5@5: Fair Trade helps farmers–but not their workers | Plant-based meat's misleading marketing5@5: Fair Trade helps farmers–but not their workers | Plant-based meat's misleading marketing

Fair Trade helps farmers, but not their hired workers

One agricultural economist has found a discrepancy in the way that Fair Trade’s impact is measured—almost nobody looks at the label’s benefit on the lives of the farmworkers. Unfortunately, new research shows that while Fair Trade-certified cooperatives paid higher wages to their member farmers, these benefits did not extend to hired workers. Read more at NPR …

Plant-based meats sound healthy, but they’re still processed foods

Alternative meat companies such as Beyond Meat have enjoyed their position in the organic, gluten-free, natural product space—but now they’re beginning to face backlash regarding how their products are made. Such companies soon may need to alter their marketing strategies to better communicate to consumers that plant-based meat is a highly processed food product. Read more at Quartz …

How LaCroix lost its fizz

Returns are diminishing for LaCroix now that consumer interest in seltzer has skyrocketed and competition in the space is fierce. But when a company creates (or defines) an entire category, there are three potential things brands can do to keep momentum going: build out other product lines as fast as possible, burnish the brand and cut out the retail middleman. Read more at Bloomberg …

Plan to sell 50M meals made from electricity, water and air

Solar Foods is a Finnish company that makes food from electricity, water and air—and the company has plans to have 50 million meals’ worth of its product sold at retail within the next two years. The product, a powder known as Solein, “can be given texture through 3D printing, or added to dishes and food products as an ingredient." Read more at The Guardian …

Pueblo cannabis institute publishes first journal

The open-access Journal of Cannabis Research is a “multidisciplinary, open-access journal covering all aspects of research related to cannabis and its constituents.” The journal is a product of the Institute of Cannabis Research at Colorado State University-Pueblo, and school officials hope it will promote high quality scientific research in the field of cannabis studies. Read more at Cheiftan …