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Modern agriculture increasingly demands an alternative to synthetic chemicals (fertilizers and pesticides) in order to respond to the changes in international law and regulations, but also consumers’ needs for food without potentially toxic residues. Microbial (arbuscular mycorrhizal and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria: Azotobacter, Azospirillum and Rizhobium spp.) and non-microbial (humic substances, silicon, animal- and vegetal-based protein hydrolysate and macro- and micro-algal extracts) biostimulants represent a sustainable and effective alternative or complement for their synthetic counterparts, bringing benefits to the environment, biodiversity, human health and economy. The Special Issue “Toward a sustainable agriculture through plant biostimulants: from experimental data to practical applications” compiles 34 original research articles, 4 review papers and 1 brief report covering the implications of microbial and non-microbial biostimulants for improving seedling growth and crop performance, nutrient use efficiency and quality of the produce as well as enhancing the tolerance/resistance to a wide range of abiotic stresses in particular salinity, drought, nutrient deficiency and high temperature.

Building on its recent success in five Metro grocery stores since November 2019, Québec-based start-up FoodHero is extending its reach by deploying to nearly 100 Metro stores. FoodHero mobile application will allow Metro customers across Quebec to save money while providing stores an additional way to reduce food waste.

In today's context, customers are more than ever looking for ways to save on their grocery bills. The FoodHero anti-waste app can help shoppers save 30 to 50 percent off unsold products that are close to their expiry date and that remain fresh and fully consumable. After conducting a pilot project, which started last November in five Montreal stores, the results speak for themselves — nearly 6,000 orders were placed, representing more than 30,000 products sold via the application.

'Building on the success of our pilot project, we are excited to deploy the FoodHero program throughout our store network and continue our efforts to reduce food waste,' said Richard Frenkcuec, vice president, retail execution and customer experience, Metro. ' FoodHero complements our price reduction program in Québec that offers a 30 percent discount on products nearing their expiry date and provides us with an additional avenue to reduce the amount of unsold products going to landfill, contributing to our commitment to reduce food waste in our operations by 50 percent by 2025.'

The burgeoning online delivery channel is leaving a considerable impact on packaging styles and materials, marketers say.

Safety is a priority, said Cindy Blish, brand and communications manager with Shelton, Conn.-based Inline Plastics Corp.

“Consumers demand that their online delivery of food is not tampered with, which is why tamper evident packaging has such a great fit for the delivery market,” she said. 

“Tamper-evident packaging” will continue to evolve to meet the burgeoning needs of the market, including developing new styles which not only provide safe and protected transportation of the products, but also provide enough style to be attractively served straight from the container, Blish said.

That’s a key point, said Jeff Brandenburg, president and primary consultant for the Greenfield, Mass.-based JSB Group LLC and QFresh Lab in Salinas, Calif.

“We get back to how do you protect it,” he said. 

There are a number of key questions that come to the fore, where packaging for online delivery models are concerned, Brandenburg said.

“Is that online delivery going to be refrigerated? How do you maintain temperatures? If you have fresh and stable side by side, how do you manage that from a shipping standpoint? Is it Amazon Fresh, USPS, FedEx?” he said. 

Crux Agribotics expands its SortiPack product portfolio by developing a Grading, Sorting and Packing application for sweet pointed pepper. Sweet pointed peppers are becoming more popular. Mainly due to taste and health value, the consumption by consumers is increasing. Sweet pointed peppers are available…

Crux Agribotics expands its SortiPack product portfolio by developing a Grading, Sorting and Packing application for sweet pointed pepper. Sweet pointed peppers are becoming more popular. Mainly due to taste and health value, the consumption by consumers is increasing. Sweet pointed peppers are available…

To reduce food waste and provide the consumer with a fresher, longer-lasting product, the world has been seeing an increase of companies that offer shelf-life extending applications. Some of the solutions in the market include developments in packaging technology, edible coatings, and powders. “We have…

Sam's Club is adding 372 autonomous floor scrubbers, manufactured by Tennant Co. and powered by Brain Corp, to its fleet. The expansion will result in a floor scrubber in nearly all of the retailer's 600 U.S. stores. 

Sam's Club is also expanding a six-month retail shelf analytics pilot using Brain Corp's innovative floor scrubber accessory for localizing and analyzing shelf inventory with the goal of improving in-store shopping experiences. This cloud-connected application helps verify pricing accuracy, confirm planogram compliance and ensure product availability without requiring time consuming and potentially inaccurate manual processes.

The data-scanning capabilities using artificial intelligence (AI) will work in addition to the cleaning attributes of the Tennant T7AMR floor scrubbers. 

💚 Healthy Indoor Growing: Sprouts and Microgreens Add a nutritional boost to your favourite recipes with delicious and fast-growing alfalfa, broccoli, wheatgrass, fenugreek, and much, much more! View this newsletter in your browser Microgreens and sprouts are a light and refreshing snack that you can add to salads, wraps, sandwiches, and smoothies. Fast-growing and full of nutritional value, use them to bring exciting new flavours to your favourite recipes, or as garnish on baked goods. Microgreen Arugula Seeds A delicious and peppery addition to salads, sandwiches, and soups. You can even throw them on a pizza after it's out of the oven. Order Seeds Microgreen Mustard Seeds Mildly spicy, tender, succulent microgreens that add mild horseradish flavour to salads and blends. Fast to germinate & grow indoors.

Indoor food production systems have the opportunity to  reduce the overall impact that agriculture has on the environment. Greenhouses reduce the need for many precious resources, such as land and water, while simultaneously producing higher yields per unit area than field grown crops.  However, other resources are required to produce food indoors, including building materials and energy to operate systems.  Furthermore, technologies like evaporative cooling systems, utilize water, offsetting some of the savings acquired through hydroponic irrigation.  Therefore, environmental stewardship and sustainability should be an important element when planning, designing, building, and operating the greenhouse.   

Foreign object detection is a critical step for food processors, with inspection personnel experiencing increased pressure to ensure food safety regulatory compliance without hindering productivity. This pressure has only increased as food processors are faced with accelerated timelines to meet changing supply chain demands for more at-home meals, including frozen and processed, shelf-stable foods as buying habits have changed during the COVID-19 crisis.