News

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is instituting stronger restrictions around the import of romaine lettuce. Starting Wednesday, importers will have to prove that their product does not come from California's Salinas Valley or that their lettuce has "below-detectable" levels of E. coli.

Hort Americas is currently working on a germination and propagation project of leafy greens and culinary herbs. The project is in collaboration with their demonstration greenhouse partners, The State Fair of Texas and the Big Tex Urban Farms. Big Tex Urban farms provide the labor needed to grow […]

Vancouver police say they've run out of leads in their investigation into who set traps in a community garden in Mount Pleasant last week. The traps included trip wires, a board with nails sticking up and fish hooks hung at eye level.

Last year, Hoogendoorn Growth Management partnered with BASF Vegetable Seeds, so BASF could gain experieces with various automated growing software and hardware for hydroponic lettuce and tomato.

“Next to the extremely huge learnings we made in modern climate management we’ve seen massive opportunities to improve our own processes and to add value to our genetics. Using the principles of Growing by Plant Empowerment to control the plant balances and optimize photosynthetic activity, we were able to significantly increase the growth spead of hydroponic lettuce while improving crop quality at the same time,” explaines Martin Voorberg, R&D Capital Investment Venture Manager at BASF. “We had the same experience with high-tech tomatoes when production was higher during the winter months compared to references from professional growers. As a consequence, we will increase our investments in the facilities at ‘s-Gravenzande to make all greenhouse compartments ready for automated growing.”

CMA CGM has announced its intention to raise rates on the Asia to Europe trades from the 1 October.

Freight of all kinds (FAK) will be reviewed on or before the 14 October, said the line. The new rates are as follows:

Origin Range: From all Asian ports, including Japan, Southeast Asia and Bangladesh. Destination Range: To all Northern European ports, including UK and the full range from Portugal to Finland/Estonia. Cargo: Dry cargo, out of gauge cargo, paying empties and reefer cargo.

Migrant workers and advocates called for a "just recovery'' from the COVID-19 pandemic during a digital rally on Saturday based out of Vancouver.

Both the Pacific and Asia to Europe rates have shown increases this week even after regulatory authorities in China, the US, Europe and South Korea have moved to monitor rates in both trades.

Asia to Europe rates were US$2,214/FEU today up from US$1,385/FEU on a year ago and by US$347/FEU on last week’s Freightos FBX11 index which recorded rates of US$I,867/FEU for 11 September.

Meanwhile, rates on the dynamic trades in the Pacific were also up as the FBX01 settled at US$3,805/FEU on 18 September an increase of US$22 on 17 September and US$104/FEU on 11 September levels. A year ago the FBX01 stood at US$1,140/FEU, less than one third of today’s levels.

Consultant Jon Monroe points to retail sales figures for August showing a year-on-year increases.

After a short period where you could only visit the store if you had an invite, Amazon's first Fresh grocery location is now open to the public. Starting today, anyone who wants to visit the Woodland Hills, Los Angeles store can do so from 7AM to 10PM PT daily.

The centerpiece of the store is Amazon's new Dash Cart. Each one features a scale and a variety of cameras and sensors, allowing it to calculate your total as you shop. Once you're done shopping, the amount you need to pay is automatically deducted from the credit card associated with your Amazon account. If you only plan to buy about two bags worth of groceries, the Amazon Dash Cart allows you to skip a visit to the cashier. Another nifty feature of the Dash Carts is that you can access any shopping lists you made with Alexa directly from the cart.   

Following up on last week’s efforts by the Chinese Ministry of Transport to curb runaway spot rates, United States authorities have threatened to take carriers to court if they discover evidence of collusion in the container shipping industry’s highly profitable response to the global pandemic.

The US government’s Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) called a private meeting yesterday (16 September) to discuss what it described as “market trends in trade lanes serving the US and actions taken by both individual carriers and global alliances in response to Covid-19 and related impacts to the shipping industry”.

Spot rates between Asia and the US peaked last week at US$3,711/FEU on the west coast and US$4,496/FEU to the east coast, according to Freightos’ FBX01 Daily and FBX03 Daily Indexes.

The resulting surge in carrier profitability and a miserable peak season for shippers dealing with soaring transportation costs have surprised all leading analysts.

The Chinese government has put the brakes on runaway spot rates between the US and Asia preventing box rates on the Transpacific trade lane surging through the US$5,000/FEU threshold.

According to the latest figures from Freightos Baltic Index, the unprecedented bull run that has boosted the bottom line of the world’s leading carriers since the end of June, has finally been halted by China’s Ministry of Transport, The pressure exerted by the MOT, principally on Chinese carriers, COSCO and OOCL, to drop general rate increases (GRI)s planned for yesterday, but ultimately axed, was also being felt by their non-Chinese rivals.

An 11 September meeting between the MOT and shipping lines appears to have brought about, at least a temporary halt in the spot rate feeding frenzy with COSCO/OOCL’s non-Chinese counterparts falling into line, dropping their proposed increases rather than risk incurring the ire of Chinese authorities.

Dennis Zhou of Zest Shipping Media, who broke the news of MOT’s intervention at the end of last week, said in a post on LinkedIn yesterday that “Maersk had reduced its proposed rate adjustment from US$500 to US$200” with an updated USWC rate of US$3,900/FEU and US$4,700 to the US east coast, both US$300 below previous quotes.

A spokesman for Maersk told Container News, 'Our pricing continues to follow the principle of being market-relevant, transparent and fair.'

During Wageningen University’s Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge team AuTomatoes applied the principles of Plant Empowerment in their winning AI strategy. Thus, the team’s strategy was focused on the plant and it’s balances, in order to create a balanced and empowered crop. So how did they do this? This article explains all about the water balance and how team AuTomatoes kept it in balance at all times.

The water balance is the balance between the input to and output of water from the plants. Output of water is mainly caused by evaporation. Only a little portion of the total water uptake is stored in the plant and the fruits. Plants need to evaporate and thus take up water from the root zone for three reasons: the uptake of nutrients, for growth, and for cooling. In order to keep the water balance in balance, the uptake of water from the root zone must equal at least the evaporation rate. Thus, to ensure sufficient water availability, irrigation needs to be aligned with the plant’s evaporation rate.

Various algorithms were developed to support the tomato crop’s water balance in order to optimize the tomato yields. For example, some of these algorithms made use of a plant temperature sensor and pyrgeo sensor to calculate the net radiation on plant level. Based on this calculation the algorithms decided on the optimal screen position for the crop to receive the right amount of radiation to keep a steady evaporation rate.

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited and Maersk have reached an agreement to build and operate a world-class transload and distribution facility in Vancouver.

The CP transload facility will be an expansion of CP’s existing Vancouver Intermodal Facility and will benefit from turnkey rail infrastructure.

The new facility is designed to apply Maersk’s global integrator of container logistics strategy and will offer customers access to a multi-commodity transload facility that will rely on the substantial use of rail instead of truck in the Vancouver market, as CP will shuttle containers to and from the ocean terminals via rail.

Maersk’s ambition to establish a sustainable supply chain aligns with CP’s initiatives to fight climate change, according to the companies. This compelling combination will provide an effective and efficient long-term intermodal solution for customers, said the joint announcement.

“CP’s unique landholdings in Vancouver enable us to bring to market a first-of-its-kind transload facility that creates tremendous opportunity for sustainable growth,” commented CP’s president and CEO, Keith Creel.

In further evidence of how the maritime sector is working in unison to find solutions to long standing problems four industry associations and insurers TT Club are collaborating to produce simplified guidance for packing containers.

The Container Owners Association (COA), Global Shippers Forum (GSF), the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association, (ICHCA) International, insurers TT Club and the World Shipping Council representing vessel owners and operators, who together form the Cargo Integrity Group (CIG) announced on 14 September that that they have published a Quick Guide to Container Packing.

The group has been formed with a view to improving the safety, security and environmental performance of the logistics supply chain, through the promotion, awareness and wider use of the Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units – the CTU Code, developed by the International Maritime Organization, with the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

According to the CIG members the guidance on packing containers is a large and complex volume, the Quick Guide will allow shippers to identify cargo types and their packing requirements readily.

Beginners and experienced gardeners alike can keep plants alive as the seasons change with these tips from Phoenix Perennials owner Gary Lewis.

Recall applies to chicken pot pies, turkey pot pies and vegetarian pot pies with all best before dates up to and including Aug. 26, 2020, where milk is not declared on the label.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a national consumer advisory on President's Choice gluten-free chicken strips for possible undeclared of gluten.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall on a type of Taylor Farms brand salad kits that may contain undeclared gluten, sesame and wheat allergens.

Amazon aims to compete with the likes of Albertsons and Kroger with the launch of its first retail Fresh grocery story in Los Angeles. The Woodland Hills location, promising “a wide assortment of national brands and high-quality produce, meat and sea...

An old fish processing plant in Port Alberni, B.C., has been given new life as a place where food companies can make their products with the goal of increasing business and provide more food sector jobs in the community.

Canadians are being warned to avoid some fresh peaches from a California company after a salmonella outbreak in the United States. Prima Wawona has recalled fresh peaches with various brand names due to possible salmonella contamination. 

If you missed the vegetable gardening craze prompted by COVID-19 earlier this spring, experts say there are plenty of plants you can still get in the ground.

Greater Vancouver Food Bank estimates donation at more than $200,000

500Foods shared this story from CBC | Canada News.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced details today of a $50-million program that will redirect surplus perishable food products to vulnerable people during the pandemic.

Fruit growers are appealing to British Columbians in need of work to help with the remaining harvest this year.

The Canadian Space Agency says growing food in the North is similar to growing food in space. It's training people in Gjoa Haven to help research food production in harsh environments.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control is warning people in the province to check where their red onions came from amid a salmonella outbreak.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says there are now 239 confirmed cases of salmonella infections linked to red onions imported from the United States.

Packages of mysterious seeds that have been making unsolicited appearances in mailboxes across North America are drawing attention to an online review scam that has recently appeared in Canada.

U.S. federal health officials say an outbreak of salmonella infecting nearly 400 people in more than 30 states has been linked to red onions, and they identified a California company as the likely source.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning gardeners not to plant "unauthorized seeds" from packages they weren't expecting to arrive in the mail.