Farm produce quality has improved consistently in China thanks to stringent oversight, official data showed Thursday.

Farm produce quality has improved steadily over the past five years as more than 96 percent of the output passed a quality check. In the first half of this year, the number reached 97.6 percent, said Guang Defu, director of the Bureau of Quality and Safety Supervision for Agro-products of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry has laid out comprehensive safety standards including more than 6,000 quality standards in pesticide and veterinary residue and more than 5,000 other industry standards. Green and organic food standards have been applied in a greater scope, he told a press briefing on farm produce safety.

A national safety monitoring network has been established with 117,000 superintendents on duty, and they have intensified the crackdown on illegal use of ractopamine and other restricted pesticides.

“It is safe to say China’s farm produce is safe and reliable,” said Guang Defu, adding that problems still exist and supervision remains a daunting task.

He emphasized the importance of establishing a quality traceable system and vowed to deal with heavy metal pollution to improve food safety.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture China. Date: 2017-08-18

Two Chinese winemakers were among the world’s top 10 best-selling wine brands in 2016, according to recently published data, as Britain’s two biggest supermarket chains begin stocking Chinese wine.

A list compiled by UK trade publication The Drinks Business had China’s Changyu as the fourth best-selling wine brand, by volume. It sold 15 million cases, which was the same volume it sold in 2015.

Beijing-based Great Wall was the 10th best-selling brand. It sold 7 million cases in 2016, down from 7.8 million in 2015. United States brand Barefoot was the best-selling product last year, selling 22.5 million cases.

Chinese wine consumption rose by 7 percent last year, and The Drinks Business estimates that, by 2020, China will have surpassed the UK to become the second-most-valuable wine market, behind the US.

Changyu and Great Wall dominate domestic consumption in China, and the companies are making inroads into the international market. Great Wall owns brands in Chile and France, while Changyu exports to several major European markets, including the UK.

This year, the UK’s two leading supermarket chains, Tesco and Sainsbury’s, began selling mid-range Changyu wines, starting at 7 pounds ($9) a bottle. UK wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd has had four Changyu wines in permanent stock since 2013.

Chris Mercer, online editor for wine magazine Decanter, said the appearance of affordable Chinese wines in the UK comes as supermarkets look to import more wines from outside the eurozone.

“You are seeing the exchange rate between sterling and the euro becomes really unfavorable,” Mercer said.

“Everyone has realized that China is producing a shedload of wine, and the general consensus is that the quality is getting better.”

In January, Sainsbury’s began stocking Changyu Noble Dragon Red Cabernet Gernischt at an introductory price of 8 pounds a bottle.

Source: China Daily. Date: 2017-08-18

Uber has inspired countless businesses to adopt its asset-light and on-demand approach to their industries. The examples are countless. Food delivery, dry cleaning, jet planes, home services rental bikes, or even phone chargers to name but a few — but how about farming equipment?

That’s the case in India, where a startup called EM3 AgriServices is helping rural farmers literally get their hands on specialist (and expensive) equipment and machines that would ordinarily be out of their reach. The goal is to help them earn their livelihood with cutting-edge tech without breaking the bank.

The concept is actually quite straightforward. EM3 works with farmers who own equipment like tractors, harvesters and other mechanical implements by allowing them to ‘rent’ out their assets to help pay off the purchase or generate additional revenue. Farmers, typically those in remote regional with small holdings and limited capital, then get access to quality implements and machines on a pay-as-you-use basis on either an hourly or acreage pricing.

That’s important when most farms in India are smaller than three acres. Tight economics, and a reliance on loans to make big-ticket purchases, are thought to be a key factor responsible for a high level of suicides among farmers over the past twenty years.

“The average Indian farm holding is just one percent of what you’d find in U.S., so farmers aren’t able to afford technology, even basic mechanization, because the capital load is too high,” EM3 founder and managing director Rohtash Mal (pictured above) told TechCrunch in an interview.

And he should know. Mal, a 63-year-old self-confessed “corporate world veteran,” started EM3 with his son Adwitiya Mal (CEO) in 2013 after a spell in charge of agriculture machinery manufacturer Escorts gave him a glimpse into the struggles of Indian farmers.

“In the farm equipment business one thing became clear, we did everything we could to help customers buy our products, but the fact is that the small farm could not afford the rate of technology,” Mal senior said.

“We’re inspired by what happens in tech world, but this hasn’t been done in agriculture before. The need wasn’t there in a lot of markets, such as the U.S., which were the foundation heads of technology, but the need is here in India,” he added.

The company calls its business farming-as-a-service — or Faas.

Unlike Uber, which has pioneered an online business model, EM3 is ‘tech-enabled’ rather than ‘tech.’ That’s to say that while it uses common on-demand tech to manage supply-demand, customer data and more, the majority of its business is offline. That’s because, quite simply, its customer base remains disconnected from the internet.

“The majority of farmers are not on smartphones,” Mal junior said. “The smartphone penetration is increasing but it isn’t at critical mass yet so we have a physical on the ground presence.”

So where there are apps for those ahead of the curve, EM3 operates call centers for handling requests from farmers — both inventory owners and prospective renters — and it deploys local representatives in the villages that it serves. But even the select farmers who are online and own smartphones find something comforting and secure about talking to a person on the other end of the phone when it comes to business matters that impact their life, the EM3 execs said.

To date, EM3 has focused on central parts of India where it claims to have worked with 8,000 farms through its 10 service centers. Mal senior explained that its platform covers machinery and services that span all seasons, but customer activity levels do vary during different parts of the farming calendar and based on location, crop type, etc.

The startup recently partnered with the local government of Rajasthan, India’s largest province by size and a major agriculture producer, to make a push into helping thousands more farmers. It is planning further forays, too, after raising significant funding from investors.

EM3 closed a $10 million in Series B financing led by Global Innovation Fund and VC firm Aspada which will be put to work expanding into more regions, increasing its inventory and developing tech. EM3 previously raised a $3.3 million Series A round led by Aspada in 2015.

Further down the line, Mal senior said he can envisage its business moving into other areas of a farmer’s business where it believes it can add value.

“There’s no other company [offering this service yet, but I’m sure there will be me-toos,” he said.

“We are still significantly ahead, but will have to add more and more to the menu of services to keep our lead. We want to become more dedicated to the farmer and look for more opportunities in farming and adjacent spaces.”

Already there is competition with Gold Farm and Trringo, a subsidiary of automotive conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra, opening similar services over the past year.

Interest in agritech in India has heated up in recent years. Earlier in 2017, Accel backed AgroStar, a startup that offers a range of guidance and e-commerce services targeted at rural farmers, in its first deal in the sector. Plenty of other VCs in the country have expressed their interest about getting into the space, which has the potential to harness the power of technology to help many farmers in a profound way.

Source: Techcrunch. Date: 2017-08-17

JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA & CHINA – Both Japan and South Korea have reported year-on-year increases in fresh/frozen pork imports during the first half of 2017, according to Bethan Wilkins, AHDB Pork analyst. 

With Chinese import demand slowing in the second quarter, these destinations have become increasingly important outlets for the global pork market.

During the first six months of 2017, Japan imported 459,000 tonnes of pork, 7 per cent more than in the same period last year. Shipments from Canada in particular were 19 per cent higher year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the other key suppliers, the EU and US, saw more modest increases of 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

The expansion in EU shipments was largely driven by increasing imports from Spain in the second quarter. Conversely, US shipments actually fell 1 per cent on the year in Q2.

For South Korea, fresh/frozen pork imports increased 12 per cent on 2016 during the first half of the year, reaching 257,000 tonnes.

Disease outbreaks in both the beef and poultry sectors have reportedly boosted demand for pig meat this year.

EU shipments, which were up 25 per cent year-on-year and now provide over half of import requirements, drove the overall expansion.

Within this, volumes from Germany and the Netherlands were up 46 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

The sharp increase in German shipments in particular is likely related to the temporary suspension of exports to China from a number of key plants earlier this year.

The UK also supplies pig meat to South Korea, albeit in small volumes (1,600 tonnes), but shipments were nonetheless 50 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Looking forwards, Chinese import demand is could remain behind 2016 levels in the latter half of the year.

Reports suggest there are expectations extensive farm closures could occur during Q3 under environmental regulations, leading to a temporary oversupply of pork on the market.

As such, how Japanese and South Korean import demand develops throughout the rest of 2017 could be key to global market balance.

Nonetheless, the outlook for South Korean demand at least seems positive, with pork likely to continue benefitting from disease pressures in the other protein sectors.

Source: The Pig Site. Date: 2017-08-17

Northern Ireland’s final approval to export pork to China could be worth in excess of £10 million (€11 million) to the local agri-food industry, according to the North’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Robert Huey.

He made the comments as he welcomed the announcement of the approval, which was made by the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) earlier today.

This welcome news follows concerted efforts by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) over time working closely with DEFRA, he said.

“Ministerial visits to China by former Agriculture Ministers, O’Neill and McIlveen, in support of our industry were an essential element of this success story.

“We are also indebted to Madam Wang, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Belfast for her support.

“This joined up approach between government, industry and key stakeholders is central to this announcement today,” Huey said.

The new UK export deal with China will bring a £200 million (€220.2 million) boost to the UK food industry and support 1,500 jobs, according to DEFRA.

In Northern Ireland, two slaughterhouses and two cold stores have now been given the green light to export pork.

The commencement of pork exports to China – including exports of trotters – will represent a major boost for the local pork industry, Huey explained.

“It will expand markets and secure jobs. By recommending approval for Northern Ireland, the Chinese authorities have recognised the rigorous standards we have in place to produce our high-quality, safe and wholesome pork.

“This approval to export pork represents a tangible outcome in DAERA’s long-term engagement strategy with China and also represents achievement in securing access to one of the primary new markets outlined in the Going for Growth initiative,” he concluded.

Source: Agriland. Date: 2017-08-14