Miller Magazine Issue: 118 October 2019

47 NEWS MILLER / OCTOBER 2019 aims to cut its overall workforce. “We’ve dedicated a significant amount of our team - the technical side of our team, as well as the commercial side of our team - to plant-based proteins,” Macciocchi said. Cargill in August announced an additional $75 million investment in North American pea-protein producer Puris - which supplies Beyond Meat. That triples its original $25 million investment in January 2018. Cargill’s customers have been clamoring for pea or soy protein products, in- cluding alternative meats, said Laurie Koenig, who leads a Cargill unit developing such items.“We’ve never seen this kind of pull before from the market,” Koenig said. Like ADM and Cargill, Bunge is now looking to supply ingredients to startups and large companies involved in the imitation-meat trend, Bunge CEO Greg Heckman said in an interview to Reuters. “There’s just so many ways that it is touching our business,” he said. SEEDS OF A NEWMARKET Seed developer Corteva has discussed expanding into research or small acquisitions in vegetable seeds in part to take advantage of increasing demand for plant-based proteins, Chief Executive Jim Collins told Reuters. Corte- va’s ability to research breeding and genetics of corn and soybean crops could be applied to vegetables, he said. “The whole vegetable-seed industry is interesting to me,” Collins said. Rival Bayer also could enter the market as a provider of plant-based meat alternatives, an executive said in August, without providing details. The company, which sells seeds and farm chemicals, said it also offers products for plant- based protein sources such as soybeans, tree nuts and peas. Toronto-based pork processor Maple Leaf two years ago bought U.S.-based Lightlife Foods, a plant-based burg- er-maker, to expand its reach into a market with boundless potential, chief executive Michael McCain said. While the trend is starting in North America and Europe, it will expand worldwide within a decade, McCain said. Marfrig Global Foods SA is making a plant-based burger for the Brazil mar- ket - made from soy supplied by ADM, and sold at Burger King starting in November. ADM is building a pea protein plant in North Dakota, while France’s Roquette and Verdient Foods, backed by Hollywood director James Cameron, are building plants in Manitoba and Saskatchewan respectively. Fake meat makers largely rely on soy, wheat, and peas, according to the Good Food Institute, which promotes the alternatives. But a wide variety of other crops play a role, presenting an opportunity for companies that main- tain relationships with farmers. REUTERS