The illusion of choice: an exploratory study looking at the top 10 food companies in Australia and their brand connections

© 2018 The Authors. Objective: To identify the brands owned by each of the 10 top grossing food companies operating in Australia and visually represent them on an infographic. Methods: Desktop research was conducted to determine Australia's 10 largest food companies based on revenue. Brand ownership for each of the companies was traced through financial records and company publications. This information was then visually documented in the form of an infographic ‘food web’ to clearly illustrate company and brand ownership. Results: Fonterra, Coca-Cola Amatil, Lion, Murray Goulburn, George Weston Foods, Wilmar, Nestle, Mondelez, Parmalat and Asahi were determined as the top 10 food companies operating in Australia. The food web illustrated that brand ownership ranged from 75 (Nestle) to four (Fonterra) brands per company. Conclusions: The food web illustrates the dominance of each of these major companies within Australia and shows how their diverse brand ownership limits consumer choice. Implications for public health: This study expands on current knowledge and further defines the breadth of market influence that the top 10 food companies have within the Australian food context, and how they use their brand power to create an illusion of choice for consumers. The food web will assist in promoting transparency of brand ownership in the Australian food market, therefore allowing consumers to make an informed decision about the food they purchase, and will allow community and other organisations to make an informed decision about which companies they form partnerships with

Idealism, pragmatism, and the power of compromise in the negotiation of New Zealand's Zero Carbon Act

Discursive choices made by policy entrepreneurs are an important factor in the development of climate change acts (CCAs). This article examines the extent to which such choices reflect the strategic need for CCA entrepreneurs to compromise pragmatically and modulate their policy preferences in order to secure the agreement needed for CCA adoption. Drawing upon theoretical insights from discursive institutionalism (DI) and policy entrepreneurship, this article analyses discursive choices during negotiations surrounding the New Zealand Zero Carbon Act (ZCA). The analysis shows that endogenous political-ideological constraints compelled entrepreneurial actors to modify first-choice preferences for emissions reduction legislation by reframing their coordinative discursive interventions to accommodate potentially oppositional groups. Further research is required into the conditions under which such strategies become discursively operational, to provide guidance to climate policy entrepreneurs as CCAs continue to diffuse globally

Determination of Folate in Infant Formula and Adult/Pediatric Nutritional Formula by Optical Biosensor Assay: First Action 2011.05

Abstract After a review of data from a single-laboratory validation (SLV) study published in the International Dairy Journal 21, 783–789 (2011), a method for folate in infant formula and adult/pediatric nutritional formula was submitted for consideration of adoption by AOAC as an automated assay that is rapid and simple. The method uses an optical biosensor assay to quantitate total folate content in milk and milk-based pediatric and adult nutritional products. The assay uses folate binding protein and a functionalized sensor surface. The SLV showed an instrumental LOD of 0.1 ng/mL (equivalent to 2.5 μg/100 g for a typical infant formula). The method detection limit was 6.5 μg/100 g with a repeatability of 3.48% and an intermediate reproducibility of 4.63% RSD.</jats:p

Profit margin hedging in the New Zealand dairy farming industry

This paper explores the effectiveness of Whole Milk Powder futures to protect the net profit margins of New Zealand dairy farms. The proposed strategy for farms suggests selling futures contracts when the current futures price (adjusted for basis risk and commissions) is above the break-even price. We use historical data from 2011 to 2017 and simulate a profit margin hedging strategy with a target price that covers total cash expenses of a representative farm. We find that the representative farm’s payout for this strategy is statistically higher than the continuous hedging and no hedging strategies after accounting for brokerage fees and basis risk. Additionally, we apply the strategy using actual farm-level data and demonstrate that the strategy helps to reduce discretionary cash variance by 35%, semi-variance (downside risk) by 76% and decreases chances of financial distress by 16%. Moreover, we document that the strategy increases mean discretionary cash for farms by 39% and that farms with a high level of leverage experience the biggest improvement. We estimate that if the strategy was adopted by all New Zealand dairy farms over the five year period, it could have generated an additional income of NZD 0.53 billion yearly, on average

Pathways to sustainable landscape management: peer recognition as an indicator of effective ‘soft’ actions

New Zealand is a food producer and exporter that combines neoliberal policy with performance-based environmental management, using ‘soft’ governance and actions where possible. Voluntary environmental farm awards are analysed to identify the landscape management activities recognised as best practice by peers at a farm level. Results highlight the importance of whole farm system management. However, the efficacy of reliance upon voluntary mechanisms is coming under increasingly critical scrutiny, as environmental conditions in intensive agricultural landscapes continue to decline. The research question this poses is whether whole farm plans can be practically and formally connected in three concurrent ways – to supply chain management, and to statutory planning frameworks and environmental regulations and to local landscape co-management – while still maintaining flexibility of action for the farmer

New Zealand freshwater management and agricultural impacts

In New Zealand, it is increasingly recognised, including by government, that water resource allocation and water quality are issues of national importance. Agriculture is frequently portrayed by public media as a major user of water and a major contributor to worsening water quality. We outline the water management systems in New Zealand, and the use of water by agriculture. Official reports on agriculture's impact on New Zealand water availability and quality are summarised. We report how the New Zealand public perceive water, its management, and the roles of agriculture in water issues. Data from a nationwide mail survey were analysed to determine how New Zealanders assess the state of New Zealand lakes, rivers and streams, and aquifers, the performance of three agencies responsible for management of freshwater resources, and willingness to fund stream enhancement. We provide brief explanations for the failures of water resource management in New Zealand and report on options, including community-based responses that might address some of the mounting public, scientific, and government concerns about trends in water quantity and quality. A willingness to pay proposition, concerning riparian areas, included in the nationwide survey provides some evidence that the public are willing to pay for improved waterway management. Relevant non-market valuation studies also indicate that the public places considerable value on preservation values of water in New Zealand. Copyright Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc. and Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.