In The News

Mars May Be Banned From Selling M&M’s in Sweden

Oliver Nieburg June 10, 2016
Trademarks, the exclusive right to names and logos, signal consistency for consumers and markets. “A word or a combination of words, letters, and numerals can perfectly constitute a trademark,” explains the World Intellectual Property Organization. “But trademarks may also consist of drawings, symbols, three-dimensional features such as the shape and packaging of goods, non-visible signs such as...

South American Tomato Moth Is Stoking Food Security Fears in Nigeria

Yomi Kazeem May 30, 2016
Nigeria struggles with declining oil prices and currency devaluation, but agriculture, representing 30 percent of the Nigerian economy, is also taking a hit: “Africa’s largest economy is facing a food crisis as major tomato fields have been destroyed by a moth, leading to a nationwide shortage and escalating prices,” explains reporter Yomi Kazeem for Quartz. “The moth, Tuta absoluta, has...

Natural Capital: What Is the True Cost of Food?

Anna Behrend April 8, 2016
Food prices may not reflect the full costs to the environment, including pesticides during the growing phase or wastewater after processing. The loss of clean water, fertile soil and other features of nature can exacerbate droughts, food shortages and wildfires. Trucost is using mathematical models and “attempting to identify the value lost when companies destroy or pollute the environment,”...

Better Late Than Never

Nayan Chanda March 31, 2016
India has flung open the doors on foreign direct investment in its food retail sector. “Presenting the annual budget, the finance minister announced that his government would allow 100 per cent FDI in agricultural food processing, which covers the multi-brand retail of food products produced and manufactured in India,” writes Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s founding editor, in his column for...

Poor Harvest Could Spell Hard Winter for Rural North Koreans

Eric Talmadge December 30, 2015
North Korea has an average income of about $1500 and the unemployment rate is about 25 percent. The country’s rural poor is suffering. “The combination of the limited variety of foods that are available and the stresses on the body from the frigid weather creates major hardship for most North Koreans,” writes Eric Talmadge for the Japan Times. “But winter is generally not the toughest time of...

Bye, Bye, Bananas

Roberto A. Ferdman December 25, 2015
The popular Cavendish banana, representing 99 percent of all export bananas, is under threat. It’s not the first time export bananas have succumbed to a disease, explains Roberto A. Ferdman, after a fungus spread from Australia to South America and destroyed the previous top export banana, Gros Michael. A new variation of the fungus, Tropical Race 4, emerged in Southeast Asia 50 years ago and...

The Bitter Story Behind the UK's National Drink

Justin Rowlatt and Jane Deith September 11, 2015
Tea is marketed as a symbol of relaxation and civilized culture, but reports emerge of poor conditions for workers on tea estates. “The joint investigation by Radio 4's File on Four and BBC News in Assam, north-east India, found workers living in broken houses with terrible sanitation,” reports BBC News. “Living and working conditions are so bad, and wages so low, that tea workers and their...