps in soilconservation. It will be undertaken over 26hectares (ha) of land in nine villages, includingKusuli, Tiklipada and Bandhbahal in Jamankirablock, Pandrikata, Kusumi and Ganmunda inKuchinda besides Haripada, Jagdatiria andJarabaga in Bamra block under Kuchinda sub-

division of the district. The total estimated costfor establishment of silvopasture units is about`69 lakh.

Sambalpur Fodder Development Officer AnupBadpanda said the silvopasture will beundertaken in village forests, Government wasteland and pasture land. Demarcation of land hasalready been completed and wild growthscleared from the land. At present, land levellingand preparation work are going on, he added.

New method can keep vitamins intact in fat-free milkDR. SHIKHA T MALIKhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/new-method-can-keep-vitamins-intact-in-fatfree-milk/article9855069.eceNEW DELHI, SEP 11:

ow-fat and fat-free food products aregaining popularity among healthconscious people. But regular

consumption of such food items may result indeficiencies of certain vital nutrients likevitamins and essential fatty acids. Being ‘fatsoluble’, such vitamins get removed along withfat when food products are made fat-free.

Scientists are working on ways to keepnutritional content of food products intact evenwhen they are made fat-free or low-fat.Researchers at the National Dairy ResearchInstitute (NDRI), Karnal, have developed amethod to enhance nutritional content of fat-free milk by preparing Vitamin A and milk proteincomplexes.

Vitamin-A is one of the four fat-soluble essentialvitamins, the others being D, E and K. The

deficiency of Vitamin-A, which is the leadingcause of preventable childhood blindness is amajor public health problem in India.

Researchers modified casein – a major proteinpresent in milk- with a chemical called succinicanhydride (SA) and prepared succinylatedcasein-Vit A complexes. They evaluated differentcombinations and found sodium caseinate-Vit Aand succinylated sodium caseinate-Vit Acomplexes had high Vitamin-A binding abilityand solubility. Hence these complexes may beused to retain essential micronutrients in milk.

It has been suggested that casein owing to itsunique properties can be easily used as adelivery vehicle for Vitamin-A in milk. Since SA isclassified as ‘generally recognized as safe’substance by the United States Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA), modifications of casein

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using SA is considered safe for humanconsumption.

The new method developed by NDRI team couldbe used in future for fortification of milk, whichis now permitted by Indian regulatory agencies.“The Food Safety and Standards Authority ofIndia (FSSAI) has already approved addition ofvitamins A and D to milk. These vitamins arebeing used for fortifying milk by Mother Dairy,

Amul and many state cooperatives at themoment”, pointed out Dr. Sumit Arora, who ledthe research team.

The team led by Dr. Sumit Arora included ChitraGupta, M.A. Syama and Apurva Sharma at theDairy Chemistry Division, NDRI. This work waspublished in journal Food Chemistry and wasfunded by Department of Biotechnology.

Remembering Kurien on 5th anniversary

Posted in Dairy on September 09, 2017 by parasnath

http://www.indiancooperative.com/dairy/remembering-kurien-on-5th-anniversary/

everal people took to social media togreeting the man who made India from amilk deficient country into the largest

producer of milk in the world. An icon of India’scooperative movement and the dairy industry DrVerghese Kurien had passed away this very dayon 9 September 2012.

Verghese Kurien was born on 26 November 1921at Kozhikode in Kerala, India and died on 9September 2012 at Nadiad in Gujarat, India.

Known as Father of while revolution and the MilkMan of India, Kurien though did not himselftouch milk ever in his life but ensured its supplyamong the needy millions in the country.GCMMF paid tributes to the legend by its topicalsaying “you are as much in our dreams as inpromises”.

Verghese Kurien helped establish the Amulcooperative which has become India’s largestfood brand. He found the National DairyDevelopment Board (NDDB) in the year 1965.

He received a number of accolades and awardsincluding Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1963 andPadma Vibhushan in 1999. The fact that he wasnot awarded Bharat Ratna is resented till date bymany.

Several people including Chattisgarh ChiefMinister Ram Singh remembered him throughsocial media. R S Sodhi, Managing Director ofdairy cooperative major Amul, will deliver theKurien Memorial Lecture at Michigan StateUniversity in the US on September 13

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What Did Demonetisation do to India's Beleaguered Rural EconomyEven today, cash isn’t easy to come by in many rural branches; hundreds of ATMs have fallen silent in thecountryside, and digitisation is now a synonym for queuing up.

Updated:September 10, 2017, 1:18 PM ISThttp://www.news18.com/news/india/what-did-demonetisation-do-to-indias-beleaguered-rural-economy-1514251.html

he joke doing the rounds in the dustycountryside these days is ‘Queue up ifyou want relief”. At SETU outlets, the

government-recognized agents in ruralMaharashtra, all that you see these days arequeues and queues of beleaguered farmers,turned up, ironically, to file digital applications.

Want crop loan? Line up outside banks. Loanwaiver: Queue up to fill and submit anapplication. Want to build a toilet; need subsidy?There’s a queue. Stand up India has assumed awhole new dimension here. There is noguarantee though that standing in a queue mightfetch what you so desperately covet.

It began with demonetisation last Novemberwhen rural India lined up to exchange old notesfor new ones like the urban India did, but thepain lasted several months. Even today, cashisn’t easy to come by in many rural branches;hundreds of ATMs have fallen silent in thecountryside, and digitisation is now a synonymfor queuing up. In fact until November 8, 2016,standing up in a queue was not a means of life asit has today become in a changed India. Sure,among the many intended objectives of thenote-ban the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleytold us we do not get it, making a farmer standup in a queue may not have been intentional. Itcame as a by-product; small things happen in abig country. The FM wants us to stay focused onthe big picture, even if the reality is scarier thanthe myth around it.

The clamour on the ground is getting shriller,even if the noise is inaudible in Delhi.

What came not as a side dish in 2016 but maincourse was the sudden jolt rural India received

after a better monsoon in most parts of thecountry after consecutive years of drought andisrupted the rural economy severely; itsdisruptions are yet to abate, ask a dairy or apoultry or a sustenance farmer.

That the countryside has been in the grip of arecession in last two decades of India’s muchtrumpeted growth story is beyond doubt. That’sthe context really to understand whydemonetisation was a pain for rural peasantrymore than a gain, though their support to thePM’s political move is another point. As thiswriter found, many poor people did believe thatsomeone’s stashed black cash would tumble outof the closet and the government would thenspend it on their welfare. They believed in themythology.

The PM’s ‘surgical strike on black money’, as itwas dubbed then, actually torpedoed thepeasantry and rural masses in more ways thanone post-November 2016, as cash dried,informal economy tanked, and crop pricesplunged overnight at a time when fresh harvestshad begun to arrive in the markets.

Rural employment fell and there’s enough datatoday to show that the GDP decline had had acascading effect on the countryside.

Take for instance one example – and there reallywere millions across the country: The rains in2016 had been good and timely, climatic factorsperfect and his yields bumper, so 28-year-oldSandeep Thavkar, a farmer in Virkhandi villageabout 60 km from Nagpur, thought his tomatoeswould fetch him a windfall.

He was pleased with himself that he had acted

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smartly by not planting traditional crops likesoybean or cotton on his entire stretch butdiversified into planting tomatoes on a third of it.

Demonetisation precipitated the price crash onthe heels of a bumper tomato crop – he foundthat the prices had crashed beyondcomprehension just when the vegetable flushedthe local markets.

In the last week of November, days after thedemonetisation decision was unveileddramatically by the Prime Minister, Sandeepcame home one afternoon, crestfallen that 25crates, each with 25 kg of freshly harvestedtomatoes, fetched Rs 30 a crate – or just over arupee per kilogram. (In the last two months,tomato prices in retail markets hovered betweenRs 50 and Rs 100 a kg due to shortages.)

He asked his cousin Sachin to lend him his tractorfor an hour. For the following few hours,Sandeep flattened his standing crop, drove thetractor over it in despair – the crop that he, hiswife, his sister and an aunt had toiled for roundthe clock for the previous four months, planting,weeding, and watering it.

Sandeep would have continued to plucktomatoes until March from the creepers, everyso often.

A sudden plunge in prices was the last thing heor thousands of farmers across India expected inDiwali; for a majority of the states, save thesouthern states, good monsoon and fairly betteryields popped up the prospects of good returns.They had no clue that Modi, their beloved PM,had a different idea. For days, the APMC-runmarkets remained closed under protests anddue to a sudden paucity of cash.

From north to the south and west to the east andthe entire north-east, demonetisation playedout differently for different crops and regions,with one common link: it wrecked the informaleconomy during the Kharif harvest and ahead ofthe preparations for the ensuing Rabi crop. Such

were the losses that the pain has spilled over tothe 2017 Kharif, and farmers stand in a financialmess in many states.

In a state like Tamil Nadu, where both the southwest and north east monsoon failed in 2016, thenote ban came in as a quake that would bury theremains of the past too: In the Cauvery Deltaregion, for instance, farmers could not withdrawtheir own money to buy seeds and inputs forwhat they call the ‘Kuruvai’ crop, their mainseason for which planting is done in the monthof October and November.

The region which usually receives rainfall from areceding monsoon around the same period wentdry and suffered huge losses; peasantsclamoured for both, water and money; andneither was available in the thick of time. Thatwas the reason why Tamil Nadu recorded anunprecedented spurt in suicides and shockdeaths of farmers in December 2016 and January2017 and sparked state-wide protests.

There was no employment on farms in thefollowing few months; and rural migrants foundthat the cash crunch had devastated informal jobsector in the cities.

It’s difficult to quantify the real losses rural India,both the peasant classes and the landless,suffered in the wake of demonetisation, butwhile traveling in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh andneigbouring Madhya Pradesh in December andJanuary I could see the rural economy in adisarray, yet a people’s support to the decisionas a sharp contrast to the pains they weresubjected to.

It was a support to a decision they thought wasin the national interest and believed the lossesthey suffered were worth the gains.

“Vegetable prices go down around this time ofthe year (November-December) because ofseasonality but perhaps cash shortage has beenan additional factor affecting such pricedecrease,” wrote Dr Ashok Kumar Lahiri, former

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Chief Economic Adviser for Department ofEconomic Affairs of Union Ministry of Finance, ina working paper series published in November2016 on ‘Demonetisation, the cash shortage andthe black money, published by the NationalInstitute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).

The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) just-releasedGDP data for April-June 2017 shows that theannual growth in gross value added fromagriculture during the last quarter, particularly inJune when India saw a sharp rise in farmers’protests, was only 2.3 per cent in real terms (i.e.at constant prices), as against 5.2 per cent forJanuary-March and 6.9 per cent for October-December, Harish Damodaran of the IndianExpress wrote on September 2, 2017. “Butwhat’s more significant,” he wrote, “is thegrowth in nominal terms or at current pricesunadjusted for inflation. That, at 0.3 per cent,was even lower. Simply put, it means that eventhough farm output for the last quarter was 2.3per cent higher year-on-year, the fall in prices by2 per cent resulted in the value of agriculturalproduction rising just 0.3 per cent.”

The CSO does not say it but post demonetisation,not only did the prices across the farmcommodities crash, procurement became agigantic task, both for the state governmentsand private traders.

A large quantity of ‘Tur’ (Red Gram) is still lyingunsold with many farmers across central Indiasince the state governments grappled withbumper harvests of the crop last season.

The CSO data confirms that agriculture entereddeflation territory in April, coinciding with theharvesting and marketing of rabi crops,Damodaran wrote, and its effects truly playedout in June.

Market movement showed a clear demarcationin pre and post demonetisation prices.

For instance, Bandu Ghormade, a progressivevegetable grower in Chicholi village about 50 kmfrom Nagpur, sold his tomatoes in Nagpur’ssprawling Agriculture Produce MarketCommittee market yard at Rs 8 a kg beforedemonetisation. On November 9, 2016, the dayafter demo, the prices fell to Re 1 a kg.

In June, that pent up anger finally spilled over onthe streets across the country, with the nation’spolity completely disconnected with the agrarianrealities. The rural economy, infrastructure, andlife has been under stress for more than twodecades, particularly in those regions wherefarming is the sole mainstay and where farmingis dependent only on the monsoon, with noprotective irrigation facilities.

Fact remains that despite investments andmechanization, farm sector has shown nosignificant change in output growth – it has beensteady at around 2.5 per cent per annum overthe last few decades falling consistently short ofthe four per cent per annum targeted insuccessive Five Year Plans. This growth hasregional dimensions; some regions like Vidarbhaor Bundelkhand that are rain-dependent forfarming have recorded negative growth inagriculture for almost two decades, manystudies indicate.

Post-demonetisation unexpected losses due toprice crash led to despair among peasants; thiskharif, crop loan disbursements are way off themark in many states.

Last season’s loss coupled with the politicaldemands for a total loan waiver has led toabysmal crop loan repayments. Banks aregrappling with crop loan NPAs and fresh loandisbursement. And there’s a queue now foreverything – from getting fresh loans to applyingfor an old loan waiver.

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Cow's milk harmful for toddlers below one yearIANS | Sep 10, 2017, 12:23 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/cows-milk-harmful-for-toddlers-below-one-year/articleshow/60447379.cms

eeding cow's milk to toddlers below theage of one year is a growing factor behindallergic diseases, including in the

respiratory and digestive system, as they cannottolerate protein in the milk, experts said onSunday.

Stating that infants who do not get breast milkneed an alternate form of nutrition to maintaintheir health, the child experts said if cow's milk isfed at such an initial age then the lowconcentration of iron and its consumption duringinfancy is linked to anemia.

"Though cow's milk is associated to our culturefor ages, it should not be given to toddlers belowone year... It may put a strain on the infant'simmature kidney and is also difficult to digest,"said Nandan Joshi, Health and Nutrition Science,Danone India.

While older infants can be fed with householdcomplementary food, younger ones need specialhydrolysed and amino acid-based formula whichdo not produce allergy.

As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS),only 40 per cent of children were introducedtimely complementary foods, while only 10 percent children between six to 23 months receivedadequate diets.

The infants are given cow milk in India asawareness is low among the people especially inrural areas.

As per the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), 42per cent of non-breastfed infants below one year

received cow's milk or any other milk.

"Allergic diseases are on the rise worldwide. Theincidents are more in developed countriesthough it is on the rise in India as well. Milkallergy is the most common allergy in children,"said Lalit Bharadia, Consultant PaediatricGastroenterologist at Jaipur's SantokbaDurlabhji Memorial Hospital.

"Around 3 per cent of children can't tolerate milkprotein in animal milk. Milk allergic infants, whodo not get breast milk, need an alternate form ofnutrition to maintain their health."

Durlabhji said that while older infants can be fedwith household complementary food, youngerones need special hydrolysed and amino acid-based formula which do not produce allergy.

"Such products are easily available in India."

Allergy is a result of one or more cow's milkproteins triggering an adverse reaction by ourbody's immune system.

The symptoms vary and may affect several organsystems such as skin, digestive or the respiratorytract, possibly resulting in skin rash, eczema,vomiting, diarrhoea, colic, wheezing or excessivecrying.

In a study conducted at a tertiary care hospital inIndia, three out of 10 children with chronicdiarrhoea were estimated to be suffering fromcow's milk allergy. Globally, the prevalence rateof cow's milk allergy is approximately 3 to 5 percent.

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Farmers told to use modern technology

THE HANS INDIA | Sep 08,2017 , 04:27 AM ISThttp://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Andhra-Pradesh/2017-09-08/Farmers-told-to-use-modern-technology/325001

ndowments Minister P Manikyala Rao onThursday called upon the farmers toutilise modern technology to increase

the milk production.

Inaugurating the farmers training andinformation centre building at the MDO office inPentapadu along with Narsapuram MPGokarajuGangaraju, he said the building wasconstructed with the funds of NABARD and RIDF.

The minister said that the government hasconcentrated on development of crops and dairyunits for development of farmers and higheryielding. He said the distribution of fodder seedon nominal rates was under consideration of thegovernment. Sarpanch Surya Kumari, ZPTCmember KilapartiVenkatrao and DCCB DirectorDasariAppanna participated.

LECTURE TO HONOR MSU ALUMNUS WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE IN INDIA’SMILK INDUSTRYhttp://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/lecture-to-honor-msu-alumnus-who-made-a-difference-in-indias-milk-industry/Published: Sept. 5, 2017

.S. Sodhi, managing director of dairycompany Amul India, will posthumouslyhonor Michigan State University

alumnus Verghese Kurien with the KurienMemorial Lecture at 4 p.m. Sept. 13 in theauditorium of the Kellogg Hotel and ConferenceCenter.

Sodhi’s lecture, “India’s Milk Revolution:Verghese Kurien and the Story of Amul,” will takethe audience through a journey of Kurien’s lifeand contributions to rural farmers across India.He played an instrumental role in transformingIndia from a milk-deficient country to the world’sbiggest milk producer.

Sodhi will cover Kurien’s role in the founding ofAmul and its growth into India’s largest milkcooperative and food company. Amul is known

not only for the breadth of its products and sales,but also for the scale and reach of its inclusiveeconomics. More than 3.6 million smallholderproducers deliver milk for collection at morethan 18,000 villages every day.

Sodhi will share his vision for Amul’s future andoutline the opportunities and challenges in thecontext of India’s growing middle class and theneed for economic, environmental and socialsustainability. He will also profile the personalattributes and accomplishments of Kurien andthe ways they still inspire today.

The event is sponsored by various MSUdepartments and colleges and is free and opento the public. A networking reception will followthe lecture at 5 p.m.

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Madhya Pradesh launches scheme to help rural youth set up food processingunits

Under the Madhya Pradesh govt scheme, rural entrepreneurs can set up a primary processing unit at acost of up to Rs25 lakh, of which they will receive 40% as a subsidy while the rest will be financed by bankloans

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/ALKLBmlSh4hJ8KbmY6sfGI/Madhya-Pradesh-launches-scheme-to-help-rural-youth-set-up-fo.html?facet=amp&utm_source=googleamp&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=googleampLast Modified: Tue, Sep 05 2017. 11 15 PM IST

ncouraged by the success of its farmmachinery leasing scheme to supportentrepreneurship among rural youth, the

Madhya Pradesh government has announcedanother one—this time to help them set up foodprocessing units.

Anyone who is older than 18 years and hascleared secondary board exams can apply for thescheme, under which primary processing unitscan be set up at a cost of up to Rs25 lakh per unit.Under the scheme, rural entrepreneurs willreceive 40% of the investment as a subsidy,while the rest will be financed by bank loans.

The new scheme, approved by the stategovernment’s special farm cabinet on Monday,will utilize financial assistance from a centralscheme which allows setting up of custom hiringcentres for renting farm machinery.

Under the new scheme, rural youth can set upsmall scale mills to process rice, pulses, milletsand dehydration units for onions and garlic. Thescheme also allows manufacturing of onion andgarlic paste, soya milk and tomato puree, amongothers.

The government’s target is to set up 500 suchprocessing plants within the next three years.

“The idea is to emulate the success of customhiring centres where rural unemployed youth

have set up centres across the state renting outmachinery to small farmers and are earningdecent profits,” said Rajesh Rajora, agriculturesecretary of Madhya Pradesh.

The state government’s latest scheme followsanother one launched last week whereinfarmers will be compensated for distress sales ofcrops at prices below federal government-announced minimum support prices (MSP). Thescheme is planned as a cover against price risksfor growers of oilseeds and pulses.

Since June, farmers in several parts of MadhyaPradesh have been protesting against a sharp fallin crop prices from onion and spices to pulsesand oilseeds. On 6 June, at least five protestingfarmers died in police firing in Mandsaur district.

Anger among farmers, however, is in sharpcontrast to the state government’s numbers. OnMonday, the Madhya Pradesh government saidin a statement that the states’ agriculturegrowth rate was over 20% for the fifth year in arow in 2016-17.

According to the state government, value offarm output rose from Rs1,68,427 crore in 2015-16 to Rs2,22,174 crore in 2016-17, or nominalfarm incomes rose by Rs53,747 crore during theyear.

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WhatsApp to soon launch app for businessesFacebook is building and testing new tools via a free WhatsApp Business app for small companies and anenterprise solution for bigger companies operating at a large scale with a global base of customers, likeairlines, e-commerce sites and banks.

September 06, 2017, 11:56 ISThttp://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/e-commerce/e-tailing/whatsapp-to-soon-launch-app-for-businesses/60388115

acebook-owned WhatsApp hasannounced it would soon be launchingfeatures to take businesses onboard and

make it easy for them to interact on themessaging platform.

"In the coming months, we'll be testing newfeatures that aim to solve some of thesechallenges, and make it easier for people tocommunicate with the businesses they want toreach on WhatsApp," the company said in astatement late on Tuesday.

"Our approach is simple - we want to apply whatwe've learned helping people connect with eachother to helping people connect with businessesthat are important to them," it added.

Facebook is building and testing new tools via a

free WhatsApp Business app forsmall companies and an enterprise solution forbigger companies operating at a large scale witha global base of customers, like airlines, e-commerce sites and banks.

"We want to apply this same approach tobringing businesses onto WhatsApp in ways thatcreate value for people. We're looking forwardto making it possible for people to connect withbusinesses and giving businesses the tools tomake that easier to do," said Matt Idema,WhatsApp Chief Operating Officer.

These businesses will be able to use thecompany's solutions to provide customers withuseful notifications like flight times, deliveryconfirmations and other updates.

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Regulatory/Legal

FSSAI establishes Smart Consumer app integration to redress complaintsThursday, 14 September, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

http://www.fnbnews.com/Top-News/fssai-establishes-smart-consumer-app-integration-to-redress-complaints-41119

In an attempt to provide better consumeraccess, particularly towards quick andsatisfactory resolution of grievances, the FoodSafety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)has established a network integration with theSmart Consumer app for a robust, effective andefficient system of redressing consumercomplaints relating to food, apart fromproviding information about smart buying tipsand claim busters.

With the said objective, the country’s apex foodregulator, the ministry of consumer affairs, foodand public distribution and GS1 India [astandard body set up by the ministry ofcommerce and industry, along with the Bureauof Indian Standards (BIS), the AssociatedChambers of Commerce and Industry of India(ASSOCHAM), the Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII), the Federation of IndianChambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),the Agricultural and Processed Food ProductsExport Development Authority (APEDA), theFederation of Indian Exporters’ Organisations(FIEO), the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), theIndian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) and SpicesBoard], jointly organised a national conference,whose theme was Enabling RegulatoryCompliance and Connecting with Consumers.

The Smart Consumer app was developed in2016 by the ministry of consumer affairs, foodand public distribution in association with GS1India.

During his keynote session, Pawan KumarAgarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI,addressed the need of enhancing the usability

of channels as to provide an effectivemechanism for grievance redress.

“We want to make sure that no complaint goesunresolved, and hence, integration withappropriate channels is relevant,” he added.

“The integration will enable consumers to getmore visibility to FSSAI licensenumbers/certificates, product recall alerts andcustomer complaint modules for reporting foodquality- and safety-related issues directly toFSSAI through the scanning of barcodes [whichuse the global trade item number (GTIN)] onconsumer products through the SmartConsumer mobile app,” Agarwal said.

These new features, through integration withthe Smart Consumer app, would greatly benefitconsumers in confirming that food productsbeing purchased by them are from FSSAI-registered/licensed manufacturing units.

During the conference, the regulator alsosensitised food manufacturing units, retailersand e-commerce platforms/food portals onproduct recalls and the e-commerce guidelineswhich need to be complied with from a foodsafety perspective.

The mobile app connects consumers digitallywith manufacturers/suppliers using theircustomer care contact details for speedingredressal of complaints. It also enablesconsumers to access all marking/labellinginformation of products effortlessly. In severalinstances, it is difficult to read the informationprinted on the product label.

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When a product’s barcode is scanned or itsbarcode number (GTIN) is entered, it displays allproduct-related information on the Smart

Consumer app, which is powered by DataKart,the national product repository used by anumber of food business operators (FBOs).

Hurdle Technology For Milk Products| Indian Dairy ProductsBy Guest Post | September 14, 2017http://discoverfoodtech.com/hurdle-technology-for-milk-products-indian-dairy-products/

urdle technology is a method ofensuring that pathogens in foodproducts can be eliminated or

controlled. This means the food products will besafe for consumption, and their shelf life will beextended. Hurdle technology usually works bycombining more than one approach. Theseapproaches can be thought of as “hurdles” thepathogen has to overcome if it is to remain activein the food. The right combination of hurdles canensure all pathogens are eliminated or renderedharmless in the final product. This article wouldbe throwing light on Hurdle technology for milkproducts.

Hurdle Technology For Milk Products

As per the definition of hurdle is factor condition,or processing step that limits or retard / preventmicrobial growth or reduces the microbial loadbut which by itself cannot keep microbiologicalhazard under control. Where hurdle technologyis the combination of selected hurdles whichkeeps microbiological hazard and other microorganism under control with or without thecombination of microbiocidal steps so as toobtain and retain the end product safety,sustainability.

In hurdle technology, hurdles are deliberatelycombined to improve the microbial stability andthe referred to the auto-sterilization of stable,hurdle preserved foods. It has been observedthat because of elevated temperature, whichflavors and probably triggers microbial growth,vegetative cells, strain every possible repairmechanism to overcome the various hurdlespresent. Thus, because of such autosterilization,hurdle preserved foods that aremicrobiologically stable become even saferduring storage, especially in ambienttemperature.

Hurdle Technology In Food Preservation

In the dairy industry, use of thermalpasteurization (TP) is the established foodtechnology for commercial processing of milk.However, degradation of valuable nutrients inmilk and its sensory characteristics occurs duringTP due to substantial heat exposure. Pulsedelectric fields (PEF) and microfiltration (MF) bothrepresent emerging food processingtechnologies allowing gentle milk preservationat lower temperatures and shorter treatmenttimes for similar, or better, microbial inactivationand shelf stability when applied in a hurdleapproach compared to Thermal Processing.

MICROBIOCIDAL HURDLES THAT REDUCEMICROBIOLOGICAL LOAD | Hurdle TechnologyFor Milk Products

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The principles of the most common Hurdleswithin this category are:

Bactofugation: The removal of microbial cells ofhigh density from milk using high centrifugalforces.

Competitive microflora: The reduction of thenumber of undesirable microorganisms bylowering the pH, consumption of nutrients, andproduction of bacterial antimicrobial substances(such as nisin, other bacteriocins and hydrogenperoxide). Usually, this Hurdle is applied bychoice of starter cultures.

Microfiltration: Removal of microbial cells,clumps and somatic cells by recirculation over amicrofilter.

Ripening (ageing): The holding for such time, atsuch temperature, and under such conditions aswill result in the necessary biochemical andphysical changes characterizing the cheese inquestion. When applied as a Hurdle, themultifactoral, complex system developing incheese (pH, antagonistic flora, decreased wateractivity, metabolism of bacteriocins and organicacids) is utilized to influence themicroenvironment in and on the food andconsequently the composition of the microflorapresent.

Thermization: The application to milk of a heattreatment of a lower intensity thanpasteurization that aims at reducing the numberof microorganisms. Thermized milk is alkalinephosphatase positive.

High-pressure treatment: Application of highhydrostatic pressures (> 3000 Bar) to irreversiblydamage the membranes of vegetative cells.

Ultrasonication: The application of highintensity ultrasound (18-500 MHz) that causecycles of compression and expansion as well ascavitation in microbial cells. Implosion ofmicroscopic bubbles generates spots with veryhigh pressures and temperatures able to destroycells.

Electromagnetic energytreatment: Electromagnetic energy results fromhigh voltage electrical fields, which alternatetheir frequency millions of times per second (<108 MHz). Examples are microwave energy(thermal effect), radio-frequency energy (non-thermal effects) or high electric field pulses (10 –50 kV/cm, non-thermal effects). The treatmentdestroys cells by establishing pores in the cellwalls due to the build up of electrical charges atthe cell membrane.

Low-intensity irradiation: The submission ofbeams of photons/electrons to destroy viablemicroorganisms.

Today public concern is toward minimal damageto food product with maximum protection offood to microorganism. So hurdle technology isthe best way by which we can improve both ofthis characteristic. In dairy industry we can usethis technique and improve quality as well as it ispossible to make some value added product bythis technique.

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Banks must give loans to youth: MLASep 13, 2017, 07:30 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/banks-must-give-loans-to-youth-mla/articleshow/60486173.cms

ocal Legislator Balbir Singh Sidhu whileaddressing district level consultativecommittee meeting of banks held at

Vikas Bhawan in Mohali on Tuesday stated thatbanks should provide loan to youth for self-employment without any delay. This must bedone in order to help them in starting their ownbusiness.

He said banks should generate awareness aboutPradhan Mantri JanDhan Yojna, Rupay Card JanSuraksha Yojna, Atal Pension Plan, PradhanMantri Mudra Yojna, Stand up India Program,Avaas Yojna, Education Loan, National UrbanLivelihood Mission, Dairy, Self Help Group, RSETI

etc, so that general public could obtainmaximum benefit of these schemes.

Addressing the meeting deputy commissionerGurpreet Kaur Sapra said financial education-cum-awareness camps at village-level should beorganized and a report in this regard should besubmitted to the office of deputy commissioner.She directed the bank officials should ensurethat the beneficiaries under different schemesshould use and operate single account so thatthe requisite subsidy could be provided withoutany delay and clearance towards bank accountcould also be ensured timely.

Bankers urged to promote dairy

KARIMNAGAR,SEPTEMBER 06, 2017 22:40 ISThttp://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/bankers-urged-to-promote-dairy/article19631760.ece

he erstwhile Karimnagar district has lotsof potential for dairy units with thesuccess of Karimnagar Dairy, NABARD

Assistant General Manager (Dairy Development)R. Ravi Babu said calling upon bankers to extendto extend financial assistance to the sector.

Development of dairy units would provideassured regular income to the farmingcommunity along with agriculture, he said,speaking at a one-day district level workshop on‘Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme’(DEDS) in the town on Wednesday.

Integrated activity

The NABARD had sanctioned 12 crore for theTelangana for grounding of dairy units by

providing subsidy. Under this scheme, the dairyunits would be integrated with the agriculturesector by making the farmers to take up foddercultivation and also vermi-compost and use thesame as manure in the fields to increase the farmproductivity, he said. Financial assistance wouldbe provided for the purchase milch animals,rearing of heifer calves, vermi-compost withmilch animal units, milking machines, milktesters, bulk cooling units of 5,000 litrescapacity, processing equipment dairy productstransportation, cold storage facilities for milkand milk products, setting up veterinary clinicsand dairy parlours, among others.

Subsidy

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The NABARD would provide subsidy of 25 % forgeneral category beneficiaries and 33.33 % forSC\ST, he said and added that the last date forapplying for the assistance was September 30and the loans would be sanctioned on first comefirst serve basis.

Karimnagar District Cooperative Central Bank(DCCB) chief executive officer SatyanarayanaRao said that they were in the forefront in

extending financial assistance to the farmers fordairy units by entering into tripartite agreementwith Karimnagar dairy and the farmers. Duringthe last financial year they had advanced 32crore, he said and there was cent per centrepayment. Lead district manager Rajaiah,Director RSETI Dattadri and others were present.Later, all the bankers made a field visit toKarimnagar dairy.

Survey/Report

Increasing Awareness about Health Benefits of Dairy food Will Drive MajorGrowth In Dairy Blends Market 2017-2024

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/403633808/increasing-awareness-about-health-benefits-of-dairy-food-will-drive-major-growth-in-dairy-blends-market-2017-2024

ccording to the research report, theglobal dairy blends market are expectedto be worth US$4.59 billion and CAGR of

9.0%. By the end of 2024.

PUNE, INDIA, September 13, 2017/EINPresswire.com/ -- WiseGuyReportsannounced addition of new report, titled “DairyBlends Market (Form - Liquid, Spreadable, andPowder; Application - Infant Formula, Bakery,Beverage, Ice cream, Pharmaceutical Lactose,and Butter and Cheese Blends) - Global IndustryAnalysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends andForecast 2016 – 2024”.

Earlier milk was considered as nutritious foodbecause it contains cycloneotrients whichcontains (protein, fat, lactose) micronutrientsand vitamins, which include minerals for the useof minerals. But milk products such as lactoseintolerance, cholesterol, certified fat, allergic

symptom, which have recently led to turbulencefor Dairy Blends products.

Dairy food has become an integral part of mostof the meals. Due to the increasing use of theDairy food in the past few years various productshave been introduced in the global market.Increasing awareness of the growing populationand the benefits of dairy products has led to thedemand for various types of dairy blends.

According to the research report, the globaldairy blends market are expected to be worthUS$4.59 billion and CAGR of 9.0%. By the end of2024.

It has also been noticed that proper nutrition anda sufficient diet are important for human healthand these factors have run a dairy mix market.There is pre-requisite health care for one'shealth care and protection against infectiousdiseases. It is observed that the use of dairy

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blends combinations provides health benefits,thus improving the child's global nutrition andimproving family diet.

Request Sample Report@ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1919087-dairy-blends-market-form-liquid-spreadable-and-powder-application-infant-formula

The worldwide Dairy blends Market is seeing asteady growth rate due to rising disposableincome. Increasing use of food due to risingpopulation and low-fat foods has increased itsuse. Increasing emphasis on healthy food itemsthat provide excellent nutritious food hasincreased demand for dairy products. A recentsurvey found that 61% of the respondentssuggest that less effort and helping time reduceare the major factors towards using a convenientsubstitute product.

From market point of view Dairy Blends isfragmented into powder and liquid, and byapplication the market has been segmented intoinfant formula, bakery, beverage, butter andcheese blends, pharmaceutical lactose, icecream, butter and cheese blends and otherswhich include yogurt, dairy feeds.

The report on Dairy Blends Market analyzescurrent and future conditions of the globalmarket. Detailed analysis of the market reviewand market rehabilitation has given itsopportunity in detailed qualitative analysis andmarket observation section.

An analysis of market attractiveness byanalyzing geography and market shares by majorplayers in this section of the report also providesa thorough study of the overall competitivesituation in the world Dairy Blends market.Including company observation, financial review,production portfolio, business policy and recentdevelopments.

Geographically, the World Dairy blends Market isdivided into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific,Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.According to the study, the European DairyMendon market is expected to grow becauseconsumers are aware of the need to use the rightkind of food for proper nutrition.

The Major players in the global dairy blendsmarket are Kerry group, Cargill Inc., AgropourIngredients, Fonterra Co-Operative Limited,Agropour Ingredients, FrieslandCampina, DohlerGroup, Intermix Australia Pty Limited, AdvancedFood Products LLC, Galloway Company Inc., andCape Food Ingredients.

Finally, Dairy blends have occupied a significantposition due to its associated product benefits. Ithas also been noticed that proper nutrition anda sufficient diet are important for human healthand these factors have run a dairy blendsmarket.

Continued…

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Fermented food like yoghurt good source of nutrients: expertsPublished: September 7, 2017 6:47 PM ISThttp://www.india.com/news/agencies/fermented-food-like-yoghurt-good-source-of-nutrients-experts-2456298/

ermented foods have always held aspecial place in Indian cuisine culture withcurd, in its various forms like ‘lassi’ and

‘chhaachh’, being an intrinsic part of people’sdiets.

Yoghurt, a popular food import from the West, isalso evolving as an alternative healthy snackfood among Indian consumers.

Food experts suggest that yogurt, which isproduced by bacterial fermentation of milk, canbe a source of important nutrients, includingprotein.

“Yogurt is a nutrient-dense food that is good forpeople of all ages. Since it is a milk basedproduct, it is a good source of protein, calciumand potassium. A single serving of yogurt gives asignificant boost of Phosphorous, Potassium,B12, Riboflavin, Zinc, Iodine, and Vitamin B5,” Dr.Nandan Joshi, head of nutrition science andmedical affairs at Danone India, said.

Besides, providing good nutrition, yogurtcontains live and active cultures, living beneficialbacteria which supports digestion and improvesgut health, he added.

Fermented products are a vehicle forfortification and can be an efficient tool tocombat nutrient deficiencies, that is, vitamin D.Yoghurt consumers across various distinctpopulations appear to have healthier dietarypatterns, nutrient adequacy, and lifestylescompared with non-consumers.

According to the experts, lot of studies are beingconducted to gather evidence on the healthbenefits of yoghurt. There is substantialevidence on health benefits of yogurt like weightmanagement, cardiovascular andgastrointestinal health and cancer.

“Recent meta-analyses have shown that dairyconsumption is neutral or beneficial for weightcontrol, coronary disease, diabetes,hypertension, and most cancers.

“Currently, extensive research has beenconducted to investigate the mechanismsthrough which yogurt generates beneficialeffects. Gut microbiota appear to be animportant factor that can be modified by dietaryprebiotics, as well as probiotics such as yogurt,”said Fariel Dif, head of communication for DairyResearch and Innovation, Danone.

There is a growing interest in the relationshipbetween yogurt and obesity, as evidenced by thenumber of publications on the topic over the lastfew years.

Yogurt may have a superior effect than otherfood, beverages and snacks on inducing satietydue to its high protein content. Moreover, thesubstitution of nutrient-poor, energy-denseitems with nutrient rich foods such as yogurt canhave a beneficial impact on weight maintenanceand obesity, Dif said

Further, yogurt is that one by-product of milkthat can be better tolerated by people withlactose intolerance, said Dr. Joshi.

Bacterial fermentation of yogurt results inchanging lactose (the sugar in milk) to lactic acid,and hence lower intake of lactose.

“The good bacteria present in yogurt secrete anenzyme called Galactosidase that allows them topre-digest part of the lactose. Therefore, lactoseintolerant individuals can better digest yogurtand show better tolerance to yogurt ascompared to milk,” Dr. Joshi said.

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In light of Kwality's woes, how did Indian dairy majors fare in the past 5 years?

Sep 07, 2017 10:45 AM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.comhttp://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/stocks-business/in-light-of-kwalitys-woes-how-did-indian-dairy-majors-fare-in-the-past-5-years-2380011.html

oneycontrol analyzed thefundamental parameters of some ofIndia’s most renowned dairy

companies over a five-year period to determinethe best performers across a series of financialvariables.

Kwality, one of India’s most well-known dairycompanies, hit the lower circuit on twoconsecutive trading days earlier this week, thustriggering pandemonium amongst its investors.On the back of subsequent clarifications issuedby the company’s management in this regard,wherein no facts/events were attributed to sucha drastic downfall, the stock not only recoveredfrom yesterday’s unexpected intra-day 20

percent correction, but also gained 6 percent byend of the session, and seems to be doing well.

In the wake of this hullabaloo, we analyzed thefundamental parameters of India’s dairy majorsover a five-year period to determine the bestperformers across a series of financial variables.

Here’s what our study suggests:-

Sales slowdown pan-industry

As seen in the exhibit below, almost all playerswitnessed a decline in the rate of top-line growthfrom a year on year perspective. Hatsun Agro,however, managed to swim against the wave byposting a robust set of revenues every year.

Best Operating Margins

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Kwality's and Hatsun Agro's margins recorded anuptick over the years, barring a minor blip inFY15 in case of the latter. EBITDA margins of

other companies were subject to erraticfluctuations when looked at from an overallstandpoint.

The most consistent bottom-line performer

Kwality’s profits, unlike others, grewsteadily every year. Additionally, the degree of

volatility in its profit after tax (PAT) margins wasalso the least.

Debt-equity synopsis

Though all companies in the dairy space havebeen gradually decreasing their dependence on

borrowed funds for operations, the likes ofHatson Agro and Kwality need significant and

36

noticeable improvement on this front incomparison to their peers.

With GST now underway, unorganised entities,which comprise a significant chunk of India'sdairy industry, are likely to lose out on theirpricing advantage to organised counterpartsover a period of time. Given the inelasticdemand for dairy products across the breadth

and depth of the country, the sector as a wholeis poised to grow well going forward.Nonetheless, how things pan out for each of theabove companies in due course remains to beseen.

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Milk analysis required to stall adulterated milk sale, states IndiFossTuesday, 05 September, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru

http://www.fnbnews.com/Top-News/milk-analysis-required-to-stall-adulterated-milk-sale-states-indifoss-41082

IndiFoss Analytical is now keen to see that theIndian diary industry opts for milk analysis tostall the adulterated milk sale in the country.

The Food Safety Standards Authority of India(FSSAI) mandates general testing techniques.However, the need of the hour is access toquality testing instrumentation to ensureaccurate and foolproof analysis of milk.

“Moreover, the focus of testing is mainly onfinal milk and milk products and not on the RawMilk. The government directive should alsofocus on the certification of the Fresh RawMilk,” Satish Mohite, general manager,marketing, IndiFoss Analytical, told FnB Newson the sidelines of India Foodex, whichconcluded in Bengaluru recently.

The dairies must also look beyondpasteurisation, which is a heat treatment to killpathogenic bacteria and reduce enzymaticactivity. This is to make the product safe forconsumption and to lengthen its shelf life.

But the reality is that the bacteria is onlydestroyed and not removed. There is a need tosensitise the consumption and use of safequality milk.

“Most of the dairies in the country are lookingat dairy equipment to scale up their dairies,because the objective is to drive volumes of milkproduction and related by-products. There is alimited interest in milk analysisinstrumentation,” Mohite added.

This is where MilkoScan, which is positioned asa one-of-a- kind milk analyser. The equipment is

the latest in liquid milk testing. It analyses themajor components in raw and processed milk,cream and whey.

The process is cost-effective, allowing tomeasure up to six key parameters from a singlemilk sample such as fat, protein, total solids,solids non fat (SNF) and lactose, besides screenfor milk adulteration. It helps to avoid time-consuming and labour-intensive conventionaltesting process.

It allows to standardise milk or cream products.Further, the results after analysis can allow dairyfarmers to be paid according to the safety ofmilk and calculating the purity and fat content.

The instrument will lead to an immediate anddramatic reduction in costs by replacing muchof traditional laboratory testing. It is also usedto test the fat and SNF content to makepayments to dairy farmers.

Currently, due to no instrumental regulationsfor Raw Milk Adulteration testing, a huge IndianDairy Market remains uninterested in testingRaw Milk Quality.

Due to the above apathy, Indifoss has had arestricted success of catering to just about eightpercent of the Indian market, which coversthose who are interested in monitoringincoming Raw Milk.

The Denmark-based Foss is a global partner withover 120 offices worldwide and has holds 90 percent of the global market.

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Foreign News

Text message network connects offline farmers in Kenya

Reuters | Sep 14, 2017, 05:35 ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/text-message-network-connects-offline-farmers-in-kenya/articleshow/60505188.cms

MERU, Kenya, Sept 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) –

hen she woke up one morning inFebruary,

Catherine Kagendo realised that oneof her cows could not stand.

"It was lying on its side, had lost its appetite andwas breathing heavily," she told the ThomsonReuters Foundation from her farm in Meru, ineastern Kenya.

With her husband she decided to turn toWeFarm, a text-based network of small-scalefarmers, for help.

Within an hour, their text - "one of my lactatingcows cannot stand" - generated a flurry ofsuggestions, from "feed your cow with mineralsrich in calcium" to "make sure the cow shed isclean and well-drained so the animals don't slip".

"I realised our cow had milk fever, so gave itcalcium-rich feed and it was standing againwithin hours," Kagendo explained.

She is one of many Kenyan small-scale farmerswho lack good information - mostly due to a lackof internet access - on how to manage problemsfrom dry spells to diseases, local farm expertssay.

As a result, such farmers often lose their harvestor animals, they said.

But WeFarm, a farmers' network launched inKenya in 2014 and more recently expanded

to Uganda and Peru, allows people to ask aquestion by text message and receive advicefrom their peers.

The service, whose Scottish co-founder KennyEwan describes it as "the internet for peoplewith no internet", is free to use and only requiresa mobile phone.

Farmers text questions to a local number, andWeFarm transmits the message to users withsimilar interests in the area, tapping into theirknowledge.

"We want farmers to get answers to theirproblems without needing to access theinternet, so the information is available to all,"said Mwinyi Bwika, head of marketing atWeFarm.

Although the platform also exists online, over 95percent of users choose to use it offline, he said.

INFORMATION GAP

Kagendo's said that when her animals were ill orher maize crops too dry, she used to have to hirean extension officer to help solve the problem.

"But we had to pay a fee ranging from 500 to2,000 Kenyan shillings ($5-20) and most of thetime the officer didn't even explain theirdiagnosis," she said.

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That cut into her family's income and left themno better able to understand the diseases facingtheir cattle and their crops.

"We cannot even afford a smart phone to goonline, so finding credible information was nearimpossible," she said.

According to Bwika, small-scale farmers oftenlack the information they need because of a lackof cash - most live on less than a dollar a day - aswell as poor internet connection and low literacylevels.

"Ewan realised that farmers living just a fewmiles from each other were facing the samechallenges, but with no way to communicateabout them. So he created a platform to connectthem," Bwika said.

Joseph Kinyua, another farmer from Meru whogrows vegetables, said he spends at least 30minutes per day using WeFarm.

"It's taught me anything from using pest controltraps to ensuring that my sprinklers don't put outtoo much water," he said. "And I know themethods are proven and tested by otherfarmers."

The knowledge has helped improve the qualityof the kale he grows, he said, enough that "I cannow sell a kilo at the market at 70 shillings($0.70) compared to 50 ($0.50) previously".

PREVENTING PROBLEMS

While the platform might receive dozens ofreplies to a question, it only sends out to the usera selection of answers judged correct, Bwikasaid.

But it uses the questions and advice received tohelp track disease outbreaks or extreme weatherspells, and shares those insights withgovernments and non-governmentalorganisations, Bwika said.

"In doing so we hope to prevent diseaseoutbreaks and track problems before theyoccur," he said.

Not everyone shares this optimism, however.

Mary Nkatha, a farmer from Meru, said shefound it hard to implement some of therecommendations she received from WeFarmwithout the practical guidance of an expert.

"If I am told to inject my cow with something,how do I make sure I do it in the right place? Andwhere do I find the equipment?" she asked.

Fredrick Ochido, a Kenya-based consultant ondairy farming, also worries that the platform maybe entrenching farmers' poor use of technology,rather than helping them keep up with newtrends.

The WeFarm platform has over 100,000 currentusers in Kenya, Uganda and Peru, and itsoperators hopes to reach one million farmers inthe next year. They also aim to expand the effortto other countries, including Tanzania.(Reporting by Caroline Wambui, editing by ZoeTabary and Laurie Goering. Please credit theThomson Reuters Foundation, the charitablearm of Thomson Reuters, that covershumanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking,property rights, climate change and resilience.

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Raw milk is the craft beer of the milk industry

http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2017/09/13/raw-milk-craft-beer-milk-industry/661047001/

t's an art to get a well-crafted glass of milk.For Ben and Kristen Beichler, it startswith how the cows graze, what they eat and

how they live.

"Our cows are 100 percent grass-fed," said BenBeichler. "They don't eat corn silage or grain.They're just basically pasture and in thewintertime they eat hay and baleage."

The conditions of the grass the cows are eatingand how the cows live, all affect the milk.

"The color of the milk changes as the seasonschange," Ben said.

With the amount of rain the area has had and thegreenery popping up, that makes the color of themilk change slightly as well as the cream lineschange, he said. It also affects the taste of themilk.

Ben equates raw milk and dairy to how area craftbreweries can differ in taste, depending on howthings are made, what products are used and thebrewing process.

"It's all based on what the cow's eating," Bensaid. "The same as taphouses throughoutVirginia, you know how each taphouse has theirown flavor, dairy is the same exact way. Everyfarm, based on the breed of cows they'remilking, what they're feeding them, theirmanagement practices are is going to affect theirtexture, color, cream line, flavor."

It's something the couple has been doing for thepast six years — but they've been farming foralmost a decade. The two first met at PolyfaceFarm in Swoope where Ben was an apprenticeand Kristen was an intern.

More: New medieval shop; local call-in radioshow; 360 biz tours — The buzz

Raw milk

On their farm, Creambrook Farm inMiddlebrook, they produce raw milk forcustomers and are milk suppliers for two areafarms. They milk about 32 cows once a day. Ontheir farm they milk Jersey cows and have a totalof about 80 to 90 heads of cow. With some newcows coming in after calving, their milking cownumber should increase to 40 cows.

What they pride themselves on is their rawproduct — that means the milk straight from thecow.

They first bring in the herd and milk six at a time.Before milking, there is an entire cleaningprocess done on the cow to ensure a clean rawmilk product.

At their farm they uphold the standards of othersstates that allow the sale of raw milk likePennsylvania or California. Ben managed one ofthe largest raw milk dairies in Pennsylvania a fewyears back, so he's familiar with the statestandards, because Virginia doesn't have any.

"You cannot sell raw milk in the state of Virginia,"Kristen Beichler said. "The way people can do itis you buy into the herd, like owning a share, andthey get milk from their own cows. We don't sellthe product, we are a service of taking care ofthe cows and collecting that milk and giving it tothem."

They have their own lab that they test their milkbefore it leaves. They have duplicated the

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standards of Pennsylvania. It's tested forbacteria, the cleanliness of the equipment that isused in the milking process.

Lots of people are turned off by the word "raw."But, for the Beichlers, that's the best kind of milkfor you.

More: Farm experience vital for futuregenerations

Back in the day, to clean up dairy, pasteurizationwas brought in. In turn, it kind of took away thewhole point of milk, the Beichlers said.

"It also kills all the good bacteria," Kristen said."A lot of people became intolerant to dairy,because with raw milk there's a lot of proteinsand enzymes needed to digest it, which I think isreally cool. It's like a complete food. It haseverything you need to process it. But withpasteurization, it killed all the bad stuff but it alsokilled off all the good bacteria and vitamins thatyou need."

More here: Hemp: Could it be the future offarming?

Quality is of the upmost importance in theiroperation. They track the temperature of themilk, keep the milking house extremely clean(Ben calls it "hospital clean.")

"The quality, purity and integrity is reallyimportant to show that raw milk can be made,produced and enjoyed safely," Kristen said.

Selling shares

Currently they have 90 families part of the rawmilk share — amounting to 100 shares. How itworks is there is one fee of $34 to buy into theherd and some people may buy multiple shares,depending on how much milk they wantdelivered weekly. Then, it's $34 a month forboarding and delivery. It equates to about $7.50a gallon.

They make weekly deliveries to Staunton,Stuarts Draft and down Interstate 64 to Crozet,

Charlottesville, Palmyra, Richmond andMechanicsville. They do drop-offs at some smalllocal businesses in each place to allow for acentrally located place for their customers ineach area.

"We love collaborations with local businesses,"Ben said.

They also send milk to Old Church Creamery inMechanicsville and Caromont Farm outside ofCharlottesville.

The couple bought the 243 acre farm back inMay and have been doing the herd shares sinceJune and are looking to add more people to theshares.

They also invite the public to come out to theirfarm this Saturday for a farm day starting at 11a.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 forchildren.

"It gives the opportunity for our customers andthose interested to check out farm life," Bensaid.

It also gives the Beichlers a chance to show theirlove of farming and their family business.

Creambrook Farm is not only a venture for Benand Kristen, it's something their three-year-oldson James gets in on, too. He's the clean-up crewin the morning and can chase around the cows inthe day. The Beichlers say he's getting the hangof farming pretty quickly.

"I enjoy just working out in the pastures with thecows," Ben said. "We love drinking milk, we gothrough about a gallon a day."

They also get to know the cows one-on-one.

"They difference between dairy and beef cows isyou develop a little bit of a relationship withthem," Ben said. "You can tell who's having agood or bad day and they know when you'rehaving a good or bad day."

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Cargill's Big Data Makes Happier And More Productive Cows

Published on Sep 13 2017 9:40 AMhttps://www.esmmagazine.com/cargill-big-data-makes-happier-cows/49074

argill, one of the world’s biggestagricultural companies, is tapping BigData to help US farmers make their cows

more comfortable – and more productive.

The 152-year-old Minneapolis-based companyrecently said that it plans to offer its DairyEnteligen application in the US in the nextseveral months, after introducing it in Italy andSpain. The platform lets consultants and farmersanalyse reams of information, from cows’ livingconditions to diet and milk productivity on smarttablets and computers.

Cargill is part of the growing wave of companieslooking to tap into the proliferation of data that’ssweeping across industries, from automotive totelecommunications and agriculture. Deere &Co., the world’s biggest producer of farmequipment, recently said that it closed on its$305 million acquisition of Blue RiverTechnology, Inc. – a Silicon Valley-basedcompany that specialises in smart machines. Inits annual report last month, Cargill said that itaspires to 'change the game' within its industrywith digitalisation and analytics.

The market for precision agriculture –encompassing analytics, drones, digitisation andother technologies – may be worth $240 billionby 2050, as farmers look for ways to boostproductivity as population growth lifts fooddemand, according to Goldman Sachs Group,Inc.

'The surge in agtech investment has brought theagriculture industry to the threshold of a newagricultural revolution,' Decker Walker, Torsten

Kurth and Matt Westerlund, analysts at BostonConsulting Group, Inc., wrote in a July report.'The major sources of revenue are changing andnew profit pools are being created.'

Production Boost

"Cargill’s seen an 11.7% increase in milkproduction in Italian farms using the newapplication, along with lower production costs,"Ricardo Daura, global product-line director inCargill’s animal-nutrition digital-insightsbusiness, said by phone recently.

“There are multiple things that affect how manygallons of milk a cow produces,” Daura said. “Ifanimal welfare is optimal, then farmers will seehigher productivity.”

Daura said that the company is researching theuse of sensors and artificial intelligence as itupdates the application.

Dairy farmers have long had access to reams ofdata, but it hasn’t been widely collated, Chantalvan der Meijde, the company’s global categorymanager for dairy technology, said in aninterview.

"The company’s focusing on similar efforts inother segments, including aquaculture," saidSriRaj Kantamneni, managing director of digitalinsights in Cargill’s animal-nutrition business.

“What we’re really chasing after as a digitalbusiness is a connected system,” Kantamnenisaid.

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State Fair dairy display provides educational experience for kids

http://krqe.com/2017/09/12/state-fair-dairy-display-provides-educational-experience-for-kids/

Published: September 12, 2017, 4:59 pm Updated: September 12, 2017, 5:01 pm

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) –

cow and dairy display is drawing a lot ofattention at the State Fair.

Dairy Max represents all the localfarmers in the southwestern United States. Thisyear, they have a booth at the State Fair for kidsand parents to learn more about dairy productslike milk and cheese.

“They are now understanding where milk comesfrom and where chocolate milk comes from, not

a brown cow. They understand a little bit moreabout well balanced meals and diet,” JessicaLuchini, with Dairy Max, said.

The most popular attraction at the booth is Bella,the mechanical cow. Kids are able to milk Bellaand learn where milk comes from.

Anyone who takes a picture with a cow can enterto win free milk for a year.

Stung by drought, farmers invest more in animal feed

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 12 2017http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/smartcompany/Stung-drought-farmers-invest-animal-feed/1226-4092206-a0w0i/index.html

airy farmers in the North Rift areincreasing the acreage under animalfodder to cushion them against

perennial feed shortages.

Stung by the recent drought that cut milkproduction by nearly half, a number of milkproducers who spoke to Smart Company saidthey are growing different fodder to avoid whatthey went through during the start of this year.

Although the most recent data from the Ministryof Agriculture indicates that Kenya’s dairyindustry has recorded an increase in productionafter onset of rains, milk producers are leavingnothing to chance.

Mr Julius Kitur, a dairy farmer is one of those,who reduced the acreage under white maize togrow yellow maize on his 52 acre farm in Turbo,Uasin Gishu.

“The cows like the fodder. . . I want to improveon my dairy so that is why I planted the crop,”says that farmer who owns 20 cows.

A number of farmers said their cows recordeddrop in milk quantities during one of the worstdry spells in the recent past.

In July, the government waived tax onimportation of yellow maize to help controlskyrocketing cost of animal feeds and also easepressure on white variety.

Mr Shadrack Moimett, a farmer from Kesses,Uasin Gishu said although he planted wheat onhis 10 acre farm last season, he has opted formaize and pasture this time round.

“This year, I decided to plant five acres of pasturefor my cows because of the good prices in themarket and then the other for maize,” says thefarmer.

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Mr Julius Kiptarus, director of livestockproduction in the Ministry of Agriculture saidTrans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu counties haverecorded an increase in milk production bybetween 40 to 50 per cent.

“However there are pockets of arid and semi-arid areas, which have recorded rains belowaverage and as such are yet to fully recover fromthe effects of drought.

“The Met department has projected that theshort rains are expected by October 20 and hopethis will improve milk production across thecountry,” he said in an interview on Thursday.He said a large number of farmers are increasingacreage under fodder.

“We want to encourage that. . . What we areseeing is that farmers are actually balancingwhile others have fully gone to dairy agri-business also increasing the number of acreseven of the maize crop for silage production,”said Mr Kiptarus.

“We want to ask farmers that if they have 50acres, they can grow maize for commercialpurposes and about 10 acres for fodder,” saidthe official.

According to Mr Nixon Sigey, New KCC ManagingDirector, poor feeding regime and breeding hadcontributed to low productivity at the farm level.

“We want to encourage farmers to takeadvantage of the short rains to grow pasture andother fodder and store them in the event of dryspell. The six month drought was the mostpainful to farmers. We had cushioned themagainst drought effects by increasing theproducer price by Sh10,” he adds.

In March, the country’s major milk firms -Brookside and New KCC increased milk producerprices, known as farm gate prices, to an all-timehigh of Sh42 and Sh43 per litre respectively in abid to shield farmers against effects of drought.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich in Mayscrapped duty on imported powder milk to easethe shortage that had resulted to a sharp rise inconsumer prices.

The drop was attributed to a severe drought thataffected most parts of the country startingOctober last year.

The price of a half a litre of milk had risen to anall-time high of Sh65 following one of the longestdry spells recorded in the recent past. Processorscut the price in May after a marginal increase inproduction.

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Butter, cheese sales boost payout to Euro farmers

Tuesday, 12 September 2017 07:55

n its half year report, the co-op says milksupply from farmer suppliers declined by 1%to 5435 million kgMS.

Total payments to farmers rose 24.1%to 2.1 billion euros; the pro forma milk price paidto member dairy farmers reached Euro 38.37 per100kgMS.

FreislandCampina chief executive Roelof Joostensays the milk price for farmers recovered thisyear after several disappointing years.

“The higher sales prices for primarily butter andcheese lie at the root of this recovery,” he says.

“In Western Europe we were successful inpassing on the higher guaranteed price in thesales prices. This is reflected in the increasedrevenue.

“The total payment to member dairy farmersincreased by 24% versus the first half of 2016.High growth levels were achieved in Indonesiaand Vietnam, and with cheese and butter. InGermany, the Philippines and

Nigeria result trends are not as positive due tolocal market conditions and negative currencyeffects, the latter particularly in Nigeria.”

The co-op’s revenue rose 10.7% to Euro 6.1b onvolume growth in Southeast Asia, with foodservice products, added-value segment cheeseand pharmaceutical lactose; consumer volumesin Europe in particular were under pressure.

Operating profit rose 7.8% to Euro 275mprimarily due to the strong recovery of cheeseand butter sales prices.

Joosten attributed the increase in revenue tohigher sales prices of 10.3%; the acquisition ofEngro Foods in Pakistan at the end of 2016contributed 2.4%.

Butter products had the highest price increasesdue to the increased global demand for butterand cream products with a declining supply.

Milk supplied by FrieslandCampina farmersdropped by 53m kgMS over the first half-year2017 to 5435m kgMS.

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Dairy sector can play ‘key role’ in feeding world and must 'remainrelevant'

News09 Sep 2017Alex Blackhttps://www.fginsight.com/news/dairy-sector-can-play-key-role-in-feeding-world-and-must-remain-relevant-24694

airy can play a ‘key role’ in feeding theworld and needs to respond forcefullyto anything challenging its integrity,

according to Dr Judith Bryans, president of theInternational Dairy Federation (IDF).

A growing population and rising prosperity haveboosted dairy demand and Dr Bryans told theChina Dairy Industry Association annualconference there were now opportunities to beseized.

Following increased campaigns from vegan andanti-dairy groups challenging the nutritional andenvironmental credentials of dairy, Dr Bryanscalled on the industry to be innovative andensure its products were relevant to the lives ofconsumers.

Complacent

“We must never get complacent and forget totell consumers why we are important to themand the world,” she added.

Dr Bryans said the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals made clear dairy was ‘part ofthe solution’ to achieve goals surroundingnutrition, lifting people out of poverty andhunger and a healthy planet.

“Dairy has long been recognised as providinghigh quality nutrition but the sector is now beingattacked on this by anti-dairy groups and plantbased alternatives. Our environmentalcredentials are also being questioned."

She added it was essential for the sector to putforward its case dairy products should be anintegral part of meeting those goals ‘at everyopportunity’.

Strong case

“As a sector, we know we have a strong case toput forward to policy makers as to why dairyfarming and dairy products should form anintegral part of feeding the world and helping tomeet the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals. It is essential that we dothat at every opportunity.”

She added world dairy markets were currentlyoptimistic but the industry needed to continueto develop ‘a range of tools’ to help dairy farmersthrough more difficult periods.

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Irish dairy farmers fortunate that consumers drinking ‘real milk’

7:00 am - September 9, 2017http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/irish-dairy-farmers-fortunate-that-consumers-drinking-real-milk/

hile Irish liquid milk producers havebeen protesting about the possibilityof a milk price war, there is still an

appreciation of milk as a healthy natural productin this country, Mary Shelman, former director ofHarvard Business School’s agri businessprogramme, told AgriLand.

Shelman who is the “absentee owner” ofa 475ac farm in Kentucky, which is a cash grainoperation divided between corn and soya beans,was in Dublin last week to deliver a number ofaddresses. She was at UCD’s Michael SmurfitSchool and also delivering lectures for Bord Bia’stalent programmes, including the Origin GreenAmbassador programme.

Currently an advisor to the agri businessprogramme at Harvard, she was engaged byBord Bia in 2010 to conduct a high-levelassessment of the Irish food and drink industry.The objective was to identify new exportopportunities. The results were presented inBord Bia’s ‘Pathways for Growth’ strategy, withkey elements incorporated in Food Harvest2020.

A number of initiatives were introduced by BordBia as a result, including Origin Green, thecountry’s national sustainability programme.

“The supermarket industry is very competitive inIreland right now, and is looking at ways to getcustomers in-store, and drive traffic. Irishfarmers should be happy that people aredrinking real milk. In the US, we have seen theemergence of ‘fake’ milk products such asalmond, cocoa and soya milk. Part of that is dueto consumers getting caught up in health trends.

“In the US, milk hasn’t been promoted as ahealth product. In Ireland, the dairy industry is inbetter shape. There is still an understanding and

appreciation of milk as a healthy natural product,and recognisable brands are continuing to tellthat story,” she said.

In the US, a more generic approach is taken, andnobody is championing fresh milk, Shelman said.“Irish farmers are in a better position that thosein many other countries.”

One of the key factors having an impact on foodproduction – including the dairy sector –currently, she said, is technology. Introducingnew technologies that can be used throughoutthe supply chain in a farm-to-fork approach, andusing the data garnered, will help improvefarming operations, she said.

Farmers that adopt new technologies and usethe information they gain will be in a strongerposition to compete.

“Consumers have changed and are nowdemanding more of their food from farmers andprocessors. They want to know more aboutissues such as animal welfare and the treatmentof labour. They also expect companies to investback in their communities, and to provideinformation on their products.Basically, transparency is expected.”

Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme provides thestructure to ensure and prove they are doing theright thing, she said. “Investment in Origin Greenprovides the framework to facilitate success. Itprovides industry-level trust and confidence inthe food system.”

Shelman said that while there might be a costassociated with involvement in Origin Green inthe short term, in the long term the benefitswould be significant. “Farmers are alwaysthinking about the next season, and thisapproach also applies to investment.”

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Supermarket price wars are a hot topic, andShelman said that many people need access toinexpensive safe food. “By concentrating on ownlabel products, sourced directly from producers,Aldi and Lidl have skipped a step in the supplychain, and can offer lower prices. Their advertsprominently feature Irish origin, such as BordBia’s Q Mark as a quality selling point for meatsand other categories,” she said.

“Last week, Bord Bia launched an Origin Greencampaign showcasing Ireland as a country wherethings are done right, and it is an initiative whichcould help with the price pressure issue.”

Shelman commended the Irish government forits support of food and drink exports which, she

said, helped farmers and producers to sell onvalue rather than volume.

Shortages of labour have been cited as obstaclesto reaching targets in the dairy sector, butShelman said that technology could replacelabour in some situations.

Globally, there are huge opportunities for Irishfood suppliers, she said. “Ireland’s volume issmall in the global context, but if producers areable to differentiate, that should put the countryin a very powerful position. The rising influenceof countries like China, which seek security ofsupply, will continue. Their actions will have alarger impact on the global food industry.”

Cow cooling technologies tested at UC Davis dairy facility

http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/general-news/20170908/cow-cooling-technologies-tested-at-uc-davis-dairy-facility

ot cows cost California more than coolcows, which is why UC Davis is findingnew ways to chill out cattle.

Engineering Manager at the Western CoolingEfficiency Center Theresa Pistochini and UCDavis Department of Animal Science ProfessorCassandra Tucker are working with graduatestudents to find more energy efficienttechnologies to keep heat-stressed cows cooler.

“The California Energy Commission found $800million to $1 billion dollars are wasted becauseof heat-stressed cows,” said the professor atWednesday’s cow event. Heat-stress can causelow production, fertility issues and even deathfor cows, she said.

Off of Dairy Road in Davis, the pungent smell ofmethane is inescapable. Everyone wears plasticcovers over their shoes to prevent cross-contamination. New technologies are being

tested and include two approaches: a coolingmat and air conditioning — sort of. Both newmethods and traditional methods were set upJune 12 for cows to rotate out of and testingfinished this week. Graduate students checkedthe temperature of cows every three minutes aspart of the trial.

On one side of the stalls, cold water runs throughrubber mats placed under feeding beds andcows lay on top of them to cool down.

“It’s like the opposite of a heating blanket,” saidPaul Fortunato, the outreach manager for WCEC.

On the other side is a large evaporator coolerthat works with a fan to blow cooled waterthrough vents onto the cows, similar to airconditioning.

“Sprayers and massive fans are typical (coolingmethods) but they’re not consistent,” Fortunatoexplained. “Sometimes it just spreads gunk all

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over the cows and doesn’t actually cool themdown.”

These new methods at UC Davis are designed toreduce water use by up to 86 percent andelectricity use by as much as 38 percent overconventional methods.

Researchers videotaped cows day and night andnow have months of footage to process. Thoughthey’re not sure what method works bests,they’re confident new methods are working atleast as well as traditional fan and sprayingmethods, said Pistochini, the lead researcher.

Milk is the most valued agricultural commodityin California, with $9.4 billion in retail sales in2014. Roughly one in every five dairy cows in thenation is in California.

“The process of rumination, where cows fermenttheir food, produces a lot of heat, as does milkproduction itself,” Tucker stated. “When theoutside temperatures also rise, it’s a challengefor the animal in how she’s going to try to keepcool. This project is trying to reduce the energyand water use associated with that to help boththe cows and the dairy producers.”

The project is part of a four-year, $1 million grantfrom the California Energy Commission to helpimprove water and energy efficiency inCalifornia’s dairy industry. The data beingcollected now will help determine whichtechnology the team should use to pilot at acommercial dairy in a future phase of theproject.

M&S launches the first ever RSPCA assured milk

Lisa Bowman for Metro.co.ukWednesday 6 Sep 2017 11:57 am

http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/06/ms-launches-the-first-ever-rspca-assured-milk-6906966/

he store is supplied by 37 farms, and eachhas achieved the RSPCA Assuredcertification, which covers all aspects of

bovine welfare associated with milk production,including calf rearing, accommodation, healthplanning, transport, feed and grazing.

From today, all fresh milk at M&S will carry theRSPCA Assured logo on its label.

The move covers all milk products in the store,however it doesn’t cover their organic milk, asthis is not supplied by the M&S Milk Pool.

This comes after shocking images surfaced backin March of calves crammed into solitary pens ata farm that supplied milk to M&S.

It would be great if this was a typical image in theUK dairy industry but unfortunately, this is notthe case (Photo by JonathanNicholson/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

RSPCA auditors visited every single farm thatsupplies the store during the months of April,May and June this year.

They checked 332 standards on each visit andthe average number of non-compliances was

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two per farm, which means that on average, 99%of standards were met.

14 of 37 farms met every single standard, and allfarms who weren’t up to scratch made changesto rectify their standards by mid-July.

A vet checking a calf at a dairy farm in NorthYorkshire (noit an M&S supplier) (photo by MikeKemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Consumers are able to view RSPCA Assuredassessment reports for each of M&S’s Milk Poolsupplier farms via their interactive online map

This map shows where M&S milk is sourcedfrom, summary results for each farm and a linkto download the full assessment report.

Readmore: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/06/ms-launches-the-first-ever-rspca-assured-milk-6906966/#ixzz4sjDeIBBt

Project attracts new skills to dairy

05 Sep, 2017 12:00 PMhttp://adf.farmonline.com.au/news/magazine/industry-news/general/project-attracts-new-skills-to-dairy/2755798.aspx

he dairy industry has skills: agronomists,vets, international traders, scientists.That's even before including farmers,

who are all of the above. Nevertheless, theindustry can always use more skills.

Gardiner Dairy Foundation, in partnership withMonash University, has identified a way toattract new people with skills to dairy. TheMonash Industry Team Initiative (or MITI, forshort) partners high-calibre student teams withdairy organisations to design innovativesolutions to real world issues.

This whets the appetite of the students for arewarding career in dairy, often giving them ataste of life in regional Victoria. The dairyorganisations get skilled and enthusiastic youngpeople bringing a fresh set of eyes to problems.It's a win:win.

One of the 15 MITI teams for 2016/2017 summerwas placed with DataGene, who wanted to

assess the plausibility of cow classification byvideo so that the number of classifications couldincrease to improve breeding value accuracy.Classification is a way of scoring a cow's physicalattributes.

Scoring must be performed by a trained classifierwith experience and a strong eye for the breedof cow. However, many traits are directly relatedto a geometric measurement. For example, the"muzzle" trait is a measurement of the distancebetween the nostrils. A wide muzzle is a positivetrait because it suggests that the cow can grazeeffectively.

From a farmer's perspective, classification isimportant because an understanding of thephysical traits that can be improved will assistbreeding decisions that can make thoseimprovements. If a cow has a lower thandesirable score for stature, for example, it can bemated with a bull that typically produces tallprogeny.

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From the perspective of DataGene, moreclassification data will lead to more accuratebreeding values.

Classifying cows by video might increase thenumber of classifications records that can beused for genetic evaluation. The farmer couldsimply video their cows and then have the videouploaded to be scored. Perhaps software couldbe developed to automatically measure some ofthe traits that are measured traits, such as rumpangle or stature traits, potentially savingclassifiers some time.

Glen Barrett is operations manager of DataGeneand supervised the MITI team. "It was an excitingopportunity to engage with students and seewhat they could deliver," Mr Barrett said. "Thesetypes of projects are helping us think differentlyabout improving our genetic evaluations."

One of the students working on the technologywas third-year electrical engineering studentSam McCarthy. Mr McCarthy and his fellow teammembers were able to suggest some potentialsolutions to the technical challenges posed byautomatically measuring a cow.

"When we used video taken by a smartphone,we found that the distance calculations rely onknowing how the camera is moving," he said."We won't always know that or be able tocontrol that perfectly. Microsoft Kinect could getaround the problem."

What's Microsoft Kinect? It's a sensortechnology used on the Xbox gaming console.That may or may not be the answer for thistechnology, but it's a great example of how freshthinking can throw up truly innovative solutions.

"This is just step one," Mr Barrett said about thefuture of this technology. "We havedemonstrated it's possible, now we need towork with the breed societies to create a toolthat is both useful and usable."

The MITI program has also been openingopportunities in dairy manufacturing.

Milk is complex. The foods that it is made intoare even more complex - powders, butter,creams, yoghurts, desserts, any number of typesof cheese, just for a start. This is the job of thedairy factory. Take in raw material that is highlyperishable, and varies in composition, thenconvert it into diverse range of deliciousproducts, usually handling volumes that arebreathtakingly large.

It's a job that requires skills. Specifically,engineering skills.

Warrnambool Cheese and Butter innovationmanager Clinton Hill said: "The students say thatthey're surprised by the complexity of our joband just how interesting the engineering aspectsof the industry are. This Gardiner program hashelped us give young engineers exposure to thedairy industry -- an industry that they otherwisewouldn't have considered as a career option."

As dairy manufacturers shift away from bulkcommodities towards more consumer-focusedproducts, they require increasingly sophisticatedskill sets. The Gardiner initiative was establishedto overcome this challenge of attracting high-calibre engineers and other important skills tothe dairy sector.

It's been a common refrain across all the dairymanufacturers that have been involved -Devondale Murray Goulburn, Fonterra, BegaCheese, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, Lion,Parmalat and Burra Foods - accounting for morethan 90 per cent of Victoria's milk.

The Gardiner Dairy Foundation pilot program in2015 was highly successful. Seven teams ofstudents with a focus on engineering, educationand information technology were embeddedwith five dairy companies. In 2016 there was anincrease in both students and manufacturers,with 10 teams. This year, the program has grownagain to involve 41 students across 15 projects.

And the students?

Meghna Lahiri was placed with Burra Foods. "Itwas just amazing," she said. "I enjoyed the work,

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as well as the countryside. Very pretty, goodweather, the culture, it was just amazing."

Ms Lahiri had just finished her Master ofBusiness Information Systems in Novemberbefore starting the Gardiner internship inDecember. "After finishing my internship, BurraFoods offered me a job," she said. "The

internship really, really helped, because it wasvery much linked to what I was doing in myMasters -- understanding the businessrequirements and aligning the IT systems."

The Gardiner Dairy Foundation is lookingforward to introducing another cohort of skills toour great industry in the 2017/18 summer.

The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant by showing what thefuture of farming could look like.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/09/holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming/

By Frank Viviano

n a potato field near the Netherlands’border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacobvan den Borne is seated in the cabin of an

immense harvester before an instrument panelworthy of the starship Enterprise.

From his perch 10 feet above the ground, he’smonitoring two drones—a driverless tractorroaming the fields and a quadcopter in the air—that provide detailed readings on soil chemistry,water content, nutrients, and growth, measuringthe progress of every plant down to theindividual potato. Van den Borne’s productionnumbers testify to the power of this “precisionfarming,” as it’s known. The global average yieldof potatoes per acre is about nine tons. Van denBorne’s fields reliably produce more than 20.

That copious output is made all the moreremarkable by the other side of the balancesheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, theDutch made a national commitment tosustainable agriculture under the rallying cry“Twice as much food using half as many

resources.” Since 2000, van den Borne and manyof his fellow farmers have reduced dependenceon water for key crops by as much as 90 percent.They’ve almost completely eliminated the use ofchemical pesticides on plants in greenhouses,and since 2009 Dutch poultry and livestockproducers have cut their use of antibiotics by asmuch as 60 percent.

One more reason to marvel: The Netherlands isa small, densely populated country, with morethan 1,300 inhabitants per square mile. It’sbereft of almost every resource long thought tobe necessary for large-scale agriculture. Yet it’sthe globe’s number two exporter of food asmeasured by value, second only to the UnitedStates, which has 270 times its landmass. How onEarth have the Dutch done it?

Seen from the air, the Netherlands resembles noother major food producer—a fragmentedpatchwork of intensely cultivated fields, most ofthem tiny by agribusiness standards, punctuatedby bustling cities and suburbs. In the country’sprincipal farming regions, there’s almost no

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potato patch, no greenhouse, no hog barn that’sout of sight of skyscrapers, manufacturingplants, or urban sprawl. More than half thenation’s land area is used for agriculture andhorticulture.

Banks of what appear to be gargantuan mirrorsstretch across the countryside, glinting when thesun shines and glowing with eerie interior lightwhen night falls. They are Holland’sextraordinary greenhouse complexes, some ofthem covering 175 acres.

These climate-controlled farms enable a countrylocated a scant thousand miles from the ArcticCircle to be a global leader in exports of a fair-weather fruit: the tomato. The Dutch are also theworld’s top exporter of potatoes and onions andthe second largest exporter of vegetables overallin terms of value. More than a third of all globaltrade in vegetable seeds originates in theNetherlands.

The brain trust behind these astoundingnumbers is centered at Wageningen University &Research (WUR), located 50 miles southeast ofAmsterdam. Widely regarded as the world’s topagricultural research institution, WUR is thenodal point of Food Valley, an expansive clusterof agricultural technology start-ups andexperimental farms. The name is a deliberateallusion to California’s Silicon Valley, withWageningen emulating the role of StanfordUniversity in its celebrated merger of academiaand entrepreneurship.

Ernst van den Ende, managing director of WUR’sPlant Sciences Group, embodies Food Valley’sblended approach. A renowned scholar with thecasual manner of a barista at a hip café, van denEnde is a world authority on plant pathology.But, he says, “I’m not simply a college dean. Halfof me runs Plant Sciences, but the other halfoversees nine separate business units involved incommercial contract research.” Only that mix,“the science-driven in tandem with the market-driven,” he maintains, “can meet the challengethat lies ahead.”

The challenge? Put in bluntly apocalyptic terms,he says, the planet must produce “more food inthe next four decades than all farmers in historyhave harvested over the past 8,000 years.”

That’s because by 2050, the Earth will be hometo as many as 10 billion people, up from today’s7.5 billion. If massive increases in agriculturalyield are not achieved, matched by massivedecreases in the use of water and fossil fuels, abillion or more people may face starvation.Hunger could be the 21st century’s most urgentproblem, and the visionaries working in FoodValley believe they have found innovativesolutions. The wherewithal to stave offcatastrophic famine is within reach, van denEnde insists. His optimism rests on feedbackfrom more than a thousand WUR projects inmore than 140 countries and on its formal pactswith governments and universities on sixcontinents to share advances and implementthem.

A conversation with van den Ende is a white-knuckle ride on a torrent of brainstorms,statistics, and predictions. African drought?“Water isn’t the fundamental problem. It’s poorsoil,” he says. “The absence of nutrients can beoffset by cultivating plants that act in symbiosiswith certain bacteria to produce their ownfertilizer.” The soaring cost of grain to feedanimals? “Feed them grasshoppers instead,” hesays. One hectare of land yields one metric tonof soy protein, a common livestock feed, a year.The same amount of land can produce 150 tonsof insect protein.

The conversation rushes on to the use of LEDlighting to permit 24-hour cultivation in preciselyclimate-controlled greenhouses. It then detoursto a misconception that sustainable agriculturemeans minimal human intervention in nature.

“Look at the island of Bali!” he exclaims. For atleast a thousand years, its farmers have raisedducks and fish within the same flooded paddieswhere rice is cultivated. It’s an entirely self-contained food system, irrigated by intricate

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canal systems along mountain terraces sculptedby human hands.

“There’s your model of sustainability,” van denEnde says.

At every turn in the Netherlands, the future ofsustainable agriculture is taking shape—not inthe boardrooms of big corporations but onthousands of modest family farms. You see itvividly in the terrestrial paradise of TedDuijvestijn and his brothers Peter, Ronald, andRemco. Like the Balinese, the Duijvestijns haveconstructed a self-contained food system inwhich a near-perfect balance prevails betweenhuman ingenuity and nature’s potential.

At the Duijvestijns’ 36-acre greenhouse complexnear the old city of Delft, visitors stroll amongranks of deep green tomato vines, 20 feet tall.Rooted not in soil but in fibers spun from basaltand chalk, the plants are heavy with tomatoes—15 varieties in all—to suit the taste of the mostdemanding palate. In 2015 an international juryof horticultural experts named the Duijvestijnsthe world’s most innovative tomato growers.

Since relocating and restructuring their 70-year-old farm in 2004, the Duijvestijns have declaredresource independence on every front. The farmproduces almost all of its own energy andfertilizer and even some of the packagingmaterials necessary for the crop’s distributionand sale. The growing environment is kept atoptimal temperatures year-round by heatgenerated from geothermal aquifers thatsimmer under at least half of the Netherlands.

The only irrigation source is rainwater, says Ted,who manages the cultivation program. Eachkilogram of tomatoes from his fiber-rootedplants requires less than four gallons of water,compared with 16 gallons for plants in openfields. Once each year the entire crop is regrownfrom seeds, and the old vines are processed tomake packaging crates. The few pests thatmanage to enter the Duijvestijn greenhouses aregreeted by a ravenous army of defenders such asthe fierce Phytoseiulus persimilis, a predatory

mite that shows no interest in tomatoes butgorges itself on hundreds of destructive spidermites.

A few days before I visited the Duijvestijns’operation, Ted had attended a meeting offarmers and researchers at Wageningen. “This ishow we come up with innovative ways to moveahead, to keep improving,” he told me. “Peoplefrom all over Holland get together to discussdifferent perspectives and common goals. Noone knows all the answers on their own.”

The search for answers to a life-or-deathquestion gave rise to one of the Netherlands’most innovative companies. Half a century ago,Jan Koppert was growing cucumbers on his landand using toxic chemical sprays to fend off pests.When a physician declared him allergic topesticides, Koppert set out to learn all he couldabout the natural enemies of insects andarachnids.

Today Koppert Biological Systems is the globalpacesetter in biological pest and disease control,with 1,330 employees and 26 internationalsubsidiaries marketing its products in 96countries. Koppert’s firm can provide you withcotton bags of ladybug larvae that mature intovoracious consumers of aphids. Or how about abottle containing 2,000 of those predatory mitesthat hunt down spider mites on plants and suckthem dry? Or a box of 500 million nematodesthat mount deadly assaults on fly larvae thatprey on commercial mushrooms?

Koppert’s legions make love as well as war, in theguise of enthusiastic bumblebees. No form ofartificial pollination matches the efficiency ofbees buzzing from flower to flower, gatheringnectar to nourish their queen and helping tofertilize the ovaries of plants along the way. EachKoppert hive accounts for daily visits to half amillion flowers. Farmers using the bees typicallyreport 20 to 30 percent increases in yields andfruit weight, for less than half the cost of artificialpollination.

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Nowhere is the Netherlands' agriculturaltechnology more cutting-edge than in theembryonic organism in which most food isliterally rooted: seeds. And nowhere are thecontroversies that surround the future ofagriculture more heated. Chief among them isthe development of genetically modifiedorganisms to produce larger and more pest-resistant crops. To their critics, GMOs conjure upa Frankenstein scenario, fraught withuncertainty about the consequences of radicalexperimentation with living entities.

Dutch firms are among the world leaders in theseed business, with close to $1.7 billion worth ofexports in 2016. Yet they market no GMOproducts. A new seed variety in Europe’s heavilyregulated GMO arena can cost a hundred milliondollars and require 12 to 14 years of researchand development, according to KeyGene’s Arjenvan Tunen. By contrast, the latest achievementsin the venerable science of molecular breeding—which introduces no foreign genes—can deliverremarkable gains in five to 10 years, withdevelopment costs as low as $100,000 andseldom more than a million dollars. It is a directdescendant of methods employed by farmers inthe Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago.

The sales catalog of Rijk Zwaan, another Dutchbreeder, offers high-yield seeds in more than 25broad groups of vegetables, many that defendthemselves naturally against major pests. HeleenBos is responsible for the company’s organicaccounts and international developmentprojects. She might be expected to dwell on thefact that a single high-tech Rijk Zwaangreenhouse tomato seed, priced below $0.50,has been known to produce a mind-boggling 150pounds of tomatoes. Instead she talks about thehundreds of millions of people, most of themwomen and children, who lack sufficient food.

Like many of the entrepreneurs at Food Valleyfirms, Bos has worked in the fields and cities ofthe world’s poorest nations. With lengthypostings to Mozambique, Nicaragua, andBangladesh over the past 30 years, she knows

that hunger and devastating famine are notabstract threats.

“Of course, we can’t immediately implement thekind of ultrahigh-tech agriculture over there thatyou see in the Netherlands,” she says. “But weare well into introducing medium-tech solutionsthat can make a huge difference.” She cites theproliferation of relatively inexpensive plasticgreenhouses that have tripled some crop yieldscompared with those of open fields, where cropsare more subject to pests and drought.

Since 2008 Rijk Zwaan has supported a breedingprogram in Tanzania at a 50-acre trial field in theshadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Its seeds are sentto Holland for quality control tests ongermination rates, purity, and resistance to pestsand diseases. Collaborative projects are underway in Kenya, Peru, and Guatemala. “We try todevelop seeds for their specific conditions,” Bossays. But the starting point, she addsemphatically, cannot be the sort of top-downapproach that has doomed many well-meaningforeign aid projects.

“We have constant, tremendously importantconversations with the small growersthemselves—on their needs, on the weather andsoil conditions they face, on costs,” she says.

For some Dutch researchers, concern for peoplethreatened by hunger stems in part from anational trauma: The Netherlands was the lastWestern country to suffer a serious famine,when 10,000 to 20,000 people died in German-occupied lands during the final year of WorldWar II. Decades later, WUR’s Rudy Rabbinge,professor emeritus of sustainable developmentand food security, took up the cause when hehelped devise extensive changes in the faculty,student body, and curriculum that transformedthe institution into what he calls “a university forthe world, and not simply for the Dutch.” Todaya hefty share of the academic and researchactivities at WUR are focused on problems facingpoor nations.

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Some 45 percent of its graduate students—including nearly two-thirds of all Ph.D.candidates—are recruited abroad, representingmore than a hundred nations. Asians, led byChinese and Indonesians, outnumber almost allnon-Dutch Europeans combined. WUR alumniare found in the highest echelons of agriculturalministries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

In a campus cafeteria, I sit down with three ofWUR’s most promising students, a descriptionthat, not long ago, would have meant male andDutch born. All three are young women, hailingfrom Uganda, Nepal, and Indonesia.

“I met a Wageningen alumna when I was anundergrad in Uganda,” Leah Nandudu tells mewhen I ask how she wound up here. “She was anexpert on phenotyping,” the advanced studiesthat paint a detailed portrait of a plant’s traitsand potential. “It inspired me to discover that anAfrican could do these things. She was thefuture; she was where we need to go.”

The meeting eventually led Nandudu to a WURscholarship. Her father farms three acres, splitbetween coffee and bananas. Her motherteaches English in a primary school and helps inthe field. “We have all the problems farmers faceeverywhere today, only much worse, especiallydue to the consequences of climate change.”

Pragya Shrestha was raised in the Nepalicountryside, some parts of which have beenwracked by years of reliance on pesticides andfertilizers. Sounder, sustainable methods havemade few inroads so far.

“It’s a political problem,” she says. Newcultivation methods can’t be implementedbecause of a shortage of public funding. “It’s alsoa population problem, the fragmentation of theland into smaller and smaller parcels, suitableonly for the use of inefficient human labor andgenerating very little income.”

Renna Eliana Warjoto is from Bandung, the thirdlargest city in Indonesia. “People are mistrustfulof ideas that come from abroad,” she says, as

Shrestha and Nandudu nod in agreement.“Farmers are so used to having marginal livesand incomes,” she adds, “that they have a hardtime believing things could be different.”

In 1944-45 a lethal famine struck the island ofJava, where Bandung is located, killing some 2.4million people. Devastating regional crop failureshave haunted Indonesia as recently as 2005.Food supplies periodically run out in rural Nepalbecause of drought and high prices on essentialimports. In 2011 a famine in the Horn of Africaaffected 13 million people, and in 2017 1.6million Ugandans face starvation without rapidassistance from abroad. All these events wereunimaginable at the time, yet they pale incomparison to what could lie ahead. The numberof people menaced by famine in just threeAfrican nations and across the Red Sea in Yemenexceeds 20 million today and is rising inexorably,according to the United Nations. “We are facingthe largest humanitarian crisis since the creationof the UN,” the organization’s emergency reliefcoordinator, Stephen O’Brien, warned in March.

“Our most difficult task is changing theperceptions of our own people—about the crisiswe confront and what we must do to address it,”Nandudu says. “That’s my job when I go home.We cannot turn our faces away from reality.”

Some 4,000 miles south of Wageningen, in afamily-owned bean field in Africa’s Eastern RiftValley, a team from SoilCares, a Dutchagricultural technology firm, explains thefunctions of a small handheld device. Inconjunction with a cell phone app, the deviceanalyzes the soil’s pH, organic matter, and otherproperties, then uploads the results to adatabase in the Netherlands and returns adetailed report on optimal fertilizer use andnutrient needs—all in less than 10 minutes. At acost of a few dollars, the report provides inputthat can help reduce crop losses by enormousmargins to farmers who have never had accessto soil sampling of any kind.

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Less than 5 percent of the world’s estimated 570million farms have access to a soil lab. That’s thekind of number the Dutch see as a challenge.

“What does our work mean for developingcountries? That question is always raised here,”says Martin Scholten, who directs WUR’s AnimalSciences Group. “It’s part of every conversation.”

Report: Emerging technologies could help address dairy industrychallenges

http://www.fooddive.com/news/report-emerging-technologies-could-help-address-dairy-industry-challenges/503925/

Sept. 1, 2017

study by Frost & Sullivan businessconsultants profiled new food safetytechnologies available in the dairy

industry — a sector facing numerous challenges.These include ultra-high pressure and ultraviolet(UV) processing methods used when thermallytreating milk to reduce color changes or gelationduring processing and storage.

According to the study, consumer demand andcurrent market conditions are prompting areshaping of the dairy industry to deliverimproved product quality, stability and safety tocustomers, while reducing energy and costs.

“Standardization and compliance are crucial tosuccess," said Frost & Sullivan TechVision SeniorIndustry Analyst Cecilia Van Cauwenberghe.“Food safety best practices must beimplemented from the beginning, including theadoption of technology for pathogens, allergens,mycotoxins, genetically modified organisms(GMOs) and yeast detection.”

Dive Insight:

Opportunities for companies throughout thedairy sector to collaborate through partnerships,mergers and acquisitions, co-development andother models will help leverage these newindustry technologies, the study found. Other

technologies the dairy industry can takeadvantage of are advanced material design,microelectronics and nanotechnology, advancedthermodynamics, food engineering andprocessing, and Internet of Things (IoT)innovations to track products and ensure theirsafety.

The dairy industry is one of the most highlyregulated in the U.S., driven by U.S. Food andDrug Administration requirementscovering productsafety, pasteurization, equipment sanitation,labeling and distribution. These regulations havehelped limit U.S. foodborne illness outbreaksinvolving dairy products but can significantlyincrease production costs.

Challenges in today's dairy industry are higherfeed and fuel prices, oversupply and pricingpressures, labor shortages, the rising incidenceof milk allergies and lactose intolerance, andincreasingly popular milk-like products madefrom plants such as soy, rice, almonds, hemp andothers. According to Mintel, U.S. non-dairy milksales grew 9% in 2015, while dairy milk salesdeclined 7% during the same period.

Plant-based milks also have a longer shelf lifethan dairy-based milk. Unopened packages ofplant-based products are typically good a month

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or more past the date on the container, whilecow's milk, if properly stored, usually lasts for aweek past its best-by date. Such differences arenot lost on consumers, who are flocking tobuy plant-based milk products out ofhealth, safety, ethical and environmentalconcerns.

Despite all these challenges, the research studyemphasized the dairy industry is in a position toleverage new technologies to bolster consumerconfidence and help ensure a better — and moreprofitable — market for its products.