All PFN ARTICLES

First the lettuce shortage. Now this. UK supermarkets are being hammered by cyberattacks as Co-op, M&S, Nisa, Costcutter are all caught with their digital pants down. Shelves are bare, payments frozen, customer data leaked. Execs are now muttering “blockchain” and “resilience” like last-minute prayers.

In a gut-churning replay of the Chilean cherry catastrophe that saw tonnes of fresh fruit left to rot thanks to Maersk’s China-bound logistics fumble, this week it’s bananas under the boot—900,000 boxes of them, to be exact, rotting in Panama’s sweltering Bocas del Toro heat. Why? A local workers’ strike over social security reforms has brought the region’s biggest export lifeline to a screeching halt.

In a curious twist of weather changes meets cuisine, HelloFresh has teamed up with Oxford’s Dr Joseph Poore and trend forecaster Dr Morgaine Gaye to dish up a glimpse into your 2050 dinner plate and it’s not what your nana would recognise. Think soy sprouting in Scotland, edible fashion accessories, and AI-powered recipes designed to save your gut and the planet.

In the cloudy Los Ríos region of Chile, Cran Chile just pulled off the biggest cranberry harvest on the planet - 30,000 tonnes. No subsidies. No Frankenfruit. Just patience, precision, and a climate which outclasses the North.

You’d be forgiven for thinking palm oil is in everything, because, well, it pretty much is. From your lip balm to your snack bars, this slick and versatile oil is the invisible engine of modern convenience. But there’s blood in the oil. Every year, tens of thousands of hectares of Indonesian forest are bulldozed for palm plantations. The cost? Around 50 orangutans killed every week, either starved out, pushed out, or hunted as pests.

In a city that once wrapped foie gras in bacon and served it with a side of veal, the idea of plant-forward dining might’ve once earned a baguette to the face. But in 2025, things have changed, dramatically.

A new wave of seafood is hitting the shores and this one never swam a day in its life. Israeli FoodTech firm SimpliiGood by AlgaeCore Technologies is officially scaling commercial production of its plant-based spirulina smoked salmon made entirely from spirulina, the vibrant green microalgae best known for smoothies, supplements, and now, apparently, seafood.

And here’s a wild thought - EARTH is an anagram of HEART. Coincidence? Maybe. But let’s run with it. Because something is changing, not fast enough for the forests or the fish, but enough to whisper perhaps, just perhaps, we’re learning to eat with our hearts again. This isn’t just wordplay — it's a shift in planetary intimacy.

Can cellular agriculture feed 10 billion people by 2050? That was the big question behind New Zealand’s first in-person CellAg Symposium, held in Nelson and hosted by Plant & Food Research. Nearly 70 scientists, engineers, founders, investors, and regulators came together from across New Zealand, Australia, and beyond to chart the future of food and what’s needed to get there.

A new Spanish study shows people who stick to the Planetary Health Diet cut their risk of death by 22%. The Mediterranean Diet comes close.

Sustainable plant-based food production is heading to space, with Australian scientists preparing to trial next-gen tech that could one day

Your pet’s dinner just got weird, in a good way. BioCraft, a US-based biotech outfit that’s been quietly cooking up mouse meat in a lab (yes