This week’s numbers in the news include farm environmental standards, a new study on the lower impact of vegan and vegetarian diets, the delay to deforestation regulations and the cocoa crisis.
46. “As of earthly 225, we’ve had three consecutive years of global cocoa deficits, pushing our stock-to-grind ratio to a 46-year low,” Alexander Sterk, founder and CEO at commodity intelligence platform Vesper B.V. told Foodnavigator this week. This is now a “full blown cocoa crisis”, the site reported, and “it’s one that’s been building for years”.
68%. The majority of farmers (68%) want to do more to make their farms more environmentally friendly, but 96% of those surveyed by supermarket Tesco cite inconsistent environmental standards and data reporting as a key barrier. A further 73% reported difficulties getting vital innovation onto farms that will improve efficiency, resilience and sustainability. Soil health, critical to farm productivity and the ability to grow food was called out by 64% of farmers as a particular area of concern.
30.12.2026. EU member states have proposed that the provisions of the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) should apply from December 30th 2026 for medium and large operators and June 30th 2027 for micro and small operators. The extended delays have been criticised by NGOs and some large food businesses alike.
46%. A study in Frontiers in Nutrition has calculated precisely how much plant-based diets like veganism lower emissions and the use of natural resources. The research also showed that these diets deliver practically all essential nutrients. “We compared diets with the same amount of calories and found that moving from a Mediterranean to a vegan diet generated 46% less CO2 while using 33% less land and 7% less water, and also lowered other pollutants linked to global warming,” said Noelia Rodriguez-Martín, a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de la Grasa of the Spanish National Research Council, now based at the University of Granada.
