5@5: Alternative meat and dairy companies reap investment dollars | Small businesses prepare for prolonged crisis

Alternative meat and dairy companies are raking in investment dollars

Although total VC funding is down due to COVID-19, plant-based and alternative meat, egg and dairy startups are receiving an unprecedented amount of capital from investors eager to fund the future of the food supply chain. These companies raised 14% more (over $850 million) in early 2020 than they did the entirety of 2019. As the world moves away from conventional animal agriculture and climate change worsens, it's likely investors will only become more excited about innovation in the plant-based market. Read more at Fast Company…

Small businesses brace for prolonged crisis, short on cash and customers

Many of America's small business owners have exhausted their Payment Protection Program funds just as surging COVID-19 cases are forcing states to roll back their reopening strategies. Spending at small businesses recovered slower in May and June than the rest of the economy, and some industries may not fully recover until the health crisis is fully over. Read more at The Wall Street Journal…

What a sustainable circular economy would look like

Some estimates suggest that 99% of the things people buy are thrown out within six months without the material being repurposed. A circular economy would combat this by making better use of resources, closing loops of resource flows by fully recovering materials instead of sending them to landfills and preventing waste and pollution in the first place by designing products and materials to be in use for the long term. Read more at The Conversation…

Mondelēz International CEO talks about comfort food and supply chains

Dirk Van de Put is betting on consumers' continued interest in comfort food from brands they've grown up with as pandemic-related stress persists. The company is reducing its number of product sizes or flavors by 25% to keep shelves stocked with shopper favorites, like Oreos. Read more at Bloomberg…

Dicamba fight continues

Bayer, BASF and Corteva Agriscience are contesting the results of a June 3 hearing that effectively vacated the registrations of their dicamba herbicides. The three companies are requesting that a broader group of Ninth Circuit judges re-hear the original case because they believe the decision violates principles of administrative and constitutional law and was a departure from past precedent. Read more at Progressive Farmer…