A soil-monitoring sensor that mimics the way plants detect nutrients through their roots is being developed by a QUT researcher to help farmers reduce their reliance on over-fertilisation. [ + ]

Biosecurity New Zealand and Citrus New Zealand will undertake a joint three-year program of work to better protect the citrus industry from biosecurity threats. [ + ]

Matthews Intelligent Identification and Kodak Enterprise Inkjet Systems Division will provide digital inkjet printing capabilities to the ANZ packaging, labelling and printing markets. [ + ]

Home-grown lettuce may soon be available in IKEA Sweden restaurants, after the company announced it is harvesting its own lettuce as part of a sustainability initiative. [ + ]

The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) National Technical Forum is being held at the Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney on 30 April. [ + ]

Cargill is seeking approval from FSANZ to permit a microbial fermentation production method for its Rebaudiosides M and D in the Food Standards Code. [ + ]

The PackagingTechAsia zone at ProPak Asia 2019, held 12–15 June at BITEC, will showcase over 560 national and international exhibitors, and 1600 packaging solutions. [ + ]

The 'cook from raw' plant-based burgers will launch in Europe this month and in the United States later this year. [ + ]

Siemens Australia Chairman and CEO Jeff Connolly has been named as an adjunct professor of Swinburne University of Technology. [ + ]

A masterclass organised by Ecovia Intelligence will discuss the future of the organic food market, including standards and labels, marketing trends and packaging impacts. [ + ]

The Ferrero Group has announced it will acquire the cookie, fruit and fruit-flavoured snack, ice-cream cone and pie crust businesses from Kellogg Company for US$1.3 billion. [ + ]

The Australian Institute of Packaging has announced the winner of the 2019 APPMA Scholarship is Janell Siek, Packaging Technologist at Nestlé Australia. [ + ]

Smart Farming Partnerships grants of up to $4 million are available for sustainable agriculture tools or practices. [ + ]

DuPont has completed construction on a new probiotics fermentation unit at its Rochester facility, which is expected to increase probiotic capacity by 70%. [ + ]

Strong demand for Australian vegetables in Singapore, Japan and Thailand has seen total fresh vegetable exports increase 11.4% in value and 15.5% in volume in 2018. [ + ]