“Assuming companies obtain the necessary approvals and can sufficiently scale up production, no-kill meat could become a mainstay on restaurant menus in the coming years. But what might such a meal look like? Biologists and chefs share their ideas.”
From The Guardian.
“Sammy Selim strode through the dense, shiny green bushes on the slopes of his coffee farm in Sorwot village in Kericho, Kenya, accompanied by a younger farmer called Kennedy Kirui. They paused at each corner to send the farm’s coordinates to a WhatsApp conversation.
The conversation was with Virtual Agronomist, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to provide fertiliser application advice using chat prompts. The chatbot asked some further questions before producing a report saying that Selim should target a yield of 7.9 tonnes and use three types of fertiliser in specific quantities to achieve that goal.
‘My God!’ Selim said upon receipt of the report. He had planned to use much more fertiliser than Virtual Agronomist was recommending. ‘I could have wasted money.’
In Kericho and other parts of Kenya, AI-powered tools have become increasingly popular among small-scale farmers seeking to improve the quality and quantity of their produce.”
From The Guardian.
“Ten years ago, most western-style cheeses in India were imports, enjoyed by a small elite. Now, alongside tins of mozzarella, Parmesan and cream cheese from dairy behemoths Nestlé and Amul—the latter a large cooperative of Indian dairy farmers—the shelves are bright with Indian-made Edams, Emmentals, Goudas, goat cheeses and Indian takes on cheddar and brie, infused with cumin, chili or black pepper.
Even accounting for the changing tastes of globalized Indians, the scale of this transformation is astounding. Paneer, once the mainstay of Indian cheese, now seems passé. Instead, western-style cheese—golden, glamorous and finally within reach of a rapidly growing middle-class—has become an aspirational sign of progress.”
From Wall Street Journal.
“After almost a century of deploying a more-is-more approach to chemical herbicides, the global agricultural sector is rapidly rolling out advancements that promise to curb the use of weed-control sprays by as much as 90%. Using artificial-intelligence powered cameras, the new sprayers can identify and target invasive plants while avoiding the cash crops. If even a fraction of growers adopt the new tools, it could mean a big shift for crop-chemical majors like Bayer AG and BASF SE.”
From Bloomberg.
“Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s robots that expedite avocado mashing and burrito bowl assembly are ready to serve real-life customers.
The chain said Monday that it’s piloting the two machines in restaurants for the first time after they passed tests in a lab. For now, two California locations are each getting a robot, and the company will see how workers and guests respond before they’re installed elsewhere.
Chipotle’s move into robotics highlights an industrywide-push to make restaurants more efficient. The robots take time-consuming or undesirable tasks off workers’ plates, according to Chipotle, meaning employees can focus on prepping other food items or helping guests. Such technology can also allow restaurants to serve a higher number of diners per hour without necessarily having to hire more staff, boosting profit.
Known as Autocado, the guac prep robot can cut, core and peel avocados in 26 seconds on average. The newest version adjusts itself automatically to whatever size the fruit comes in.”
From Bloomberg.
