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Although COVID-19 still very active across the Okanagan, both Tourism Kelowna and Travel Penticton are both hopeful and confident the region will be a hot spot for tourists this summer.
Despite the optimism, Tourism Kelowna’s Lisanne Ballantyne says it is do or die for many businesses.
“A number of them are in survival mode right now. This year, not even this summer, is going to be crucial if we are going to have long-term recovery. The businesses are trying to make up lost revenue from way back the last March,” Ballantyne said.
Tourism Kelowna says they aren’t worried about the number of visitors coming through, but they will be analyzing where visitors open their wallets.
“Oddly, last summer we had a very high number of visitors coming through even though they weren’t staying in traditional accommodations like hotels. We had a number of visitors staying with friends and family, or at campgrounds, but sadly they weren’t spending at the restaurants and they weren’t spending at the hotels,” Ballantyne stated.
Travel Penticton hopes that this summer will be very similar to 2020.
“We were quite fortunate to have good traffic here in Penticton over the months of July, August and September,” Travel Penticton’s executive director Thom Tischik said.
Although most of the normal events may not be running this summer, both Penticton and Kelowna say the Okanagan’s tourism staples still drive people to the region.
“We still have a lot of the great things to offer like wine, tasting and cycling and the great beaches,” Tischik added.
Ballantyne hopes those with a pent-up travel demand will choose late fall as an option to visit.
“We are one of those areas that has so much to offer a traveller,” she said.


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On the surface it seems like a bad taste prank. But now there are investigations to see if something more sinister was behind it.
As an indication of just how much Jobs is entwined with his brand, Apple stocks fell nine per cent on the news – at least they did until CNN pulled the story, which proved to be a fake.
While stunts like that do citizen journalism and Web 2.0 no favors, there are now thoughts that darker forces might be at work. Vnunet has reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating to see if the report was an attempt at stock manipulation.
The report, posted around 7 am by someone known only as Johntw, claimed that Jobs was in hospital, "suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath." Apple prices rebounded after the story was discredited and pulled, but still ended three per cent down.
“The fraudulent content was removed from the site and the user’s account was disabled.”
It’s been a bad years for fake Jobs health reports – in August Bloomberg published his obituary.
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- Apple teases Monday’s big event with an early look into Steve Jobs Theater

domain: news


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Apple Maps now provides real-time traffic conditions to customers in Argentina, according to Apple’s refreshed iOS Feature Availability webpage.
Apple Maps will now denote highly congested areas with orange or red lines along the roads, helping drivers avoid any delays. With today’s update, real-time traffic conditions are now available in a total of four Latin American countries via Apple Maps: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
As first noted by MacRumors, Apple’s Maps service has rolled out transit directions in New Orleans ahead of Mardi Gras. With the update, customers who live in the New Orleans, Louisiana metropolitan area can now get directions using public transportation options such as RTA buses and streetcars, Jefferson Transit buses and Amtrak trains and busses. Apple Maps is available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch and Mac. Just a week ago, Apple Maps rolled out transit directions for the Houston, Texas metropolitan area ahead of Super Bowl.
Apple is currently beta-testing the first major update to iOS 10 since its public release last month. Aside from a Portrait shooting mode for iPhone 7 Plus owners and a new toggle in Settings to allow Messages animations when Reduce Motion is enabled, the software update should bring official support for transit directions in Japan within the stock Maps application, Japanese blog Ata Distance said today.
Apple has been working on getting its mobile payments system, which expanded into Russia earlier this month, into more public transit systems, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
Thanks to FeliCa-compatible NFC chips inside iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 models sold in Japan, Apple Pay will be gaining support for Japanese railway JR East later this month through its dedicated Suica payment system.
Apple customers in Prague, Czech Republic, can now use the firm’s stock Maps app on an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac to take into account local transit directions when planning their routes. Apple Maps transit data just launched in Prague with support for the city’s busses and trams and the Prague Metro and Esko Prague commuter rail.
Transit directions on Apple Maps are now available in four new markets: San Diego, Honolulu and Kansas City in the United States and British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province. Now Apple fans can incorporate localized public transportation options in those locations, including buses and commuter rails, when seeking directions through the Maps app.
Flyover, a three-dimensional birds-eye view in Apple Maps, is now available in an additional thirty cities and popular tourist destinations in the United States and around the world. In addition, Transit and Traffic data in Maps is now available in several new cities.
Flyover takes advantage of a fleet of airplanes that photograph points of interest from multiple angles. These photos are then used to derive depth information from them to recreate buildings, landmarks and other objects in 3D space.
David Hodge, former Founder and CEO of a company that Apple acquired in 2013 called Embark, announced today on Twitter that he has departed the company. At the time of the acquisition, Embark had transit data on large cities such as Chicago, New York, and San Francisco and had apps considered to be some of the best in their class. This data and the technology used in Embark apps have since helped improve the transit feature of Apple’s Maps app.


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HTC's first blockchain smartphone called the Exodus will be officially announced by the end of this summer, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer said Wednesday. Originally confirmed in mid-May, the unconventional device is designed to help users "take back control of the value that exists in their personal identity and data," according to the company. HTC claims the Exodus will be the world's first handset entirely focused on decentralized security and apps, being capable of serving as a digital wallet, data vault, and a wide variety of other mobile tools relying on blockchain solutions, technologies based on public digital ledgers that are constantly monitored by countless clients connected to the thereof and are hence extremely difficult to compromise in practice.
As part of the Exodus project, HTC partnered with Cryptokitties, having agreed to have the non-fungible token (NFT) game pre-loaded on its upcoming smartphone, in addition to distributing it to a number of its other handsets, starting with the U12 Plus flagship. The mobile version of the popular cat collection game is expected to eventually make its way to other smartphones but HTC will be the first manufacturer to offer it in the West. The Exodus still doesn't have a firm release date, with the Taipei, Taiwan-based tech giant only stating it's planning to unveil the device by the end of the third quarter of the year.
The HTC Exodus domain that can be visited by referring to the banner below was spotted featuring a Vive logo some two months back, with the implication being that the upcoming device may also have some kind of virtual reality capabilities. HTC's VR efforts have so far been focused on standalone and tethered solutions, with the company being yet to deliver a headset meant to be powered by an Android handset in the vein of Samsung's Gear VR or Google's Daydream View. The HTC Exodus is likely to run a custom implementation of Android, with the timing of its planned announcement coinciding with the window Google previously specified for the release of the first stable build of Android P. The device is likely to become available for purchase in late 2018, though it's presently unclear whether HTC is meaning to target global availability.


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US: Foster's Group acquires niche Napa operation
The Foster's Group wine division, Beringer Blass, has acquired the RMS wine facility in the Napa Valley, California from Remy Cointreau for an undisclosed sum.
Beringer Blass made the acquisition through its Etude Wines operation. The 12-hectare site in the Carneros region of the Napa includes 3,720 sq m of French-style stone buildings, which are currently being re-developed into a winery, and a 4-hectare vineyard planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The RMS facility is expected to become operational as a winery no later than the fourth quarter of 2004. The deal is expected to be finalised in August.
Beringer Blass has made the acquisition of what is viewed as a premium, showcase facility to boost its presence in the expanding Pinot Noir market in the US. US retail sales figures indicate that sales of domestically-produced Pinot Noir increased by 10% in the 52 weeks to May.
"It is in a very good location on a key highway into the Napa region with a lot of traffic, so part of the benefit for us is to be able to increase cellar door sales," a company spokesman said. "We expect that to be a significant part of the growth of Etude going forward."
The Etude Wines operation is a premium-orientated business, acquired by Beringer Blass in September 2001, which mainly supplies restaurants. The Etude wines retail for between US$38 and US$70 a bottle.
As Pernod Ricard, Allied Domecq and Fortune Brands close in on the biggest drinks industry deal since the sale of Seagram, opinion about how the deal will be structured and who stands to win and lose ...
Shares in Southcorp and Foster's have been halted from trading, pending an announcement....
Remy Cointreau has posted a slight rise in revenue growth for fiscal year 2005....
The Polish unit of Remy Cointreau has pulled out of the race for a majority stake in Polmos Bialystok....
Central European Distribution Corporation (CEDC) has revealed plans to enter into a strategic alliance with Remy Cointreau....
Coverage of Remy Cointreau has been initiated by Citigroup Smith Barney....
Southcorp's share price has dropped below the offer price made by Foster's for the first time today (18 April)....
Remy Cointreau has officially opened its new logistics centre in Angers, western France....
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According to Yahoo Sports, the Red Sox are switching their uniforms and going back to red letters with blue trim on their away jerseys (see: left, below). They switched to blue-on-gray back in 2009, part of a back-and-forth that has been going on since 1938, according to Yahoo Sports. These uniforms will be similar to what they wore from 1990-2008 and is a "desire to revert back to [their] traditional style of uniform," according to Yahoo.
Photo from Yahoo Sports
Thoughts? Let us know on Twitter or leave a comment below. I personally like them because they're the jerseys I grew up with. Just me, though.


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Pontiac bakery wins ‘Cupcake Wars’
By Eric Czarnik
Posted December 3, 2012
Local business owners April and James Forbes took the cake in a recent Food Network TV showdown.
The Forbeses, who own The Cakeria in Pontiac, prevailed over three competing teams in an Elvis Presley-themed episode of “Cupcake Wars” that aired Nov. 18.
As the winners, the Forbeses won $10,000 and went to Memphis, Tenn., to set up their Elvis cupcake display at a party themed around Presley’s 1973 Aloha from Hawaii Concert.
April Forbes said the contest was actually taped in July, but she looks back on it as a proud moment.
“It was a validation for me, that I’m in the right field, that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” she said. “I think it was just a business accomplishment for my husband and I because we had gone through so much with my business.”
During the episode, the Forbeses worked as a team on three challenges. One round challenged bakers to make a cupcake themed around peanut butter and bananas — components of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s favorite sandwich snack.
After a second round of making three Elvis-decorated cupcakes, Forbes and her husband had to make and decorate 1,000 cupcakes, with the help of a small provided team. A panel of three judges critiqued the cupcakes during all three rounds.
April Forbes, 29, of Waterford, said she became a fan of the show upon auditioning for it last spring. She said she was used to working in a high-volume atmosphere, but she still had to work under pressure during “Cupcake Wars,” due to the time limits.
She said her culinary creations were complex, with multiple ingredients, fillings and sauces. For instance, her pumpkin pie cupcakes used fresh nutmeg and clove.
“I was proud of all of the cupcakes,” she said. “They’re not just cake with frosting on it.”
April Forbes said The Cakeria has been in business for about three years and has specialized in catered events and wedding cakes. The company opened its current storefront just recently, in November, she said.
While the bakeress said The Cakeria bought its storefront with previous savings, the business invested its “Cupcake Wars” prize money into getting a better oven and some upgraded packaging and equipment.
And the experience has also put The Cakeria on the map, according to her husband, James Forbes. “There’s definitely been an increase in business from national recognition,” he said. “We’ve been receiving calls form all over the country, wanting the product shipped to them. We do, anywhere in the continental U.S.”
James Forbes, 47, said he handles the business’ financials, but he said his past experience in the kitchen came in handy during “Cupcake Wars.”
“I baked for several years. I’ve been in the management,” he said. “In retail management, you cook a lot, so I have several years of cooking and baking experience. So I could hold my own very well.”
The Cakeria, 153 S. Telegraph Road, in the Rainbow Plaza in Pontiac can be reached at www.thecakeria.com or at (248) 778-8881. Learn more about Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” at www.foodnetwork.com/cupcake-wars.
About the author
Staff Writer Eric Czarnik reports on Sterling Heights and Utica Community Schools, and he writes a weekly auto column. He is a Wayne State University graduate who has been employed at C & G Newspapers since 2007.
More from C & G Newspapers


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Until very recently, it’s been common for people to turn to sleeping pills when they had problems falling asleep. But according to a report published today, that is changing as more and more people are choosing cannabis as their go-to sleep aid.
Sleep Aid: Sleeping Pills Or Cannabis?
The findings were based on a study that surveyed more than 50,000 individuals. The results from this data reveal that over-the-counter (OTC) sleeping pill sales are taking a hit as more and more people turn to legal cannabis.
As a result, the study estimated that legal cannabis could eventually kill 9.5% of all OTC sleep aid sales. When that’s translated into dollars-and-cents, the OTC sleep aid industry could lose as much as $70 million in sales to the legal cannabis market.
Other Key Findings
The study concluded that cannabis is rapidly replacing OTC sleeping pills and other similar sleep aids. It also found that cannabis is increasingly being used in place of OTC pain medications.
Here are some of the report’s key findings:
- Legal cannabis consumers were 25% more likely to be users of sleep aids than people who do not use legal cannabis.
- 50% of people who were likely to use legal cannabis said they planned to purchase fewer OTC sleeping aids in the future.
- 86% of people who used cannabis specifically as a sleep aid believed it worked better than traditional OTC sleeping pills.
So what does this mean? It means that a large portion of people who struggle sleeping are willing to give cannabis a shot. And when they do, a majority of them eventually conclude that weed works better than pills.
As a result, half of those who use cannabis as a sleep aid plan to reduce their use of OTC sleeping pills.
Cannabis and Sleep
According to the report, people who use OTC sleep aids don’t tend to switch around and experiment too much. Once they find something that works for them, they stick with it.
But now, cannabis is an entirely new treatment option with the added benefit of mood enhancement.
Its effectiveness as a sleep aid, along with all the other effects it produces, makes legal cannabis a real threat to OTC sleeping pills and aids.
During deep sleep, our bodies release growth hormones and ramp up production of certain proteins. It helps us maintain emotional health and social functionality.
However, cannabis doesn’t increase each stage of sleep. It decreases REM sleep, which is the dream stage.
The Ideal Cannabis Strain for Sleep
Now it’s obviously a different experience for different users, but in general, there are certain strains that work better than others.
Indica strains — like Blueberry and Northern Lights — are better than sativa strains — like Super Silver Haze and Malawi Gold — because of the drowsy effect they produce. Indica strains mellow you down, whereas sativa strains make you energetic.


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Lab mice fed a high-fat diet had larger liver cells with accumulation of lipid droplets compared to lab mice fed a standard diet. However, mice fed a high-fat diet that that were also given mate tea had liver cells more similar to those in the standard diet mice, as well as mice that were given the cholesterol lowering drug fenofibrate.
These results were published in the January 2019 edition of the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.
Mate tea is made out of Ilex paraguariensis, a plant endemic to South America. It is a popular beverage in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as some parts of Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil.
Studies on the plants’ bioactive compounds have linked it to anti-inflammatory properties, as well as some cardiovascular benefits. The plant is rich in polyphenols, xanthines, flavonoids, and minerals, which led the authors of this present study to explore its potential in reducing liver and metabolic disorders induced by high fat diets.
“This study [shows] that mate tea treatment prevents the development of hepatic steatosis by improving inflammation and oxidative stress parameters, acting on glucose uptake, and improving insulin and high-density lipoprotein levels,” they wrote.
It was funded by Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
Study details and results
Researchers divided 32 mice into four groups, with eight mice in each. One group was fed a standard diet (control group), the second group was fed a high fat diet, the third group was fed a high fat diet and mate tea, and the fourth group was fed a high fat diet and received fenofibrate.
Mate tea was purchased from Leão Jr. SA, a producer of tea products founded in 1901 that has operated as a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Indústrias Ltda. since 2009 (the researchers did not report any financial backing from Coca-Cola).
During the trial period, researchers performed one4 glucose tolerance test on the animals. They analyzed the mice for 13 weeks, after which blood samples as well as liver, heart, and fats were removed and weighed.
“A significant weight gain was observed in the liver of animals that ingested the high-fat diet,” they reported. However, the researchers found that mice given mate tea and fenofibrate had less increase in visceral and subcutaneous fat compared to the mice only receiving a high fat diet with no supplement.
Additionally, they found that mice given mate tea exhibited improvements in parameters of oxidative stress, inflammation, and blood biomarkers.
Source: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
Published online ahead of print, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.11.007
“Mate tea reduces high fat diet-induced liver and metabolic disorders in mice”
Authors: Marina Valente Barroso, et al.


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Last month Coinbase announced that it would start support the trading of Ethers (Ethereum's digital currency) on its platform.
On the one hand, this represents how the digital currency/altcoin universe is becoming more nuanced, with the further development of alternative functionalities creating a more nuanced landscape of altcoins.
On the other hand, it raises the question of what the future of altcoins looks like? BitCoin, long the standard bearer of altcoins, has seen its dominance give way as alternatives such as Ethereum, Ripple, R3CEV and others.
Coinbase later said it accepted more than 2 million ethers in new deposits on its first day of accepting the digital currency. At the same time, critics of the move took to social media to voice frustration over what some perceived to be a betrayal of the company's initial user base. But according to some industry observers, the decision was ultimately a practical one, following other startups in the bitcoin space that have begun developing products around Ethereum.


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Holland is still a growing area for the brand; however showing at Modefabriek January 2012 has had a positive response for the brand, the interest gained from this has led to the showroom opening.
Bastiaan Koerts, the Dutch agent for Voi Jeans commented,
“This is a really positive move for the brand Voi Jeans, I am hoping for success for the brand internationally, I am very excited, for the future of Voi and I look forward to growing with the brand. Modefabriek opened a lot of potential business for Voi Jeans so it made sense that we had an area to showcase the brand, so this helped the decision for setting a showroom up over here.”
Voi Jeans is now emerging as a worldwide competitor in menswear with accounts current in over 24 worldwide countries including, Spain, Italy, and as far out as Canada, USA, South Africa and now Holland. At present Voi Jeans is approaching 200 accounts outside of the United Kingdom.


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Investors are pouring tens of millions of dollars into hotel developments and renovations in the country’s biggest cities, as tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels and guests demand a more memorable experience during their stay.
From the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, which will get a $60 million facelift, to the new StandardX hotel set to open near Fitzroy in Melbourne next year, hotel owners are putting their cash into spruced-up rooms aimed at high-spending guests.
The wave of investment partly reflects the tourism sector’s rebound from COVID-19. Hotels were thrown into crisis by lockdowns and travel restrictions, but they are now enjoying boomtime occupancy rates, and that is attracting more investment into the sector.
But the hotel investment boom also reflects a push by hoteliers to offer an experience beyond a comfy bed and pillow menu. One way in which hotel owners are trying to do this is by capturing glamorous eras of the past.
That is the case with the planned revamp of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, the city’s first five-star international hotel.
Known as the venue of the post-election parties for the Liberal party, the hotel in Phillip Street opened in 1966 and was part of Qantas Airways, which had its head office next door and was for a time the largest brick building in the Southern Hemisphere.
Aside from the Liberal Party election soirees, in 1983 the then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana danced publicly in front of TV cameras in the Grand Ballroom.
Scheduled to commence in January and be completed in spring 2024, the transformation of the hotel includes an extensive refurbishment, the building will retain its distinctive heritage facade.
The hotel was bought by a fund managed by global investment firm KKR in partnership with Futuro Capital and Marprop Real Estate Investors in 2021 for $315 million. Accor is the hotel’s operator.
Sam Panetta, general manager, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, said the business was excited to reignite and “add layers to the history of this landmark hotel”.
“The repositioning of the Sofitel will enhance the luxury services on offer and reinforce the value of the brand,” Panetta said.
Led by architecture and interior design firm Fender Katsalidis, the refurbishment of the heritage-listed property will include a comprehensive redesign of all 436 guest rooms and suites, corridors, club lounge and lobby areas. It will also include a new dining precinct, with a range of restaurants and bars.
In Melbourne, the StandardX hotel is the latest “lifestyle hotel” – a smaller, boutique-style hotel – to open early next year. Located in the city fringe suburb of Fitzroy, the 125-room hotel will reflect the rebellious spirit of the suburb’s “heyday” of the ’70s and ’80s.
The hotel will have an elevated loft with a fireplace, columns wrapped in macrame by local artist Sarah Smalltown, a rooftop Mexican restaurant and minimalist rooms where a millwork ledge doubles as a writing corner and open closet.
It comes as hotel operators are being pushed to change the way they run their properties, in response to new demands from guests. Increasingly, guests expect to have access to offerings such as bikes to see the city, along with fresh local produce or the latest technology.
Gone are the days of pilfering the shampoo bottles from the bathroom; now, guests want to see pump packs and organic sheets that are high in sustainability. Welcome to the new age of hotels where the guests want an experience they will remember.
The hotel sector was one of the hardest hit by the global pandemic and the enforced lockdowns and border closures in mid-2020, but with the opening up for tourists, it has started to gradually emerge as one of the strongest growth sectors.
Australia’s hotel sector attracted about 14 per cent of the $US9.1 billion ($A13.86 billion) funds deployed during the first nine months of 2023.
Nick Lower, state director of hotels at Savills Australia and New Zealand, said the outlook for the Australian hotel sector in 2024 remains positive, fuelled by the strong tourism rebound late last year.
“Ongoing pent-up demand for accommodation throughout 2023 underpins hotels as a robust asset class and has made them even more attractive to investors,” Lower said.
“Australia is regarded as a safe haven in the Asia-Pacific hotel market, backed by our favourable demographic tailwinds and rapid tourism recovery. Offshore investors continue to take a keen interest in Australian hotels, and it now ranks third as an asset class in terms of investor market share across the Asia Pacific region.”
Accommodation Australia chief executive Michael Johnson said there are 20,000 new rooms coming on line and more than 200 hotels opening nationally since the end of 2020.
Johnson says the latest data from STR, which provides analysis of market data on the hotel industry worldwide, shows occupancy rates are back to pre-pandemic levels, and he’s confident the sector will also see the benefit of tour groups returning from China, after Australia was put back on China’s list of approved outgoing group travel destinations in August 2023.
“Hotel operators across the country – but particularly in our gateway cities – are seeing occupancies rebuilding to pre-pandemic levels,” he says.
“The recovery of the sector after COVID-19 is phenomenal, and we expect this to continue into 2024 as international tourism increases,” Johnson says.
In November, Sydney’s hotels were 88 per cent full, with an average daily room rate (ADR) of $333 per night; Melbourne was at 76.5 per cent with an ADR of $227 per night. The lower rate was attributed to the large number of new hotels that have opened or coming up in the coming year.
In Brisbane, where the Amora Hotel Brisbane has unveiled its $30 million transformation, the STR data shows occupancy at 79 per cent, Perth was at 86 per cent and Adelaide was 82 per cent full.
The new Amora Brisbane has 296 guest rooms, across 14 floors, with the top two floors featuring Amora’s premier rooms and suites. Facilities include an elevated outdoor pool and deck, with a fitness studio and sauna, and 11 revived conference and event spaces.
IHG Resort and Hotels’ fast-growing Hotel Indigo has opened a new hotel in Potts Point behind the famous Coca-Cola sign in 2023, and it will open a new hotel in Sydney at the City Tattersalls Club in 2024. It also re-branded a hotel in Melbourne in Flinders Lane in 2023. The brand offers food from local restaurants, artwork and interactive general gathering areas for guests.
Marriott International has been one of the busiest operators, opening the Le Meridien, which is its 10th hotel in the Melbourne CBD and its 42nd in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Another 24 are in the pipeline in Australia, including a W Hotel that has opened in the Ribbon building at Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Its latest boutique hotel is the Moxy Sydney Pitt Street, scheduled to open in August 2025. It is expected to feature 314 rooms in Sydney’s CBD, close to retail hot spots such as Pitt Street Mall and Martin Place.
Moxy is one of Marriott’s fastest-growing brands in the Asia Pacific region, the company says it offers affordable premium standard accommodation with a “fun and playful vibe”.
The hotel will include Sydney’s highest outdoor rooftop bar on level 34, as well as high-street retail.
Savills’ Nick Lower says that despite industry-wide challenges such as staff shortages and rising operational costs, the Australian hotel market has witnessed a significant leap in room rates, which now surpass pre-COVID levels.
“International tourist arrivals in Australia are also recovering at a rapid pace – especially in Sydney, which boasts the second-strongest rebound, up 84 per cent in the APAC region behind Japan,” Lower said.
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(Cherry Hill, N.J.) – Mayor Chuck Cahn joined officials from Whole Foods Market and Federal Realty Investment Trust on Wednesday morning to celebrate the Grand Opening of Whole Foods’ newest location, inside Cherry Hill’s Ellisburg Circle Shopping Center.
The Mayor took part in a bread-breaking before the store officially opened its doors at 9 a.m., joined by Council President David Fleisher, Council members Jim Bannar, Susan Shin Angulo and Melinda Kane, Camden County Freeholder Jeff Nash, and hundreds of eager shoppers.
In his opening remarks, the Mayor touted the 45,000-square-foot supermarket as a powerful engine for economic development and revitalization in Cherry Hill and regionally. The store is Whole Foods’ 12th location in New Jersey, and one of more than 380 stores across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
“I’m proud to welcome Whole Foods Market as our newest neighbor in Cherry Hill,” Mayor Cahn told the crowd gathered for the 8:45 a.m. ceremony. “In addition to creating jobs for residents in our region, Whole Foods has injected new life and energy into the Ellisburg Shopping Center and has served as a catalyst for additional growth and reinvestment in our community.”
Whole Foods joins LourdesCare at Cherry Hill, which opened in early 2013, as the newest face at the former Ellisburg Circle. The two projects have led the transformation of the Route 70/Kings Highway/Brace Road corridor into one of Cherry Hill’s most vibrant and thriving locations.
With Whole Foods’ arrival, the Ellisburg Shopping Center’s management company, Federal Realty, capitalized on the opportunity to give the 267,000-square-foot shopping center a much-needed facelift, complete with a fresh façade, and new red-and-white signage. The move has helped to attract new tenants such as Honey Grow to fill vacant storefronts. With 1,344 solar panels on the store’s roof and energy-saving green doors in each department, Whole Foods Cherry Hill also serves as a centerpiece of sustainable development in town.
Whole Foods Cherry Hill contains a number of “firsts” for the grocer’s locations in the Mid-Atlantic Region, including The Hatchery, a pop-up space featuring local artisans and entrepreneurs; the only Whole Foods in the Mid-Atlantic Region to offer certified kosher fish; and an in-house “art space” where customers can watch the store’s artists at work. Other unique features include made-in-house game sausage, a pickle bar, bagels boiled and baked in-house, an organic espresso bar, DIY body care and cleaning products, and house-made mozzarella, seasonal salad dressings, kettle corn and tortilla chips.
“Whole Foods’ arrival has helped to reinvent Ellisburg as a prime location for shopping in the region, inspired growth and reinvestment across our community, and solidifies Cherry Hill’s reputation as a destination for major national and international retailers,” Mayor Cahn said. “Complete with its unique features and plentiful seating, I have no doubt that this will become more than a supermarket; it will serve as a gathering place for our community. This not your typical supermarket, and it’s not your typical Whole Foods – it is a special store to fit our special quality of life.”
Whole Foods is the world’s leading natural and organic supermarket and the country’s first national certified organic grocer. Wednesday’s bread-breaking capped a week of festivities surrounding the store’s opening, complete with food, fun and festivities, including live music and performances. Last Thursday, hundreds of residents turned out for a Food Truck Festival in the shopping center’s parking lot, and more than 1,300 people received a sneak-peek at the inside of the store during guided tours on Sunday and Monday.
“Whole Foods Market is thrilled to be a part of this community,” said whole Foods Market Cherry Hill Store Team Leader Joe Greenlee. “It means so much to be able to open the doors and welcome our new neighbors, customers and Team Members. We’ve already built many meaningful relationships in the community – and look forward to those only continuing to grow.”


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NMPF Suggests Ways to Improve Dairy Exports in Key Markets
June 6, 2017
As the new Trump trade policy team settles into the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, NMPF has recommended ways the U.S. government can build on the positive trade balances that America’s dairy sector already enjoys in many key foreign markets.
USTR, along with the Department of Commerce, asked NMPF and other stakeholders for input on the U.S. balance of trade with 13 partners: Canada, China, European Union (EU), Japan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
NMPF noted that of the 13 partners listed, the U.S. dairy sector has a trade surplus with 11, excluding only the EU and Switzerland. In total, the United States exports almost twice as many dairy products to the 13 partners as it imports. The U.S. dairy sector’s top seven dairy export markets included six on the list: Mexico, Canada, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam (Canada’s inclusion on the list of top dairy export markets is misleading, given that a sizable portion of dairy ingredients imported into Canada for further processing are not consumed there, but are re-exported, often to the United States).
In its recommendation of how trade relations with these nations should be handled, NMPF stated that “any effort to achieve balanced trade by focusing on trade deficits must take into account that for some sectors, including ours, trade surpluses are already in place, and are generating benefits to American farmers, workers and companies. We would strongly support efforts aimed at removing tariff and nontariff barriers to trade that constrain even greater access for U.S. dairy exports. Trade policies aimed at such outcomes would drive further returns to our farm sector and rural communities across the country in particular.”
In its country-specific submissions, NMPF focused on several priorities. These priorities are in line with the trade-promoting approach NMPF has advocated that the Trump Administration pursue, including:
· Preserving NAFTA and focusing modernization negotiations on safeguarding those economic sectors that have already been opened to free trade while creating more open trade in other areas, such as in Canada;
· Encouraging trade negotiations with various Asian trading partners, particularly Japan;
· Tackling barriers to U.S. exports that hold back the potential for even greater sales, such as:
- Canada’s habitual use of nontariff measures to distort dairy trade;
- Misuse by the EU and Switzerland of geographical indications to seek to monopolize sales of common food products; and
- India’s long-standing refusal to engage in productive negotiations to reopen its dairy market despite benefiting substantially from unilateral access to the U.S. market under the U.S. Generalized System of Preference program.
This comment period provided the opportunity for NMPF to elaborate on many of the market-opening points conveyed to the Trump Administration since the beginning of 2017. NMPF will continue to share recommendations with the Administration to further expand dairy exports.


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George van Vlaanderen, owner of Does' Leap farm in Bakersfield, cooks at the Burlington Farmers Market, Saturday. / MARK ELEY/for the FREE PRESS
Brittany Langdon, market manager for FolkFoods, cooks eggs at the Burlington Farmers Market, Saturday. / MARK ELEY/for the FREE PRESS
Two Champlain Valley farmers planned to expand their offerings at the Burlington Farmers Market this season. The answer from the market was “no,” at least for this year.
Mark Fasching of Jericho Settlers Farm won’t be selling juice from the carrots he grew, or breakfast sandwiches of his meat and eggs. You won’t find maple-bacon-on-a-stick at Eric Rozendaal’s Rockville Market Farm stand.
“I fought it all winter long,” Rozendaal said of his discussions with the market’s steering committee. “It’s very frustrating to me.”
The rejection highlights an escalating discussion at the Burlington market: How do you balance lettuce with lunch? Does the growing popularity of prepared-food vending threaten to swamp the market’s identity as an outlet for farm produce?
It’s one of a number of questions Vermont’s expanding farmers markets face, from how to accommodate new vendors, to food safety, to a search for ways to incorporate nutrition and cooking lessons with sales.
“Markets were loosely organized when they started out. As they get bigger, customers want more — more consistency, more marketing, more products,” said Erin Buckwalter, direct marketing coordinator at NOFA-Vermont, the organic farm group. “There are a ton of issues markets are grappling with.”
Becoming a 'food fair'?
A stroll through the Burlington Farmers Market has become a gauntlet of gourmandizing.
If shoppers are able to resist locally-raised, grilled-on-the-spot sausages, they may succumb to Tibetan momos, Turkish vegetable pancakes, Chinese egg rolls or Peruvian picarones. Not to mention maple cotton candy, maple-sweetened lemonade or a sno-cone made with local fruit syrups.
In Burlington, some Saturday visitors come to the market in City Hall Park specifically to find breakfast or lunch.
“We don’t want to turn into just a food fair,” market Manager Chris Wagner said, a sentiment echoed by Spencer Welton, co-owner of Half Pint Farm and chairman of the market’s steering committee.
The Burlington market, like most of Vermont’s 60-plus farmers markets, defines its core mission as providing an outlet for farmers’ produce and the cheese, jams and other products they make at home.
Admission guidelines are intended to balance stands selling farm goods with those selling crafts or prepared food.
In Burlington, that ratio is 55 percent agriculture, 45 percent prepared food and crafts.
Other markets seek a similar balance that reflects a particular customer base. Norwich, for example, allocates 60 percent of its space to farmers; Rutland, 50 percent. The Sunday market in South Burlington, on the other hand, has limited produce stands to just three of 30 weekly vendors.
“We feel like three is sufficient for our volume,” said Carol McQuillen, board chairman of the nonprofit market organizer Common Roots. “You want those who come to do well.”
Burlington’s dilemma, Chairman Welton said, is the increasing numbers of farmers who are cooking their own products at the market. Are they farmers with prepared food as a sideline, or prepared food vendors who happen to sell some vegetables or meat?
“It’s not easily apparent to customers which are agriculture vendors and which are prepared food vendors,” he said. “We’re hearing from customers and from vendors that there aren’t as many farms at the market, though there are.”
It’s in part a matter of overall atmosphere. The market was once a relatively small, relatively quiet event which drew home cooks to browse for the freshest lettuce or most exotic heirloom tomatoes.
These days, by 11 a.m. on a sunny summer Saturday the market is packed with residents and tourists listening to music, picnicking on the grass and crowding the sidewalks to buy lunch.
“Some farmers are wondering if this is becoming more of a bazaar or a festival than a farmers market,” said Dave Zuckerman, whose Full Moon Farm does not sell prepared food.
On the other hand, he said, “More and more farms are thinking about prepared food. Lunch sells like hot cakes, like crazy.”
And, on balance, he thinks the additional prepared food stands at the market benefit his business by attracting customers who might not otherwise come downtown.
Adding value, making money
There’s a reason farmers are hauling their grills to market: more revenue. A farm-made sausage that might bring in $2 or $3 if sold raw, turns into a $6 or $7 item if the farmer grills it and tucks it into a bun.
“This is value-added agriculture. This is what we are supposed to be doing,” said Rozendaal, the Rockville Market farmer. “We live in a state where agriculture is extremely risky, so adding value works.”
Rockville Market Farm already sells breakfast gorditas — a tortilla wrapped around freshly grilled chorizo, egg and pepper sauce from the farm — with great success.
“I’m thrilled with it. It goes back to giving the customers what they want. I am still selling vegetables too, but I leave the market with a lot more money in my pocket,” Rozendaal said.
There’s another irony, Fasching, of Jericho Settlers Farm said: Many of the prepared food vendors at the market do not use many — if any — local farm ingredients in their dishes.
Or, as Rozendaal put it: “I can’t grill bacon from my farm, but a pretzel vendor can get into the market?”
Fasching said the market managers have told him they would like to see farmers focus on becoming suppliers for the prepared-food vendors.
That’s true, Welton said. “That’s where we want to go,” with farmers concentrating on growing food while other vendors focus on cooking that food well.
The French fry dilemma
Questions about prepared food have arisen in other markets, though to a lesser degree than in Burlington.
When a potato grower in the upper Connecticut River Valley wanted to turn his product into fresh French fries, the market was hesitant, Manager Steve Hoffman said.
“There was a lot of push back from vendors who said, ‘Here we go — fair food.’ The feeling was it wasn’t adding value to the market,” Hoffman said. (The farmer changed his plans.)
In Brattleboro, winter market Manager Sherry Maher said she has encouraged farmers to prepare food from what they grow.
“It’s a challenge for most of them because they are doing so much already,” she said.
In Montpelier, Manager Carolyn Grodinsky said the market “is like the community green on Saturday. People meet friends for lunch.” But the market also can use cooking as a way to teach people about using local farm ingredients, she said, through cooking demonstrations.
Earlier this month, for example, New England Culinary Institute Chef Michelle Buswell and her students showed shoppers how to incorporate seasonal vegetables into a “farmers market tart.”
“The hope is, people like the tart and that turns into buying the ingredients at the market,” Grodinsky said.
In South Burlington, the market is trying to take food education one step further. A kids’ club called “Power of Produce” or POP, will provide children with $3 to spend at one farm. The first 200 kids can take part in a food activity in the POP club tent and receive a $3 token for the following week.
'Wrong side of public sentiment'?
In Burlington, steering committee Chairman Welton said the market is not necessarily going to deny all additional requests from farmers to cook at the market.
“We were trying to slow things down while we figure out what to do,” he said. The market will collect data on how much of a farmer’s revenue is coming from prepared food.
“We aren’t saying we don’t want it at all. We want info on what it looks like,” he said.
The market also has been asked by the city to consider adding a Wednesday market, Welton said, and is exploring that possibility.
One option might be a market that follows the rules the Slow Food organization has adopted for its Earth Markets, Wagner and Welton said. Earth Market vendors may only sell what they have produced themselves.
In the meantime, Rozendaal said, though he loves the Burlington market he believes its leaders have made a mistake in rejecting his maple-glazed bacon on a stick.
“I think they are on the wrong side of public sentiment,” he said. “I think people would love it, they’d be lining up for them.”
Farmers Market Tart with Brioche Dough
Courtesy of Michelle Buswell, pastry chef at New England Culinary Institute
Note: Preparation of brioche dough takes some time. The tart would also work well with pizza dough, homemade or store bought.
For the brioche
1 ounce fresh yeast
1⁄3 cup whole milk warmed to 100-110 degrees
2 cups flour, separated
Soften the yeast in the milk in a mixing bowl. Add 1 egg and 1 cup of flour, stirring to combine. Sprinkle 1 cup of flour on top of the mixture BUT DO NOT MIX IT IN. Wrap the bowl in plastic wrap and set aside till the surface of the flour cracks (30-40 minutes).
Once ready, add:
1⁄3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups flour
8 ounces room-temperature butter (two sticks)
Use the dough hook on your mixer (or beat with a spoon) on low until combined. Increase speed to 2; mix for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough wraps itself around the hook and is smooth. This will take longer if beaten by hand.
Add butter in 4 additions, mixing til all the butter is added before adding more. Once all the butter is mixed, beat for 2 to 3 more minutes. The dough should be shiny.
Put in a greased container. Leave at room temp til double in size (2 hours). Punch down. Put in refrigerator overnight so the dough will become firm enough to work.
For the tarts:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. The following amounts are approximate.
½ pound spinach, steamed or sautéed in a bit of olive oil until just wilted
3 medium onions, sliced into thin rounds and sautéed until soft
4 to 6 ounces of chevre
Salt and pepper to taste
The next day, divide the dough into 22 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Put on cookie sheets on top of cornmeal (this will prevent them from sticking to the pan). Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Slightly flatten the middle of each tart and divide the spinach, onions and goat cheese among them.
Let rise another 15 minutes. Bake in the oven about 18 minutes til golden on the edges.
As the summer season progresses, the tart can be topped with a changing mélange of farmers market offerings. Buswell suggests these combinations:
Springs onions, fresh peas, and mint
Asparagus and gruyere
Steamed broccoli and feta
Basil, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese
Crème fraiche with roasted winter squash and nuts
Caramelized onions with bacon and roasted potatoes
Roasted potatoes, bacon and roasted Brussels sprouts
Page is a freelance writer.


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Major research conducted by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the global body which represents the private sector of Travel & Tourism, has revealed Travel & Tourism was the largest sector in the Philippines last year at 24.7% of nation’s GDP, contributing US$82bn to the country’s economy.
The ‘Benchmarking’ study from WTTC, compares the industry’s economic impact to eight other key sectors (Agriculture, Mining, Health, Automotive Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Banking and Construction), across 26 countries and 10 world regions.
The report, sponsored by American Express, reveals that in the Philippines, of the sectors studied, Travel & Tourism is the largest sector in terms of GDP contribution, making up almost a quarter of country’s total GDP, ahead of Financial services (15.4%), Agriculture (14.8%) and Retail (14.8%).
Travel & Tourism’s contribution to employment during 2018 was 26.4%, ahead of both Retail and Construction, at 20.4% and 15.7% respectively, and only just behind Agriculture (31.1%).
The Global Picture
Accounting for 10.4% (US$ 8.8 trillion) of total global GDP in 2018, Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP was 1.4 times higher than Agriculture (7.7% contribution), 1.5 times higher than Banking (7.1% contribution) and Automotive Manufacturing (6.8% contribution) and 1.7 times higher than Mining (6.0% contribution).
Among those analysed, Travel & Tourism was the fastest growing sector in 2018, increasing 3.9%, ahead of Automotive manufacturing (3.7%) and Health (3.3%), and higher than the global economy growth rate (3.2%) for the eighth consecutive year. Strong growth in Travel & Tourism is driven by the continued rise in the number of middle-class households, solid growth in global consumer spending, low unemployment rates, continued rebound from security threats, currency depreciation and visa relaxation in several countries around the world.
Meanwhile, Travel & Tourism contributes 319 million jobs (10% of all jobs) to global employment, ahead of Financial services (9.1%) and Health (7.4%).
Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC said: “As we know and is now reaffirmed by this Benchmarking Research, the Travel & Tourism sector is key for the country’s economy, underpinning much of spending and supporting millions of jobs. The industry has experienced incredible growth over the last nine years and WTTC commends the Philippines government for recognising the importance of Travel & Tourism as a driver of economic growth and for their strategy in spreading the benefits of the industry across the country.”
For any media enquiries or interview requests, please contact
WTTC Press Office
+44 (0) 207 481 8007


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The first nine
months of 2020 have been highly positive for the Port of Salalah’s container
business, with throughput rising 8% to 3.22 million teu, compared to 2.99
million teu in the first three quarters of 2019.
Most of the
increase occurred in the first quarter of this year and reflects the fact that
in early 2019 volumes were still affected by the impact of Cyclone Mekunu the
year before. Since then the port says it has seen a ‘moderate’ impact from
Covid-19 related developments.
cargo business has however been adversely affected by reduced throughput of
gypsum and limestone as a result of regional lockdown measures. The 10.84 million
tonnes handled was 5% less than the 11.47 million tonnes recorded in the first
nine months of 2019.


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The French luxury giant LVMH has just bought the name of the city of Loir-et-Cher Vendôme, for the tidy sum of 10,000 euros and in exchange for the creation of jobs in the town.
LVMH buys an emblematic name
The name Vendôme has a certain cachet in the world of luxury and to be sure of having control over this prestigious name, the LVMH group has gone to great lengths and bought it from the city of Loir-et-Cher, which is the holder of it. Thus, Vendôme ceded its name to LVMH against the modest sum of 10,000 euros and the promise of job creation on the soil of the town.
The mayor of the city Laurent Brillard announced the news via his Facebook account “Yesterday, the Municipal Council approved the terms of the contract for the sale of the brand” Vendôme ”between the City and the company Louis Vuitton Malletier SA. Only two votes against, out of 33 municipal councilors, were expressed attesting to the wide support of the Municipal Council for the project. This contract only grants the company the use of the name “Vendôme” for any creation of a collection or products related to luxury jewelry. “
A redemption that does not suit everyone
If the mayor of the city seems satisfied with this agreement with the luxury group, recalling that LVMH had promised the creation of jobs in the municipality “We are pursuing a winning partnership for our city, in the continuation of the investments already made by the group LVMH with the creation of 500 jobs ”. Some members of the opposition are indignant that such a decision could have been voted.
This is the case of an elected ecologist who recalls that it is an outright sale of the name Vendôme and not a short-term rental ” This is not a temporary sale, a license, or an operating agreement, but a definitive transfer to a very large multinational for 10,000 euros. ”


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First edition of DGC Africa to be held in Tunisia in 2019 (CNCI).
(TAP) -- The National Centre of Cinema and Image (CNCI) and the Digital Games Conference (DGC) agreed us they signed a partnership accord on Tuesday in Marsa to organise the first edition of DGC Africa in Tunisia in 2019.
In order to support and develop the gaming industry in Tunisia, the partnership agreement between CNCI and DGC announces the participation of Tunisia in the DGC 2018 to be held on April 12 and 13, 2018 in Dubai, with 20 companies active in the gaming field.
This agreement is part of the CNCI's support to the creative digital industry, Head of CNCI Chiraz Laatiri told TAP.
The management of this new cultural industry meets the growing needs of the local market in terms of video games use and production, she pointed out.
"Through this agreement, the CNCI will encourage young Tunisian developers through artistic and technical training in this new digital image production by supporting them logistically in international meetings such as DGC Dubai", she added.
The organisation of the DGC Africa in Tunisia in 2019 will also provide an opportunity to highlight Tunisia's strategic assets as a platform in the gaming world for the African Continent, she added.
The DGC is a leading conference in the gaming industry in the MENA region, DGC Games Founder Habib Chams said.
This annual meeting held in Dubai is a fair that brings together all video games stakeholders in the MENA region, besides the participation of foreign companies and international experts in gaming, he pointed out.
This initiative aims to develop the gaming industry in the Arab world with the creation of a platform so as to attract international gaming industries in the MENA region and to support networking between foreign and MENA regions companies in this field.
Chams further noted that this two-day annual meeting is an opportunity to bring together creative talents in the region through competitions, training workshops and B2B meetings with top international manufacturers in gaming.
700 companies from over 35 countries are expected to attend the 2018 DGC, he added.
For her part, Executive Director of Smart Tunisia project Soukaina Rahmani highlighted the importance of the partnership with CNCI in order to develop the gaming sector in Tunisia to encourage young Tunisian developers to stay in their country.
Smart Tunisia aims to help young developers to develop their creativity and unleash their potentials in Tunisia and not to flee the country.
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Sixth Pharmaceutical Company Charged In Ongoing Criminal Antitrust Investigation* Fifth Company to Admit It Fixed Prices of Generic Drugs Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. (Taro U.S.A.) has been charged for conspiring to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids for generic drugs, the Department of Justice announced today. A two-count felony charge was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, charging Taro U.S.A. with participating in two criminal antitrust conspiracies, each with a competing manufacturer of generic drugs and various executives. The Antitrust Division also announced a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) resolving the charges against Taro U.S.A., under which the company agreed to pay a $205,653,218 criminal
The US DoJ charges a sixth pharmaceutical company for fixing prices, allocating customers and bid rigging in an ongoing investigation into the generic drugs industry (Taro Pharmaceuticals)
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Elon Musk stands in front of the shattered windows of the newly unveiled Cybertruck in Hawthorne, California. AFP
The failed stunt, which ranks high on the list of embarrassing auto industry rollouts, came just after CEO Elon Musk bragged about the strength of "Tesla Armor Glass” on the wedge-shaped "Cybertruck.”
On a Los Angeles-area stage with Musk, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen hurled a softball-sized metal ball at the driver’s side window to demonstrate the strength of the glass, which Musk called "Transparent Metal Glass.” It shattered.
"Oh my ... God,” Musk said, uttering an expletive. "Maybe that was a little too hard.”
They tried it a second time on the left passenger window, which spider-cracked again.
Musk recovered with a one-liner: "At least it didn’t go through. That’s a plus side.”
The failure overshadowed the truck’s slick unveiling, with some analysts panning its looks. The truck, a stainless-steel covered triangle, resembles the much derided Pontiac Aztek SUV sold by General Motors in the early 2000s.
Investors apparently didn’t like the stunts or the truck’s futuristic design, which is aimed at getting a foothold in the most profitable part of the U.S. auto market. Tesla shares fell more than 6% Friday.
"Tesla's Cybertruck reveal will likely disappoint current pickup truck owners, and we see the vehicle remaining a niche and not a mainstream product,” Cowen Investment Research analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote in a note to investors. "While we are pleased to see Tesla enter the most profitable segment of the North American passenger car market, we do not see this vehicle in its current form being a success.”
Over the years, such stunts have been common at highly rehearsed auto industry unveils. In a tweet Friday, Musk indicated Tesla had rehearsed its stunt as well, saying the same ball was thrown at the same window of the truck before the event and it "didn’t even scratch the glass.”
But like Tesla, others have seen some embarrassing mishaps. At Detroit’s auto show earlier this year, an Infiniti concept electric SUV missed its introduction when it wouldn’t start and the company couldn’t move it onto the stage.
Perhaps the most famous miscue came in Detroit in 2008 when Chrysler showed off the new Ram pickup truck with a cattle drive outside the convention center. But some of the cattle started mating, drawing attention away from the vehicle.
"You can rehearse it 100 times, and the 101st is the time you do it before the public and it fails,” said Bud Liebler, who was head of marketing and communications at Chrysler from 1980 through 2001.
He was in charge when Chrysler became famous for auto-show stunts, including driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee up the entry steps and through the front windows of Detroit’s convention center in the 1990s.
Liebler said he considers the Tesla event a "fiasco,” but said Musk did the only thing he could when the glass broke. He joked about it and continued on with the show. "It’s got to be an embarrassment,” Liebler said.
With the Cybertruck, Tesla was aiming for Detroit’s profit machine, the full-sized pickup.
The truck came onstage with lasers and flames, and a demonstration of its stainless steel skin developed by Musk’s SpaceX rocket company went well. Von Holzhausen swung a sledge hammer at the driver’s side door, and it bounced away harmlessly without any damage.
Musk said the Cybertruck will start at $39,900 but a tri-motor, long-range version will have a base price of $69,900. It will have a battery range of between 250 miles (400 kilometers) and more than 500 miles and will be able to tow up to 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms). Tesla says the truck can go from zero to 60 mph (97 kph) in 2.9 seconds.
The electric pickup truck will be in production in 2021, Musk said.
Musk also said, “Franz throws steel ball at Cybertruck window right before launch. Guess we have some improvements to make before production haha.”
Tesla Inc on Friday posted record vehicle deliveries for the second quarter that were in line with Wall Street estimates as the electric-car maker coped with a shortage of chips and relied on sales of its cheaper models.
Tesla has written to Indian ministries seeking a big reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs), a move it says will boost demand and generate revenue for the government, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Tesla’s quarterly profit has surpassed $1 billion for the first time thanks to the electric car pioneer’s ability to navigate through a pandemic-driven computer chip shortage that has caused major headaches for other automakers.
Mifsud explained that the Sunflower Lanyards, also known as "Hidden Impairment Lanyards," are a globally recognised symbol of a hidden impairment, which can be worn by anyone who might require extra help.
Consumer confidence in Dubai moved to its highest level in 10 years during the third quarter of 2021, the Consumer Confidence Index tracked by Dubai Economy showed.
The tiny island of Dominica in the Caribbean is promoting itself as a virgin paradise, and as a country open to investments from all over the world, through its pavilion at Expo 2020.


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Modi Promises Further Reform at Madison Square Garden Event
NEW YORK – India’s economy is set to develop “very fast” during a period of extensive growth, with the easing of visa regulations and the updating of various laws identified as key areas of change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday.
Speaking to a crowd of 20,000 mostly Indian Americans at Madison Square Garden in New York, India’s leader said the country would be moving ahead at a “very fast speed”, and that “no stone will be left unturned” in its efforts to streamline services and remove outdated procedures.
The areas of reform that Modi spoke of will be of keen interest to those looking to establish a business presence in India. The Indian prime minister said that the regulations currently in place for foreigners seeking to do business in India would be completely revamped, with the aim of making the system far easier to navigate.
Under the current system, a foreign applicant must have the following to acquire a business visa in India:
- A valid travel document and re-entry permit
- Documentation detailing the individual’s financial standing
The foreign national shall comply with all other requirements such as:
- The business visa must be issued from the country of origin or from the country of domicile
- Documentation outlining the intended business visit to India as the payment of tax liabilities
Speaking of the “bureaucracy” involved in the current process, Modi said: “those days are over. If I could destroy at least one of those laws each day, then that would be a happy day for me.”
The Modi administration has already shown its willingness to do away with some of India’s more archaic regulations, especially those that are thought to impede economic growth. Last week, the government announced plans to overhaul India’s road safety laws – an area that adversely affects annual GDP – and amendments to business visa regulations could feasibly soon follow.
In an effort to seemingly boost bilateral trade and general relations with the U.S., Modi also said that plans to issue a “visa on arrival” for American tourists were now in place. He further added that the Indian government will soon merge identification documents for non-resident Indians, effectively creating a lifelong visa for persons of Indian origin (PIOs) who no longer reside in India.
Looking at India’s future business and investment prospects, Modi said that the country now has three distinctive advantages that sets it apart from the rest of the world. “We have democracy, [a] demographic dividend and demand on our side,” he said. “These are three things that no nation has, except India. It is these three things that will take India to an assured path of success.”
Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. has drummed up a lot of excitement and expectation. India’s leader will next travel to Washington for talks with American President Barack Obama.
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In this edition of India Briefing Magazine, we explore important amendments to India’s foreign investment policy and outline various options for business establishment, including the creation of wholly owned subsidiaries in sectors that permit 100 percent foreign direct investment. We additionally explore several taxes that apply to wholly owned subsidiary companies, and provide an outlook for what investors can expect to see in India this year.
Passage to India: Selling to India’s Consumer Market
In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we outline the fundamentals of India’s import policies and procedures, as well as provide an introduction to the essentials of engaging in direct and indirect export, acquiring an Indian company, selling to the government and establishing a local presence in the form of a liaison office, branch office, or wholly owned subsidiary. We conclude by taking a closer look at the strategic potential of joint ventures and the advantages they can provide companies at all stages of market entry and expansion.
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In this issue of India Briefing, we focus on the dynamics driving India as a global trading hub. Within the magazine, you will find tips for buying and selling in India from overseas, as well as how to set up a trading company in the country.
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This Week in Retail: A Look at Easter Features; CPI Data Released
This week in retail, the discussion is heavily centered on the economy, rising inflation with the latest CPI growth, and the bird flu outbreak in the U.S. Meanwhile, Easter week has arrived and grocers are looking to capture additional spending on the holiday.
USDA estimates that nearly 24 million poultry birds have died from high-path avian influenza since the virus strain was identified in February. The virus has since spread in wild birds to 32 states.
Another outbreak was confirmed Tuesday afternoon in a flock of roughly 2 million commercial layers in Nebraska, lifting the total number of commercial laying hens affected by HPAI to about 20 million head.
Urner Barry's Midwest large benchmark quotation is currently at $2.84/dozen, down from $3.01/dozen the week prior but a staggering 176% above a year ago. At retail, large eggs on feature for the holiday week are highlighted at nearly $3/dozen while X-large averages $2.86/dozen...
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Theft of golf club under investigation
Police are investigating the theft of a $400 golf club head stolen in late January from a Bloomfield Township sporting goods store in the 2100 block of Telegraph Road.
Bloomfield Township police responded about 2:50 p.m. to Dick's Sporting Goods, 2105 Telegraph, for the report of a theft that had just occurred. The store manager told officers a man in the store stole the head from a Ping G400 golf driver.
A photo of the man taken from the store's video surveillance system was provided to police. The case is under investigation.
Police ask anyone with information to contact the Bloomfield Township Police Department at 248.433.7755.


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Indoor farmers market kicks off in Rapids Mall
WISCONSIN RAPIDS — Even though snow blankets the ground, Wisconsin Rapids residents still can take advantage of the prices and products found at farmers markets during the summer months.
That's because the city's indoor farmers market is up and running inside Rapids Mall — and there's no shortage of goods.
Fresh produce, baked goods, meats, fish, honey and egg rolls are just a few items sold at the winter market, which runs every Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
There are not many other winter farmers markets in the central Wisconsin area. Besides the Rapids Mall market, the closest two markets are more than an hour away, in Madison and Wausau.
As a result, the winter market has seen a lot of interest from community members, said Rapids Mall manager Craig Manka.
"We've got a lot of people calling and asking about it," Manka said. "A lot of people are coming through, looking for fresh veggies because, short of going to the grocery stores, we're pretty much it (for farmers markets) in the area right now."
There are presently six vendors at the market, but Manka said the mall is willing to take on more sellers.
"It's a pretty special thing that we have got here," Manka said. "It's warm — you don't have to go outside anymore — and as long as we have fresh vegetables, they (the vendors) are going to keep coming here and set up."
Nate Storeygard, a representative from Bice's Quality Critter Ranch, was among the sellers at Thursday's market. After selling meats and soaps at outdoor farmers markets, the company decided to give the winter market a shot, he said.
So far, it's been a success, Storeygard said.
"It's been really good for our business," he added.
The indoor market, which began Nov. 1, is expected to go through December, Manka said.
For more information about becoming a vendor at the market, call the Rapids Mall, 555 W. Grand Ave., at 715-421-3500. The cost for a spot in the farmers market is $40 for the entire season.
Melanie Lawder can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 715-423-7200. Find her on Twitter as @mel_lawder.


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Facebook’s primary source for revenue has generally come from the enormous amounts of ad sales that they have made to countless companies that are looking for the incredible amount of exposure made possible through Facebook’s reported 1.11 billion active users. Though Facebook has certainly never been hurting for money and the majority of their services remain free, they have released a number of paid services over the past few months in order to generate additional revenue.
One of the earliest features that Facebook began to push out is the ability for users to ‘promote’ their Facebook posts. Essentially, promoting a post means that will increase the likelihood that one’s audience (people who like your Page) or Facebook friends will see a post by moving it up higher in their News Feed. The cost is based on one’s geographic location and how many people the post would be reaching. More recently, Facebook also added the ability to promote any of your friends’ posts, even without their permission, though these posts can only be viewed by anyone that your friend shared said post with in the first place.
Another new feature that Facebook is beginning to push through is an update to the social network’s messaging system. In the system’s current state, messages received from people that someone is not Facebook friends with will be filtered rather aggressively into an ‘Other’ folder that is often looked over. Facebook wants to offer the ability to pay to circumvent this filter. In other words, Facebook users will be able to pay a small fee – supposedly somewhere between $1 and $15 – to get messages more easily to people they aren’t Facebook friends with. In order to prevent abuse of this service, Facebook has said they will only be extending this service to people – rather than businesses – and users will only be able to receive one paid message in their inbox per week.red said post with in the first place.
Another much more bizarre feature that Facebook recently added was a similar messaging ability, albeit a much more expensive and specific version of that ability. Essentially, it works in the same way as the aforementioned messaging feature: Facebook users can pay a fee to get a message sent to someone and ensure that it won’t go into the ‘Other’ folder, only in this case, that someone is Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The price to get a message directly to Mark Zuckerberg is a cool $100, which has been mentioned as Facebook as an ‘extreme price point’ that is being used to see what works to filter spam.


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Bulker is first ship for RAK’s DUKC
(Posted on 14/01/20)
The MV LMZ Phoebe has sailed from Saqr Port berth 10 with a draft of 12.78M. The vessel is the first to utilise the newly installed Dynamic Underkeel Clearance System (DUKC) provided by Australia based OMC International.
Saqr Port and Free Zone’s huge annual cargo-handling capacity, coupled with its ability to berth the world’s largest cargo ships, makes it a key gateway in the supply chain for the majority of construction projects in the Middle East Region.
RAK Ports commissioned the Dynamic Under Keel Clearance System for Saqr Port, which became live on January 1st, 2020. The system will allow vessels to load more cargo and take advantage of enhanced tidal windows, thereby loading deeper and allowing more time on the berth.
DUKC optimises the amount of cargo that any vessel can load by accurately determining the maximum safe sailing draft for that vessel, given the conditions on the day.
This is achieved by digitally replicating the port with DUKC. The DUKC incorporates detailed modelling of the shipping operations, numerical analysis of ship motions, hydrodynamic models, channel survey data, and the assimilation of real-time and forecast environmental conditions.
DUKC has safely facilitated 170,000+ transits for 120 ports, terminal and waterways, including the world’s largest bulk export ports. With more than 640 full scale ship measurements, is the most comprehensively validated UKC management system available.
OMC’s proven, world-leading DUKC technology provides a consistent scientific approach to UKC and has been safely operating in ports and waterways around the world for more than 25 years without incident. It ensures safety whilst maximising productivity – and has delivered more than $15 billion to exporters worldwide since the first system was installed in 1993.
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WELCOME TO The advertising REPORT
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While newspaper sites and digital publishers have been reporting massive surges in traffic tied to coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources say ad agencies are often blocking their programmatic ads from appearing next to any stories about the virus. Ad revenue was down 33 percent for digital publishers and 39 percent for legacy publishers, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and at least part of the problem is advertisers wanting to avoid all content tied to the global...
PR Newswire | June 24, 2020
The global internet advertising market size is expected to retain a high CAGR throughout the forecast period. Increase in online spending and budgeting for ad video production have resulted in a high market growth. Digital disruption is causing e-commerce companies to become more specialized in their domain as new market entrants are making moves to enhance their ad revenues by undertaking a strategic approach to leverage their market position. Widened scope of E-commerce and digital platforms w...
AdCellerant | October 08, 2020
AdCellerant, a leader in the technology and digital advertising space, has launched its new Streaming TV digital advertising product, which allows advertisers to reach users on all of their screens as they view live or on-demand programming through any connected device. Streaming TV provides advertisers an opportunity to incorporate TV as part of their digital marketing strategy in a targeted and cost-effective way. AdCellerant's new offering, Streaming TV, simplifies the complexity of buyin...
PR Newswire | September 08, 2020
Adverty AB (publ) has invented and launched a new in-game brand advertising format called In-Menu™, which enables contextually relevant IAB display banner ads on menu screens in between gameplay. The new ad unit, along with Adverty's In-Play™ format, completes a product suite of seamless in-game ad solutions that combine both brand awareness and performance-based advertising. Adverty, the leading in-game platform for advertisers, agencies and game developers, today invites a new ...
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Cryptocurrency seems to have found its foothold in the entertainment industry even with a highly volatile market that it holds today. The charts are getting their recovery from a major hit this year and initiated immense possibilities for its investors and willing participants to bet their chances once again at it before the year ends. Ripple (XRP) is now the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, by dethroning Ethereum from its position by gaining a sudden and impressive market momentum in just three days. Now, the content creators of YouTube, Twitch, and Wikipedia can now accept ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency as tokens directly from their viewers/users.
The app defines as ‘tipping-for-content’ initiative by Coil, the brainchild of Stefan Thomas who was once the CTO of Ripple Labs. The team at San Francisco launched the browser extension beta version that allowed the users to tip content creators straight from their pockets containing XRP tokens. However, we cannot say that this breakthrough is the first one to come up ever. The plans are similar to Changetip bitcoin tipping app which doesn’t function anymore. But with the Coil app, it seems to be at the right place at the right time, as now is the major need of an alternative to the advertisement-backed industry of internet.
According to Stefan Thomas, people have always discussed new ways to support content creators through micropayment and avoid ad-sponsored web as a result. Other ways were to create subscription services for the contents. However, the subscriptions and micropayments both are closely systemized and therefore fail to attract a large amount of content on the web.
The services offered by Coil will be the first in its class which will allow paying websites with Web Monetization. It is an Interledger-powered system which will enable the permission from browsers to allow the viewers to pay websites. For starters, Coil will be dealing with some big websites in the industry and offering its services to YouTube, Twitch, Wikipedia, Beat and Internet Archive.
There are a lot of adoption possibilities that Coil takes into account before implementing the service. Even for the subscription clients, the websites will offer content on the basis for a monthly subscription which enables the users’ access to unlimited content from their subscribed website. But in case the user is unable to use the entire subscription package, they can opt for a pay-per-view option. So in exchange for an XRP, your browser releases any web content like video or sound.
An already established platform that acts as a rival to Coil is the Brave platform which allows the same services as Coil, but with their BAT tokens. Moreover, it offers its millions of customers with ad-blockers and privacy measures to enhance its growth, and they aim to reach 5 million users by this years’ end.
Now is the correct time for XRP investments with its high ranks in charts and Coil to initiate a project meanwhile. The platform can grow with further updates in the future, and it might become the micropayment browser giant much sooner than expected with correct XRP distribution.


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ANPR speeds parking at Greater Anglia stations
- Credit: Archant
Automatic number plate recognition cameras are being introduced at railway station car parks across East Anglia in a bid to make it easier for travellers to leave their vehicles.
The changes affect car parks at Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester, Marks Tey, and Diss among others elsewhere in the region.
The ticketless ANPR technology increases the variety of payment options available and helps to improve security.
Customers can now pay for their parking online anytime up until midnight the day after their visit on the Great Anglia Parking Portal.
They can pre-register their car and payment details online, allowing automatic payment to make parking completely hassle-free.
Blue badge holders will continue to park for free, provided they register with NCP online or by phone up within 24 hours of leaving the car park. They can do this online, by phone or by post.
The programme will also see all on-site payment kiosks replaced, enabling payment by cash, card, Google wallet and Apple Pay. Alternatively, customers can choose to pay using their mobile phone at the time of parking.
- 1 No timescale for when Suffolk road closed due to flooding can reopen
- 2 Snow possible overnight as 50mph gusts set to arrive in Suffolk
- 3 Case of new Omicron Covid variant identified in Essex
- 4 Fire breaks out at British Sugar Factory
- 5 'Ipswich did so much for me' - Knight excited for Town return with Crewe after dream Manchester City move
- 6 Nearly 150 homes to go on land no longer needed for jobs
- 7 Face masks to be compulsory in shops and public transport, PM announces
- 8 More than 20 drivers caught at speeds of 100mph on A14 within an hour
- 9 Hitchhiker died after being hit by lorry wing mirror on A143
- 10 Dispersal order put in place for coastal town
This is part of an on-going programme to make commuters’ parking simpler – by removing the need for cash and by offering choice when it comes to electronic payment methods.
This will allow all customers to view current availability at the car park ahead of their visit, as well as expected occupancy for any given time or day of the week based on historical trend data.
NCP’s contract manager, Mark Kraft, said: “NCP has enjoyed a successful partnership with Greater Anglia for 12 years now as we collectively strive to deliver a leading product and service within the industry.
“We understand that for the majority of customers using these sites, parking is just a small part of their journey and we want to make this a seamless an experience as possible.
“This is why we are significantly expanding the methods of payments, giving customers the ability to pay for their parking in a way and at a time that is most convenient for them.”
Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia asset management director, said: “We know customers who drive to stations want to be able to park as quickly and easily as possible, which is why we’re committed to improving parking across the Greater Anglia network, making life a little easier for our customers.”
Car park users can still also pay online, using Dash or text, by phone, or at the pay machines.


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Hiya and welcome to Daily Crunch for July 23, 2021. It’s been an attention-grabbing week for the crypto faithful. One stare-catching portion of news came from Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who said that bitcoin will probably be a “big part” of the company’s future. In his watch it’s the web’s “native currency.” Kinda? I would have picked a more fashionable chain, nonetheless that’s merely me. — Alex
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Indian IPOs are a amble: After a lot promoting and waiting, the Zomato IPO took flight in India to great acquire. Shares of the meals transport unicorn went up sharply, marking a profitable flotation for the growth-oriented unicorn. For other richly valued Indian unicorns, it’s merely about the sole news that you may imagine. More, please.
- Snap is terribly a lot not dead: Misplaced amidst all the Facebook and TikTok brouhaha is the fact that Snap is aloof rising its person base (some) and income scale (more). The company aloof consumes cash and has big share-based compensation charges, nonetheless it absolutely reported the form of growth that delights traders. So, up went its shares.
- China cracks down on edtech: The changing climate for startups and tech giants in China took a new twist this week when news broke that the Chinese language Communist Party may pressure tutoring companies in the nation to head nonprofit. That hit a quantity of stocks, and, we presume, was a pleasing bad day for the nation’s larger edtech project and startup ecosystem.
- Paystand is building Venmo for companies: Want to send a bloc of cash as a company? The diagram can suck. Happily Paystand merely raised $50 million for its work on the matter. TechCrunch’s Christine Hall instructed Daily Crunch that she picked up the spherical because the company is “not ideally suited taking on the trade-to-trade payment space, nonetheless is also utilizing blockchain technology as its engine.”
- Extinct Minter wants to be king: That’s our first read of the startup Monarch, founded by Val Agostino, who was the first PM at Mint.com. What does Monarch enact? Helps folk manage their financial futures. Obvious, other companies enact that, nonetheless most of them are garbage. Have you extinct the Fidelity online page lately?
- Lucid Motors discovers the weaknesses of democracy: The EV company had to extend its vote casting deadline to approve its SPAC deal after not ample folk voted. Per TechCrunch, the “hiccup happened on Thursday, when shareholders voted to approve all nonetheless one of the proposals as part of the merger.” That particular item required more votes. Regardless, it now has the votes and will amble public.
- And whenever you wanted to understand what’s up with the Duolingo IPO, the Equity team has you coated.
Susan Su on learn how to approach growth as your startup raises each spherical
If you are methodical in your approach to building a larger buyer base, it’s far not hard to foster steady growth.
Marketers who shift with whichever way the wind is blowing — or blindly practice someone else’s idea of easiest practices — are much less probably to be profitable.
“The not-so-secret secret here is that the important thing to great retention is really straightforward,” said growth professional Susan Su not too prolonged ago at TechCrunch Early Stage: Marketing and Fundraising.
“It is building a product that solves a real and especially power order for folk.”
In a conversation with Managing Editor Eric Eldon, Su delved into several complications, including tips for how founders may aloof talk about growth with their traders and her strategies for developing a sample qualitative growth model.
“I firmly imagine that each founder may aloof strive their hand at growth,” said Su.
(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams gather ahead. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
- GM recalls the Stagger. Again: If you personal a 2017-to-2019-era Stagger, it may catch fireplace. So that you’ll want to take part in the latest recall. The first to happen since November of 2020 we hasten to add. Level-headed the news underscores that EV tech is coming to maturity, even supposing some earlier attempts at such automobiles are using the battle bus.
- Taboola goes purchasing: Unusual off its SPAC combination, Taboola announced that it’s shopping “Connexity, a marketing technology company that operates a retail- and e-commerce-focused advertising community” for $800 million. You can enact this more easily whenever you are public. Appreciate issues, that is. Shares in the get effluent provider had been up sharply in today’s trading.
- Individuals aloof the exhaust of Tumblr not stoked that Tumblr wants a future: A few days back Daily Crunch was generally certain about Tumblr’s transfer to introduce paywalls for creators who wanted them. Why not place the venerable company toward the burgeoning creator financial system and assist folk make a couple of dollars? Neatly, users are pissed. It’s a somewhat standard web mess, nonetheless that doesn’t make it any much less befuddling.
TechCrunch Experts: Increase Marketing
We’re reaching out to startup founders to narrate us who they flip to when they want probably the most up-to-date growth marketing practices. Appreciate out the see here.
Read one of the testimonials we’ve acquired beneath!
Suggested by: Matt Byrd
Testimonial: “Jonathan was actually transformative at Policygenius. Outdated to his arrival, we had been working a smart nonetheless disjointed marketing effort. Our messaging was inconsistent, and our approach to understanding channel efficacy was weaker than it may have been. Jonathan introduced a growth mindset to the team, and built a hypereffective org in a instant amount of time.”


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Admittedly Modders have been fiddling with Microsoft’s wonder peripheral
for some time now, but the official PC version is slated for an early 2012 release according to Microsoft News
What’s more, this desktop iteration will happily focus on objects a mere 50cms from the lens, a significant improvement on the current tech’s limiting capacity
. Graceful degradation is down to 40cms while the USB cable has also, conveniently been shortened.
One of the most requested features from developers, Near Mode will be included in the package, ideal for close up interactions. Additionally, commercial applications have also been given the green light from Microsoft. So don’t be surprised to find yourself browsing the Kinect
Store in the near future.
Seems the only problem is where to put the sodding thing on an already cluttered desk
Solve that problem Microsoft, and I’ll be impressed....


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April 25, 2023
Regenerative agriculture takes sustainability a step further: Instead of striving to simply preserve the integrity of land used for agriculture, regenerative agriculture aims to restore, or regenerate, land that’s been depleted by intensive farming practices.
In recent years, interest in regenerative agriculture has picked up speed, with companies like General Mills, Nestlé and Kellogg’s taking making moves to implement regenerative practices that yield tangible environmental impacts while also improving the yields they depend on for their businesses.
The momentum continues to grow in the food and beverage sector, as evidenced by new products that put regenerative practices at the forefront of their brands’ missions.
WhatIF Foods’ line of plant-based noodles and milk products taps what the company calls the “CEO of groundnuts”—the bambara groundnut—as the fundamental ingredient of its products. According to Sabine Schindlbauer, marketing and communications director of WhatIF Foods, the bambara groundnut is a regenerative crop because it puts nitrogen back into the soil, giving new life to soil that’s been depleted by intensive farming.
“It is our strife to restore … land that has been left behind by modern agriculture, by intensive agriculture and, hence, is not giving us the food anymore that we need,” said Chris Langwallner, co-founder and CEO of WhatIF Foods. “It is about a holistic approach to the entire value chain—right from the soil, where everything starts, right through to the consumers and how they enjoy our product.”
The company also uses the shell of the small legume to create biochar, which is then used to fertilize the soil, part of the company’s “no-waste” process.
The soil, said Geri Brown of Cinco Ramas Organic Spice Farm in Costa Rica, in a recently released video by American Botanical Council’s (ABC) Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP), is the focal point of farmers who practice regenerative agriculture.
“The community of farmers who appreciate and understand that, when you are a farmer, you’re really growing soil,” Brown said. “Soil is what you grow and then your crops are almost secondary—not quite, but almost secondary.”
More important than soil are the people, contended Joshua Hughes, CEO of Blacksheep Regenerative Resource Management, in the ABC video, which explored herb farming practices in Costa Rica.
“The more important part of regenerative agriculture … is the community,” he explained. “It’s the people that will keep that stuff in place once it’s done. I can plant a huge forest and if I haven’t done anything to help the community, or if the community isn’t enabled to be a part of it, they’ll cut the trees down in 20 years when they need fuel again or when they need more space.”
WhatIF Foods, too, emphasizes the communities that are impacted by its farming practices as part of the company’s commitment to regeneration. Per Schindlbauer, the company has partnered with about 1,000 farmers.
Adding to the benefits of the bambara groundnut is its tolerance to drought: The crop requires only 14 liters of water to produce 1 liter of its alt-dairy milk. That’s compared to about 350 liters of water it takes to create 1 liter of almond milk and about 150 liters of water to create 1 liter of oat milk, Schindlbauer said.
Rachel Adams joined Informa’s Health & Nutrition Network in 2013. Her career in the natural products industry started with a food and beverage focus before transitioning into her role as managing editor of Natural Products INSIDER, where she covered the dietary supplement industry. Adams left Informa Markets in 2019.
Rachel French joined Informa’s Health & Nutrition Network in 2013. Her career in the natural products industry started with a food and beverage focus before transitioning into her role as managing editor of Natural Products Insider, where she covered the dietary supplement industry. French left Informa Markets in 2019, but continues to freelance for both FBI and NPI.
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