Avocado Cartels and Coffee

The global climate summit, COP28, has kicked off and the awkward conversation around agriculture is slowly beginning to take centre stage. Elsewhere in the world, however, things aren’t so fine and dandy. Let’s dig in.

This week:

🍫 Chocolate has a dark secret in Ghana.

🥑 Mexico battles avocado cartels.

🐄 A new type of grass is saving livestock in New Zealand.

🍔 McDonald’s changes their burger-making strategy.

☕️ Colombian coffee is being used for construction…

SUPPLY CHAIN
MARS’ CHOCOLATE SECRET

To kick things off, a crazy new CBS report has found that Mars - producer of M&Ms and Snickers - has been using cocoa harvested by children as young as five years old in Ghana.

Despite Mars regularly promising to put an end to child labour practices - claiming that they have almost fully eradicated it in their supply chain - CBS has found that they are nowhere near their stated deadlines.

However, on the ground, the situation is a little more complicated. Field supervisors frequently lie, stating that children were at school when, in fact, they were working on the plantation. And for many kids, this is the only way to afford an education.

ZOOMING OUT: The US Supreme Court did oversee a lawsuit against Nestlé and Cargill for child labour practices back in 2021. But, after similar pledges to cut it out, the suit was swiftly dropped.

Let’s just hope that the new EU directive - prohibiting the sale of chocolate made using child labour - should be a wake up call on an issue that has been snoozed on for way too long.

POLICY
AVOCADO CARTELS IN MEXICO

Americans now eat three times as many avocados as they did 20 years ago. However, the Mexican farmer is finding it harder to survive the exponential rise in demand.

Corrupt local officials, gangs, and landowners are illegally seizing land to grow the profitable green fruit, sometimes even resorting to abducting farmers to maintain strict control. Federal government has even PROHIBITED investigations of orchards bigger than 12 acres.

In addition to the violence associated with avocado growth, there’s also an environment factor to consider. Avocados require as much water as 14 pine trees! So, growing them extensively will have a HUGE toll on an already drought-ridden, seriously-deforested Michoacan region.

ZOOMING OUT: The Mexican avocado industry is still incredibly lucrative, bringing in $2.7 billion every year and employing around 300,000. So it seems as though the same old story is playing out: turning a blind eye for profit. And Mexico’s biggest avocado client, the US, has taken no action. Shock.

CLIMATE
NEW GRASS IN NEW ZEALAND

Has anyone else noticed how expensive burgers have gotten lately? Well we have and we figure there’s only one culprit: climate change.

Especially in New Zealand - the world’s LARGEST dairy exporter and one of the meat vendors to the US - extreme heat and frequent droughts have massively damaged grazing land, causing cows to suffer.

But one group of researchers may have a solution, having created a new heat-resistant crop. Combining alfalfa and orchard grass, it should withstand extreme weather on one condition; that there is enough precipitation.

ZOOMING OUT: Climate change and current geopolitical crises have created a dire situation for the global meat industry. So, any solution should be a welcome one. But a question still remains: do we need this? Knowing livestock’s impact on global emissions, is preserving livestock production really NECESSARY?

BUSINESS
THE BIG MAC REVAMP

Speaking of burgers, McDonald’s, among other fast food joints, have raised their prices in recent months to the dismay of many devout customers.

The people are angry and have demanded more quality if they’re to pay more for their Big Macs. And, in a weirdly wonderful turn of events, the largest fast food chain in the world has LISTENED!

In an effort to compete with quality-fast burgers, like Shake Shack and Five Guys, McDonald’s have made a series of changes:

• Onions will be dehydrated post-harvest to keep them juicy.

• Bread slices will be thicker to preserve heat.

• Patties will be cooked in small batches for an even sear.

The list goes on. What’s more, Maccie’s isn’t the only fast-food company doing this. Restaurants have seen a shift in demand. As long as that nostalgia of a top-quality burger is served, customers will pay extra. And THAT’S important.

ZOOMING OUT: Whatever’s been said about livestock emissions, drought, and climate change hasn't really affected the burger market. In 2022 alone, burgers accounted for around 40% of US fast food sales. Evidently, customers will find their burger fix EVEN IF their wallets suffer a little more.

THE BRIGHT SIDE
COFFEE HOUSES…LITERALLY

Coffee is much more than a beverage, it’s a way of LIFE. 3 BILLION cups of coffee are drunk around the world every day and consumption is expected to DOUBLE by 2050.

On the flip side, coffee produces MILLIONS of tons of waste, from methane-producing coffee grounds to contaminated water and wasted plastic pods.

But Woodpecker, a Colombia-based company, has found a way to use this waste to its advantage. It turns husks - left over from coffee production - into building boards that house nearly 70,000 people around the country!

By mixing 100% recycled plastic and the husks, the company is able to produce an ultra-lightweight material that has been used to help solve the social housing dilemma in Colombia. Coffee has become a way of life AND a way of living. Food Jungle approved ✅ 

SHARE FOOD JUNGLE

You see this GIF of Thor helping Captain America up to slay the day together in the most awesome way possible?

That’s the feeling you’ll get when you help a friend out and share Food Jungle with all your nearest and dearest pals. 🥰 

BEFORE YOU GO…

• Wages for Italian chefs have declined over the past 30 years, adjusted for inflation – the only country in Europe where that has happened.

• Salmon runs have returned in record-breaking numbers to the Mokelumne River in California, with 20,000 salmon showing up to spawn.

• Texas has closed the majority of its public oyster reefs for harvesting due to declining populations as a result of climbing temperatures.

• The EU Commission will provide €50 million for Ukraine to rebuild its ports to resume its grain trade.

• UK study finds that raising the standard temperature of most frozen foods by just three degrees could cut 17.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

• A recent report has found that factory farming is responsible for at least 11% of global emissions.

• Mushroom-infused food and beverage products are seeing massive rises in popularity with $642 million in sales this year alone.

• At least 117 people across 34 states in the US have become sick with salmonella after eating contaminated melons.