First, concerns over food safety have been fanned by events like the BSE crisis, melamine in Chinese milk, E coli in German beansprouts and, most recently, horsemeat contamination of beef in Europe.These have been behind the formation of bodies like the European Food Safety Authority, and also provide opportunities for Western companies to apply their knowledge and expertise in emerging markets.
Read MoreRussia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) also suffer from a considerable yield gap compared to other countries in spite of a surplus of agricultural land.
Read MoreAs in other sectors, IT is having an increasingly important impact throughout the agribusiness value chain. For input suppliers, it is creating new innovation platforms, as with bioinformatics and seeds or precision agriculture.
Read MoreBiotechnology is an umbrella term which covers both genetic modification (GM) of crops, where new genes are introduced which could not occur naturally, and advanced breeding techniques such as marker-assisted selection, which accelerate the development of naturally occurring genes, or ‘native traits’. Whereas GM was the initial focus of the biotechnology revolution, increasing emphasis has recently been accorded to the native traits approach.
Read MoreThe agribusiness environment is becoming increasingly volatile.This volatility stems from several different sources: the changing climate, political actions and social changes. The weather has been responsible for fluctuating yields and a supply shortfall which has put pressure on crop prices.This was what sparked the 2006 food crisis when drought in Australia led to a greatly reduced wheat crop which then had knock-on effects around the world and on other crops.
Read MoreThe goal of the global agribusiness value chain, which spans input companies through to the final consumer1 and has a total value of around US$5 trillion, is to provide sustainable access to affordable food, feed, fibre and, more recently, fuel. However, this goal is getting harder to achieve every year due to several prominent challenges.
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