M&M's Maker Turns to Gene Editing in Bid to Secure Cocoa Supply
The maker of Dove chocolate and M&M's is entering into a licensing agreement with Pairwise, an agricultural gene editing firm, in order to accelerate the development of plants with desirable traits, according to a statement. Under the agreement, Mars gets access to Pairwise's CRISPR tools, which allow scientists to modify organisms' DNA sequences.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Cocoa Prices Erase Early Gains on Demand Concerns
September ICE NY cocoa (CCU25) today is down -87 (-1.01%), and September ICE London cocoa #7 (CAU25) is down -10 (-0.18%). Cocoa prices gave up an early advance today and turned lower, with NY cocoa falling from a 5-week high. Concerns over tepid chocolate demand are bearish for cocoa prices. More News from Barchart Tighter Supplies and Brazilian Real Weakness Boost Coffee Prices Signs of Tighter Supplies Lift Coffee Prices Market Bottom Alert: Corn Prices Look Set to Gain After August 12 Our exclusive Barchart Brief newsletter is your FREE midday guide to what's moving stocks, sectors, and investor sentiment - delivered right when you need the info most. Subscribe today! Recently, chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli AG lowered its margin guidance for the year due to a larger-than-expected decline in first-half chocolate sales. Also, chocolate maker Barry Callebaut AG reduced its sales volume guidance last month for a second time in three months, citing persistently high cocoa prices. The company projects a decline in full-year sales volume and reported a -9.5% drop in its sales volume for the March-May period, the largest quarterly decline in a decade. Strength in the British pound is also bearish for London cocoa after the British pound (^GBPUSD) rallied to a 2-week high today, which undercuts cocoa that is priced in terms of sterling. NY cocoa today initially rose to a 5-week high on signs of tighter supplies after ICE-monitored cocoa inventories held in US ports fell to a 1.75-month low of 2,283,787 bags on Thursday. Cocoa has support from the slowdown in the pace of Ivory Coast cocoa exports. Monday's government data showed that Ivory Coast farmers shipped 1.76 MMT of cocoa to ports this marketing year from October 1 to August 3, up +6% from last year but down from the much larger +35% increase seen in December. Concerns about dry weather in West Africa are also bullish for cocoa prices. According to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, rainfall in the Ivory Coast and Ghana this season remains below the 30-year average, and combined with high temperatures, risks hurting cocoa pod development for the main crop harvest that starts in October. Quality concerns regarding the Ivory Coast's mid-crop cocoa, which is currently being harvested through September, are supportive of prices. Cocoa processors are complaining about the quality of the crop and have rejected truckloads of Ivory Coast cocoa beans. Processors reported that about 5% to 6% of the mid-crop cocoa in each truckload is of poor quality, compared with 1% during the main crop. According to Rabobank, the poor quality of the Ivory Coast's mid-crop is partly attributed to late-arriving rain in the region, which limited crop growth. The mid-crop is the smaller of the two annual cocoa harvests, which typically starts in April. The average estimate for this year's Ivory Coast mid-crop is 400,000 MT, down -9% from last year's 440,000 MT. Another supportive factor for cocoa is smaller cocoa production in Nigeria, the world's fifth-largest cocoa producer. Nigeria's Cocoa Association projects Nigeria's 2025/25 cocoa production will fall -11% y/y to 305,000 MT from a projected 344,000 MT for the 2024/25 crop year. In related news, Nigeria's Jun cocoa exports rose +0.9% y/y to 14,597 MT. Cocoa prices sold off last month, with NY cocoa sinking to an 8.5-month nearest-futures low and London cocoa slumping to a 17-month nearest-futures low. Weakness in global cocoa demand has hammered prices. The European Cocoa Association reported on July 17 that Q2 European cocoa grindings fell by -7.2% y/y to 331,762 MT, a bigger decline than expectations of -5% y/y. Also, the Cocoa Association of Asia reported that Q2 Asian cocoa grindings fell -16.3% y/y to 176,644 MT, the smallest amount for a Q2 in 8 years. North American Q2 cocoa grindings fell -2.8% y/y to 101,865 MT, which was a smaller decline than the declines seen in Asia and Europe. Higher cocoa production by Ghana is bearish for cocoa prices. On July 1, the Ghana Cocoa Board projected the 2025/26 Ghana cocoa crop would increase by +8.3% y/y to 650,000 from 600,000 MT in 2024/25. Ghana is the world's second-largest cocoa producer. On May 30, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) revised its 2023/24 global cocoa deficit to -494,000 MT from a February estimate of -441,000 MT, the largest deficit in over 60 years. ICCO said 2023/24 cocoa production fell by 13.1% y/y to 4.380 MMT. ICCO stated that the 2023/24 global cocoa stocks-to-grindings ratio declined to a 46-year low of 27.0%. Looking ahead to 2024/25, ICCO on February 28 forecasted a global cocoa surplus of 142,000 MT for 2024/25, the first surplus in four years. ICCO also projected that 2024/25 global cocoa production will rise +7.8% y/y to 4.84 MMT. On the date of publication, Rich Asplund did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Farming content creator aims to showcase industry
A social media producer nominated for a national agricultural award said she wanted to "show people what you can do" in farming. Annie Winn from Harlestone in Northamptonshire is up for Content Creator of the Year at the British Farming Awards. She set up her her own company after working in the agriculture industry for 10 years. Ms Winn said she wanted to "raise awareness and to get more people on board with agriculture". Earlier this week the BBC heard from farmers and those in the industry across England as part of Farmwatch 2025. Although Ms Winn descibes herself as a "country bumpkin" she said she did not have a background in farming. "I actually fell into agriculture by just winging a job one day," she told BBC Radio Northampton's Liz Jeeves. After working as a certification officer for the Red Tractor accreditation scheme, she then moved on to an agricultural charity, the Addington Fund, working in marketing. She said: "I realised, 'oh blimey, I really love this job' and then from there I went into social media self-employed with my own business." 'Busy all day every day' For the last year and a half she said her business has been "flying" with a number of agricultural clients. She said: "It's creating the content, it's checking in with them, what have they got coming up whether it's in the next week or the next six months. "I create those posts for them, the copies, the graphics, the editing, the videos, the whole lot, schedule it all out and then just keep on top of their accounts." Ms Winn said she also accompanies clients to agricultural shows and events. "It honestly keeps me busy all day every day, I haven't stopped," she said. Ms Winn said she was "creating content showing people what you can do within the industry... to support" farming. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story Moving from law to alpaca farming makes for a real change of pace
Fox News
15 hours ago
- Fox News
This country was built by farmers: Agriculture secretary
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins discusses the farming and ranching industries on 'My View with Lara Trump' at the Great American Farmers Market 2025 in Washington, D.C.
