Piracy knocks fresh produce exports - Africa Business Daily

Piracy knocks fresh produce exports - Africa Business Daily

Rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden has nearly doubled the cost of exporting Kenya’s fresh produce pulling the country’s growers into the long drawn campaign to rid the key Indian Ocean route of Somali fighters.

The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya – an industry lobby – says its members have lost $12 million (Sh900 million) in additional costs arising from piracy since October last year.

“The cost of transporting avocado, mangoes, pineapples, or vegetables to Europe has risen by at least $2500 (Sh187,500) per container mainly driven by increased shipping and insurance due to rampant piracy,” said Stephen Mbithi, the FPEAK chief executive.

Exporters say the lack of a joint strategy to fight the pirates has emboldened the attackers, giving shipping lines and insurance companies a free hand to adjust their costs for the bulky produce that cannot be exported by air.

Dr Mbithi says plans by 11 member states of the Inter –Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to wage a joint war against piracy had suffered a still birth leaving the battle in the hands of highly outnumbered and mainly European forces.

The Djibouti Code of Conduct signed by the 11 governments promised to suppress ‘Piracy and Armed Robbery’ against ships in the Gulf of Aden and the West Indian Ocean but the plan ran out of steam after the signatories failed to allocate the resources to needed to wage the war.

“Confidence in the route improved and charges started coming down in the hope that the regional force would curb the problem. But by October last year, most shipping lines lost hope as it became clear that the promise was not being backed up by any action,” Dr Mbithi said
Kenya Shippers Council has reported an increase in the number of attacks on cargo ships in the last two months – pushing the cost of maritime conveyance up as shipping lines pass on incidental charges to transporters. More recently, concern has been rising among exporters that shipping lines may abandon the route altogether forcing them to use the more costly and long West African route.

“While most shipping lines have adjusted their charges upwards by between $100 (Sh7500) to $120 (Sh9000), negative advisories continue to be issued to cargo ships plying the Horn of Africa route and we are not sure when this will end,” Mr Gilbert Lang’at the Kenya Shippers Council’s CEO told the Business Daily.

The incidental costs linked to piracy include sea freight rates, insurance, time (longer voyage), operational cost of handling perishables and surcharges to cover deviation or war risk as vessels avoid the Gulf of Aden for longer more costly route via the Cape of Good Hope in the South.
Fresh produce exporters have warned that these costs are pushing them to the limits and may soon make shipments to Europe unviable.

“This is a double punishment to the horticulture industry who cannot deliver their produce to European partners in time and must pass on the increased charges to our customers in a market that is already facing stiff competition from South Africa and Chile,” said Dr Mbithi.

Last week, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers sent an appeal to its members for information that can be used to compile a report quantifying the real cost of piracy in the Indian ocean.

“Higher transport costs have made our exports less competitive and is increasing the cost of imported inputs,” KAM notes in the statement to members.

Attempts to get the comment from the Kenya Maritime Authority failed as the Director General Ms Nancy Karigithu was said to be out up to next week.

Ms Karigithu had earlier appealed to the insurance underwriters and the shipping lines to stop adjusting their prices upwards saying the government was doing everything to contain the situation in the Indian Ocean coastline.

But local shippers fear inaction could force the insurance underwriters to declare the region a war zone, forcing vessels to avoid it all together.

Making a Healthy Lunch, and Making It a Cause - NYT

Making a Healthy Lunch, and Making It a Cause - NYT

Between them, Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey have worked on Wall Street, traveled the world and taught school from East Africa to Ecuador. Now they make lunch for a living.

Friends since they met in business school at the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. Richmond and Ms. Tobey founded Revolution Foods Inc. to ride a political and economic wave: surging support for healthier food in school cafeterias.

Federal nutrition guidelines require subsidized school lunches to meet benchmarks on calories and fat, but they do not require that foods be whole, local, truly nutritious or good to eat.

As a result, the standard cafeteria fare is doing little to curb the nation’s rising rate of childhood obesity and might even be contributing to it.

That was the problem that Ms. Richmond and Ms. Tobey identified in a graduate school class and set out to solve. What began as a class project is now a growing company with headquarters in Oakland, 240 employees and operations in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington.

“The momentum around this issue is unbelievable,” said Ms. Tobey in an interview this month.

Ms. Richmond, 34, the company’s chief executive, and Ms. Tobey, 31, the chief operating officer, came together in 2005 just as child obesity and nutrition were moving toward the top of the nation’s health policy agenda.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, had made fighting obesity a major priority. Mr. Schwarzenegger signed legislation boosting nutrition standards for school meals and limiting the sale of soda and junk food on campus. He also authorized a pilot project to increase the reimbursement for school breakfasts by 10 cents if the meal included fresh fruits or vegetables.

Mr. Schwarzenegger is expected to propose new measures this year, and now Michelle Obama has joined the movement, announcing that she will make fighting childhood obesity a special cause in the White House. In a speech this month to the United States Conference of Mayors, Mrs. Obama called it one of the “biggest threats” to the American economy.

As students at Berkeley, Ms. Richmond and Ms. Tobey saw this trend coming. They interviewed dozens of teachers, parents and school officials in the Bay Area to learn more about the school meal business and to find out what kind of change might appeal to the school community.

“The teachers said they were embarrassed,” Ms. Tobey said. “They were teaching about nutrition in their classrooms and then the kids were going into the lunch room and saying, ‘Why are you serving me this?’ ”

So Revolution Foods adopted higher standards than the government requires for school meal programs. The meals are prepared fresh daily and feature foods free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors and sweeteners. Every lunch includes fresh fruit and vegetables.

The breakfasts and lunches contain no high-fructose corn syrup or trans fats, the milk is hormone-free and the meats are from cattle that have not been given antibiotics or hormones. Whenever possible, the food is organic and uses locally grown ingredients. Nothing is fried.

Revolution Foods built a partnership with Whole Foods, the natural foods grocery store chain, and tapped into that company’s network of suppliers. Whole Foods also prepared and packaged the first meals Revolution Foods sold to an Oakland charter school as a pilot to see if the business could be viable.

Even before that project ended, other local schools began inquiring about the service, and the business quickly grew and attracted capital from investment firms with a social mission, including the Bay Area Equity Fund. Today Revolution Foods is serving more than 30,000 lunches a day, mostly in low-income communities, and still growing.

Later this year Congress and the president will most likely reauthorize the federal child nutrition program, which subsidizes school meals for poor children. Ms. Richmond and Ms. Tobey say they hope to see that bill increase reimbursements to the schools while targeting any new money to schools that buy or make meals that use whole, fresh foods and healthy ingredients.

That would improve nutrition for children while boosting Revolution Foods’ bottom line. The idea that they could do both has been at the heart of the pair’s business plan from the beginning.

Daniel Weintraub has reported on California politics and policy for more than 20 year

Restaurants showcase ‘slow food’ - Central Florida Future

Restaurants showcase ‘slow food’ - Central Florida Future

By showcasing local ingredients this week, 27 area restaurants are encouraging people to slow down, reconnect and enjoy a meal.

Slow Food Orlando partnered with restaurants and farmers to organize Central Florida’s first Eat Local Week.

Slow Food is an international movement that “links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment,” according to Slow Food USA’s Web site.

Each participating restaurant prepared a three-course menu that highlights three locally grown ingredients, with each ingredient from a different farm, according to Alexia Gawlak,

Slow Food Orlando’s vice president of restaurant relations.

“It’s really about taking the time to enjoy your food and reconnecting around the dinner table with your family and friends,” said Rebecca Reis-Miller, a UCF alumna who started the Slow Food Orlando chapter three years ago.

Trisha Strawn is the co-leader and farmer relations chair of Slow Food Orlando and the livestock manager of Deep Creek Ranch, a local, family owned and operated livestock company.

“My goal is to feed Florida from Florida,” Strawn said. “And I always tell people, we’re changing it one bite at a time.”

Another goal of Slow Food is to educate people about supporting their local economies.

“If you buy local, you support the farmers and their families directly and cut out the middleman,” Gawlak said.

The members of Slow Food are working on making it easier to cut out that middleman.

“One of the things we wanted to do was pair the farmers with restaurants and kind of get everyone talking and facilitate that process,” Gawlak said.

Julie Norris, co-proprietor and general manager of Dandelion Communitea Cafe near downtown Orlando, said that the local farmers were not only chosen for their proximity.

Their independence from the mass markets allows them the freedom to emphasize quality.
“It’s so important to know your grower,” Norris said.

She said with the overuse of pesticides, environmental impact of big agriculture and the poor treatment of farmworkers, the best way to know that the food is good, clean and fair is to build a relationship.

“I’m all about organic food,” Norris said, “but when it comes to a small grower, they can’t get that certification because it’s expensive. But if I know the person and I know what their growing philosophy is, I call that relationship organic. The reason we have a USDA label is because we’ve lost our connection to who’s growing our food.”

Local food can be more expensive, so Eat Local Week is promoting local farmers and the restaurants that purchase from them, Strawn said.

“We want to get the restaurants recognized because it’s a lot of hard work,” he continuted. “It costs them more, which is kind of sad.”

Strawn said a much higher percentage of the money actually makes it to the farmers when the customers buy directly from them.

“If I have to sell to a distributor, it cuts me in half,” Strawn said. “I can’t survive. We won’t make it because we can’t break even doing that.”

Jackie Moore, who owns Austin’s Coffee in Winter Park with her husband, said she doesn’t mind the cost.

“I don’t see how you could go wrong,” she said. “You pay a tiny bit more, but what you get back is tenfold.”

Many of the restaurant owners who are participating in Eat Local Week already purchased local produce.

“When people started talking about this, it was like, ‘Oh there’s a name for the way I live my life,’” Moore said.

Hari Pulapaka, executive chef and owner of Cress Restaurant in DeLand, also purchases locally.

“We have been using local ingredients from the beginning,” Pulapaka said. “If it’s growing locally, then it’s in season. And when you pick produce in season, as long as it’s well taken care of, then you have the best chance for the best flavor.”

When you taste local food you can just feel that somebody gives a care, Moore said.
“I believe that there’s a little more love and care that goes into each item when you can trace back to where it came from,” Moore said. “You know the people aren’t just some corporate machine that don’t care.”

Supervalu Returns To Profitability - Investopedia

Supervalu Returns To Profitability
Posted: Jan 25, 2010 09:07 AM by Greg Sushinsky
Grocery chain Supervalu (NYSE:SVU) turned a profit in its recent third quarter, largely driven by cost cutting as it seeks to reverse its fortunes from poor performances throughout this recession. Sales were still off by 9%, down to $9.22 billion this quarter compared with last year's third quarter, and same store sales were down 6.5%. That said, the company's net income was $109 million - 51 cents a share, or 46 cents excluding a one-time gain. Last year's third quarter featured a $13.95 per share loss, or a loss of $2.94 billion, mainly due to charges of $3.1 billion leading to a $14.57 per share write-down. Supervalu's new CEO, Craig Herket, commented, "Supervalu is running its business better." We'll look at whether or not there is real value left in Supervalu and the other grocers. (Retail grocers are no longer a homogeneous group selling products in the same manner. Find out how to evaluate these companies in Evaluating Grocery Store Stocks.)



Tough Times In The Grocery Aisles
Grocers had their fair share of difficulties during this recession because consumers have traded down on price and have gone after value with a vengeance. Supervalu did not get in front of this trend fast enough and has been forced to play catch up. Other chains, such as Kroger (NYSE:KR), Safeway (NYSE:SWY) and Winn-Dixie (Nasdaq:WINN) did better at discounting, while Supervalu and Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (NYSE:GAP) struggled.

Atlantic & Pacific, known for its A&P stores, had another unpleasant quarter as it lost $559.6 million. Last year's same quarter featured a loss of $14.4 million, while this year's quarter also featured lower sales of $1.96 billion, down from $2.12 billion - an 8% drop. Same store sales were off by 5.8%. Great Atlantic & Pacific's CEO, Eric Claus, is leaving due to this poor performance. The company has also announced a new pricing strategy to recapture value shoppers.

Recession, Compression And The Future
The severity of the economic downturn damaged the earnings and prospects of what traditionally has been a resilient sector during lean times. Although the many grocers were hurt, some of the grocers handled this better than others. Kroger's last earnings report, in December, plus its forward outlook, highlights this. Safeway has fared similarly, and was cited as an example of a dividend stock which may deliver surprising appreciation.

Winn-Dixie may be the most intriguing name in the group. It emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy three years ago, went public, and was recently trading at roughly the same price as three years ago - despite increasing income from $28 million to $40 million. The company does $7.3 billion in annual sales, has almost no debt, and currently trades under book value.

Are Supervalu And The Other Grocers A Super Value?
Supervalu's balance sheet is not quite like Winn-Dixie's, as Supervalu has a long-term debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84. It does, however, currently trade at around book value, and its stock, along with the others, hasn't participated in the market run up in the second half of 2009. Still, some caveats remain: the economic compression which has affected this group may have some lasting effects that may be baked into both the stock price and essentially flat earnings estimates. Additionally, the consumer shift to extreme value for food, driving them to deep discounters, drug stores, and the large wholesaler, Costco (Nasdaq:COST). This trend isn't likely to reverse easily.

The Bottom Line
The grocers group isn't monolithic. Keep in mind that, while Supervalu seems to be on the road to straightening itself out, A&P has been mentioned more as a takeover target. Each of these companies is different, subtly or otherwise. Still, the grocers stocks individually bear watching, particularly by long-term value investors. Supervalu is one to watch to see if it can make its turnaround stick. (For more related material, check out 22 Ways To Fight Rising Food Prices.)

Just what does organic mean? - BBC

By James Melik
Business reporter, BBC World Service

Ask the average shopper what they think when they walk into a supermarket and see organic food on display, and the majority respond with two observations: expensive - and chemical free.

On the first point they are correct. Organic items can cost between 10% and 100% more than food grown under conventional conditions.

But on the second point people are mistaken, as foods certified as organic can be grown with the use of chemicals - albeit from a list approved by various organisations across Europe and the UK.

The confusion is understandable.

On a recent visit to branches of major supermarkets, members of staff told me that organic food did not use any fertilisers or pesticides at all.

One said the organic label meant food had not been genetically modified.

Only one gave the correct information, saying organic food is grown with "less chemicals".

Even a spokesperson for the Soil Association said organic food meant "without pesticides", before amending that to "a minimal amount".

Mixed messages

There is no deliberate ploy to bamboozle consumers, but some feel cheated because they say they should be better informed.

"I'm shocked to find out that any pesticides are used in organic foods," says mother-of-two Julie D'Wan, while browsing in the fruit and vegetables aisle of a major supermarket.


"The public believe what the so-called experts tell us, when really they just fool us so they can make their money," she adds.

Mrs D'Wan says she would not feel duped if it said on the packaging, or in store, that certain chemicals were permitted and used.

But looking, for example, at a bag of organic potatoes in one of Britain's largest supermarkets, the labelling just states:

"Farmers work with nature, helping to maximise wildlife on their farms and growing flowers to discourage pests. Our produce meets the standards laid down by law in the EU and by the UK government."

A spokesman for the retailer says: "The vast majority of our organic produce is grown in the UK, and the rest is grown in Europe. All organic food is certified by the Soil Association."

But it is not easy for consumers to find out what those standards are, and what pesticides or additives are allowed.

The Soil Association's Jack Hunter says that detailed standards covering what farmers can and cannot do or use is available on its website.

"They get fairly technical however and may be a little impenetrable to most consumers, so we've also produced a Consumer Guide To Our Standards," he adds.

Although that guide explores the issues of organic farming, it does not actually list the approved products which can be used to grow organic produce.


Likewise, looking through the European Union's guidelines about permissible substances in organic food, they can only be found embedded in various documents, rather than on an easily-understood list.

'Trust through transparency'

In the UK, it is the Soil Association which determines whether food can be certified as organic.

Founder and director Patrick Holden says standards may not be perfect, but organic farmers strive for the "best developed practices for the application of sustainable agriculture".

Nothing is black and white, there are many shades of grey
Huw Bowles

Organic Trade Board

He believes that issues such as the use of copper sulphate in organic farming to control potato blight - which has raised concerns about its potential impact on the environment - should be discussed openly.

"We should not be defensive about our deficiencies," he says. "Our only currency is trust through transparency."

And he says more needs to be done to improve public understanding.

"Education of the issue and its benefits is a big challenge," he says.

However, Huw Bowles at the Organic Trade Board says the message is complex enough without having to put additional information on packaging.

"People are already confused with terms such as local and free range," he says, "where the reality does not always match what is stated on the label."

"Nothing is black and white, there are many shades of grey. I am reluctant to over-complicate the issue," he adds.

Addressing public perception


Simon Laird of Angus Organics, which supplies organic produce to a leading supermarket, says that they use a copper sulphate to combat potato blight, but only in the quantities permitted by the Soil Association.

Riverford Organic Vegetables says the letter of organic 'law' means avoiding pesticides and chemicals, but founder Guy Watson says that if he uses any at all, it is in the region of 1% of what growers use in conventional farming methods.

Such a small percentage may reassure some, but Professor Vivian Moses of CropGen, which looks at crop production and biotechnology, disagrees.

He advocates the listing of permissible chemicals and additives on packaging.

"Consumers should be fully informed about what they are purchasing, especially when they are having to pay a higher price," he says.

In U.S, Uptick in Healthy Eating, Access to Affordable Produce - Gallup Index

In U.S, Uptick in Healthy Eating, Access to Affordable Produce - Gallup Index
But fewer report eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables four days per week

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As many Americans set an eye on healthier eating in 2010, Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data reveal mixed results on two key metrics in 2009 compared with 2008. While the percentage of Americans saying they ate healthy all day yesterday improved slightly in 2009 (to 66.4% from 65.9% in 2008), the percentage reporting eating five or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables on at least four days in the previous week slipped to 55.6% last year from 56.4% in 2008.

Gallup and Healthways ask at least 1,000 Americans each day about their eating habits. Specifically, respondents are asked to report on whether they ate healthy all day yesterday and in the last seven days how many days did they "have five or more servings of fruits and vegetables." Monthly aggregates typically consist of 28,000 to 30,000 interviews.

The second half of 2009 saw a significant improvement from 2008 in the percentage of Americans who reported eating healthy all day yesterday, ultimately resulting in a small but measurable net improvement for the metric in 2009. The reverse was true in 2008, when Americans reported healthier eating in the first half of the year before that number dropped off substantially in the fall and winter.


While more than 6 in 10 Americans consistently reported eating healthy all day yesterday in 2009 and 2008, they did not fare as well when asked to reveal the number of days in the previous week that they had at least five servings of fruits and vegetables. Generally, fewer than 6 in 10 said they did so on four more days, and in this case, Americans generally did worse in 2009 than in 2008, only achieving year-over-year improvement in the last two months of the year.

The affect of the global recession, rapidly escalating unemployment, and a weak labor market on the consumption of fruits and vegetables is unclear, but could be a substantive underlying factor in the clearly suppressed levels of fruit and vegetable consumption recorded in the first several months of 2009.

Healthy Eating Greatest in the West and Among Seniors, Hispanics

In 2009, Americans living in the West were more likely than those in any other region to report healthy eating. While healthy eating in 2009 was lowest among Midwesterners, this region saw the most improvement of all four geographic areas compared with 2008. The East -- which was tied at the top with the West in 2008 -- declined slightly in 2009, making it the only region in the country where self-reported healthy eating worsened.


For a second year, seniors (aged 65 and older) and Hispanics outperformed their other demographic counterparts in their reports of eating healthy. Young adults (18- to 29-year-olds) and blacks are again the least healthy eaters according to their respective self-reports. There was essentially no change in healthy eating habits between the two years for the gender, marital status, income, or education demographics.


Ease of Accessing Affordable Produce Up in 2009: Key to Healthy Eating

The good news for Americans seeking to improve their healthy eating habits is that the perceived affordability of fruits and vegetables is on the rise. In 11 out of 12 months of 2009, Americans were more likely than in 2008 to say that it is easy to get affordable fruits and vegetables in the city or area where they live. For the year, an average of 91.9% said this was the case compared with 89.7% in 2008.


The Gallup-Healthways data also underscore the extent to which the ease of access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables is a key component in healthy eating outcomes. Americans who say they have easy access to affordable fruits and vegetables are more likely to report having eaten healthy the day before than those who say they do not have easy access (67.4% versus 55.5%). Those with easy access to affordable produce are also more likely to say that they have consumed at least five servings of fruits and vegetables at least four days per week (56.5% versus 51.2).


Bottom Line

While the first half of 2009 bode ill for a strong year of healthy eating among American adults, the latter half of the year revealed improvement in healthy eating habits. Still, 2009 resulted in a net decline in routine consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Underlying these trends, however, is the marked elevation of access to affordable produce, which serves as an important vanguard to healthy eating habits and has likely played a key role in the improvements seen in the latter part of the year.

Given these results, the policy implications for leaders who care about wellness may be significant, as it appears that a substantial means of having an impact on people's healthy eating habits is likely within our society's grasp through enhanced portals of disseminating affordable, accessible produce to the American public.

For the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day. All monthly samples are near 30,000 per month. For monthly results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±0.6 percentage point.

More than 350,000 surveys were completed in each calendar year, yielding percentages with maximum expected error range of ±0.2 percentage point.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

About the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index™

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index measures the daily pulse of U.S. well-being and provides best-in-class solutions for a healthier world. To learn more, please visit well-beingindex.com.