Beyond Meat doubles in market debut after $241 million IPO
Beyond Meat Inc. raised $241 million in an upsized initial public offering, with shares rising 142% from the offer price to $60.48. This gives the meat substitute company a market value of over $3.5 billion. However, one consultant argues that investors are taking “a lot on faith” with Beyond Meat, because it is unclear whether the brand has “internationalizable potential … and has capacity to make money in its core profit structure." Read more at Bloomberg …
Robotic weeders are racing to replace glyphosate and dicamba
Weeds are undisputably the “most important of all crop pests.” They steal nutrients, water, space and light and are the largest source of yield losses. And now that controversial herbicides such as glyphosate and dicamba are largely falling out of favor, newly developed weed-killing robot technology may be the way of the future. Read more at New Food Economy …
Advocates said school nutrition rollbacks were unnecessary. A new USDA study backs them up
After weakening three school nutrition standards last December, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue “justified the move by raising the troubling specter of overflowing cafeteria trash cans and children going hungry.” However, a comprehensive new study released by the USDA has shown that plate waste is no worse than it was before the Trump administration’s school nutrition reform. Read more at Civil Eats …
McVeggie burger? McDonald’s weighs whether to jump on the plant-based burger bandwagon
Following in the footsteps of Burger King, White Castle, Carl’s Jr. and Taco Bell, McDonald’s is weighing the pros and cons of rolling out a vegetarian- and vegan-friendly plant-based burger. McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook offered on Tuesday that the company is paying close attention to the push for plant-based options and that “The key for [McDonald’s] is to identify sustaining consumer trends” before making any similar moves. Read more at St. Louis Today …
Frozen food gets its turn in the meal delivery game
Mosaic, which was founded by Blue Apron’s former senior director of operations, has entered a relatively new phase of direct-to-consumer meal delivery services: Frozen meals. Matt Davis decided to launch the frozen food delivery company alongside partner Sam McIntire because “frozen food is an amazing way to work at scale, preserve food and reduce food waste." Read more at Tech Crunch …
