All PFN ARTICLES

Cacao and coffee, two of the planet’s most loved crops, are buckling under pressure. Cocoa prices have smashed past $10,000 a tonne, while weather stress is pushing Arabica uphill. Enter the bean-free brigade: innovators who promise the same taste experience, minus the deforestation, price shocks, and labour exploitation.

South Australia has just made sushi history and not for what’s on the plate. As of now, those tiny plastic soy sauce fish, the ones that spill sticky umami soy sauce over every food court bento, are officially banned across the state. It’s a world first, and the move affects more than 1.8 million people.

The verdict - those who ate the most butter faced a 15% higher risk of dying, while those reaching for plant-oils like olive, canola, or soy oils enjoyed a 16% lower risk. So simply swapping one tablespoon of butter for plant-based oils a day cut overall and cancer-related mortality by 17%.

Seaweed has always been there at the edge of the tide - useful, humble, occasionally headline-grabbing, but next month in Nelson it gets its moment in the boardroom. The 2025 Seaweed Summit brings together industry innovators, science leaders, Māori enterprise, and even a Government Minister, signalling that this is no longer just a niche curiosity but a sector on the brink of being noticed.

Alastair Hawken, founder of Hawkens Gingerbread in Grantham, has pioneered the UK’s first commercial grown ginger cultivation using hydroponic polytunnels. Inspired during Nottingham Trent University’s Help to Grow: Management Course, Alastair conceived a soil‑free flood‑and‑drain system to enable ginger production under controlled tropical conditions (25–30 °C and ~85% humidity), countering the UK's unsuitable climate for the crop

In a bold move worthy of a chef’s kiss, Kiwi-based, MG Group is putting its weight and five hectares of glasshouse real estate behind the humble yet heroic tomato. Up in Warkworth, North of Auckland, the co-op’s sprawling SPL site, best known for pumping out capsicums by the crate-load, is about to get a makeover. And not just any makeover, think of it as a long-term love letter to local tomato lovers, with seedlings expected in the soil before the end of the year.

In a move that can only be described as a collective political faceplant, the food ministers of Australia’s eight states , along with New Ze

Demand for matcha, that vibrant, powdered punch of green tea so loved by wellness influencers, oat milk baristas, and TikTok’s Gen Z elite, is skyrocketing so fast that the world's traditional tea farms are quite literally running dry. The Japanese farms producing tencha, the shaded green tea leaves ground into matcha, simply can’t keep up. And it’s not just a social media surge. It’s a full-blown supply chain crisis.

New Zealand’s vegan cheese scene just delivered a full-bodied, pepper-crusted slap to the dairy world with Bûche au Poivre from High Culture Cheese crowned Supreme Winner at the 2025 Vegan Society Vegan Cheese Awards.

And fizzing with intent is Kombucha Bros, the local fermentation outfit quietly embedded in the University of Auckland’s flagship project on bio-fermented functional foods. While headlines fixate on hybrid meats and algae proteins, the real story might lie in the cellulose-rich scaffolds, mushroom mycelium, and botanical extractions now being turned into snacks, sips, and supplements, with Kombucha Bros tapped as a key industry collaborator bringing frontline fermentation in

Here’s a bold thought for a Government seemingly allergic to ambition - if Queensland can back a food and manufacturing hub on the Sunshine Coast, why can’t New Zealand do the same at Ruakura - Waikato's inland port facility?

The neon glows at the new Tesla diner, the roller-skates glide, and the Cybertruck boxes stack neatly beside burgers and fries. But when the dust settles around Tesla’s much-hyped “retro-futuristic” Diner & Drive-In in Los Angeles, there’s one awkward question buzzing louder than the Superchargers outside: where exactly is the sustainability?