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Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned "corporatized cooperative" with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit, but rather managed an integrated marketing system across the value chain. This coordinated structure enabled Zespri to control quality, build a brand, and command premium prices in export markets. In 2018, Zespri had a strategic goal of marketing the world's leading portfolio of kiwifruit year round, with a target of nearly doubling sales, to NZ$4.5 billion, by 2025. This would require Zespri to vastly increase its kiwifruit supply in New Zealand, as well as from overseas suppliers, who currently accounted for a relatively small portion of its volume. Rapid growth presented several challenges, including the need to preserve product quality and consistency while working with new growers, prioritizing customers and markets as demand outpaced supply, considering Zespri's position vis-à-vis the crucial China market, and developing new capabilities as Zespri transformed from New Zealand-centric into a global organization. At the same time, the Zespri team aspired to launch new products that met consumer demand for sweeter taste and convenience-an increasingly urgent priority as global competition in kiwifruit intensified. Zespri had been the first to introduce a high-quality proprietary gold kiwifruit to the global market, and it continued to dominate the gold segment. Could it do the same in the emerging red-flesh category? As with many questions facing Zespri in 2018, there are risks of moving too fast as well as too slow.

With 33,000 employees and revenues of $13 billion in 2016, Kellogg Company was the world's largest producer of branded packaged cereal and a leader in branded convenience foods. Founded in 1906 and based in Michigan, the company had a proud history of product and marketing innovation starting with its first product, Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes, which created the cold cereal category. In recent years, however, Kellogg's revenue had declined due to a number of factors, including changing consumer tastes, increased competition, and evolving advertising trends and sales channels. Seeing innovation as a key to future success, in 2016 the company established eighteen94 capital, its corporate venture capital arm, which had announced investments in three startups as of late 2017. eighteen94 was conceived as a platform for giving Kellogg access to the kinds of skills, products, and ingredients that could help drive future growth. It was also a vehicle for changing mindsets and culture by reviving the entrepreneurial spirit that some felt had eroded within Kellogg. This case allows students to consider what sort of impact on internal culture and behavior Kellogg should expect from eighteen94 in its current form. Does eighteen94 have the potential to drive the kind of changes and benefits that Kellogg needs?

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky-based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech had been defined by its focus on innovation and marketing as well as the entrepreneurial spirit and vision of its founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons, who remained intimately involved in company operations and in managing relationships with key customers. This case finds Alltech in the midst of a new growth strategy-downstream integration, specifically buying up feed companies-which marked a stark departure from the company's longtime emphasis on organic growth. The decision to buy feed companies had been controversial within Alltech: feed was a low-margin, rather traditional commodity business, while Alltech earned relatively high margins on products rooted in science and innovation. However, Lyons believed downstream integration would allow Alltech to better communicate with its end customers (farmers), increase sales of its supplements, and help protect the firm from industry dynamics such as consolidation and cost pressure. Was he right, or should Alltech take a different approach?

Founded in 2002, Hangzhou, China-based Beingmate was a major producer of infant formula and related products in the high-demand Chinese market. After an infamous 2008 food safety episode in China, in which toxic infant formula sickened thousands of babies and led to the collapse of several domestic infant formula brands, Beingmate-whose products tested clean-had risen to become a leader among China's many infant formula brands. But while Beingmate was not implicated in the 2008 scandal, the company could not escape the deep consumer distrust of domestic infant formula brands that still pervaded China in 2016. Foreign brands, priced at a substantial premium, were strongly preferred by consumers who could afford them. The field of domestic infant formula brands was crowded and extremely competitive, leading to price wars and intense margin pressure. This case allows students to discuss the keys to Beingmate's past successes and debate its existing strategy in the context of a very complicated market. One key question is how Beingmate might leverage its partnerships with Ireland-based Kerry Group and New Zealand's Fonterra to enhance its competitive position.

With $289 million in 2015 revenues, Camposol is a Peruvian grower, exporter, and marketer of fruits and vegetables, with a focus on the high-growth, high-margin blueberry category. Camposol aspires to become Peru's first multinational branded produce company. It already has a strong foothold in the U.S.-an important market where it is refining its branding and retail-customer strategy-and it also seeks to expand in other markets, especially China. To become a leading year-round supplier to retailers, Camposol needs to increase the product volumes it controls, likely through increased sourcing from third parties. At the same time, Camposol has evolved rapidly in recent years and is undergoing the challenges of transforming from family to professional management. This case allows students to consider Camposol's growth, branding, and marketing strategies in light of the challenges and opportunities ahead. It also invites consideration of the opportunity for Peru and other South American growers to exploit counter-seasonal export opportunities, selling into northern-hemisphere markets when prices peak.

This brief case is a supplement to "Cresud and Argentina" (515-043) and "Note on Agriculture in Argentina" (515-069). Set in early 2016, it describes developments in Argentina under newly elected President Mauricio Macri, including the country's return to international credit markets, major economic and agricultural policy reforms, and the potential improvements and obstacles Argentina faces under this new administration. The case also describes Cresud's performance in 2015. It allows students to consider the outlook for Cresud amid the evolving context in Argentina, with volatility in Brazil a potentially important factor.

Climate Corporation is a San Francisco-based data analytics company focused on agricultural applications. It was acquired by Monsanto in 2013. In 2015, Climate's decision support platform was used on 75 million acres of farmland in the U.S.; however, most of those acres were "free" acres. To build a viable business, Climate had to convince farmers to subscribe to and pay for premium offerings. The case describes Climate's technology approach, product offerings, marketing plans, and the competitive environment for "digital agriculture".

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market share in China's fiercely competitive branded foods market. To help achieve these goals, COFCO Chairman Frank Ning was driving internal reforms to make COFCO's management more competitive, innovative, and globally experienced. This case allows for a discussion of the Chinese marketplace and the evolving approach to business structures taken by the Chinese government. COFCO is the leading food company in China, and we can see through the case the hurdles faced in transitioning a company from pursuing mostly social objectives to mostly profit making. Finally, the case is a useful vehicle for discussing the question of whether and how China can feed itself. Efficient and reliable sourcing of food from abroad is evidently an increasing, and urgent, priority.

This case highlights the tough choices, competing interests, and decision-making mechanisms involved in California's management of its severe drought, entering its fifth year in 2015. Stuart Woolf, CEO of Woolf Farming, a grower and processor of almonds, tomatoes, and other crops in California's Central Valley, must decide how to respond to the changing operating environment. Scarce water resources-and institutional constraints on the use of water-have forced many producers, including Woolf, to fallow farmland. Meanwhile, competing demands for water from municipalities and environmental interests have raised the public's scrutiny of agricultural water use. This case describes farming in California's Central Valley and reviews the state's complicated system for managing water rights and resources. It invites students to analyze the relative merits of competing perspectives on how to allocate water, the institutional mechanisms for doing so, and the potential responses of agricultural producers to the changing marketplace. Is now the time to double down on farming in the Central Valley, shift to a higher-value-added crop portfolio (e.g., organics), or retreat from this challenging business?

Hain Celestial manufactured natural and organic food and personal care products to be sold to retailers of these products. The company had grown successfully and profitably through acquisitions and organically for two decades. In late 2015, Hain faced challenges on several fronts. First, new consumers were interested in these products and these consumers had characteristics different from those of historical consumers in the segment. Second, the natural and organic market segment had been growing faster than the conventional market overall and was expected to continue to do so. This had caused large conventional manufacturers to enter this space increasing the level of competition for Hain. Third, this segment growth was also attracting a wider range of retailers wanting to sell these products and some of these retailers were introducing their own natural and organic brands.

In 2015, BRF's new leadership team is transforming several aspects of the Brazilian protein giant, which had grown sluggish after the 2011 merger that created it. Underlying their reforms are the common goals of reducing bureaucracy, streamlining decision making, and, most importantly, creating a unified culture that, to date, the company has been missing. CEO Pedro Faria believes a strong culture, in which both BRF employees and its thousands of supply partners feel a sense of pride and ownership in working with BRF, will be critical to enabling BRF's global ambitions.

In 2015, U.K.-based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments in technology, including a highly automated warehouse operation, intelligent software for efficient order delivery, and a customer-friendly online interface. Ocado's customer base had expanded beyond the wealthy to include middle-income consumers; even with a delivery charge, grocery shopping through Ocado was, in many cases, as affordable as shopping in a retail stores. In 2015 the company was developing a strategy for its Smart Platform, a model in which Ocado would lease its software, hardware, and integration services to brick-and-mortar grocery retailers seeking to build online businesses. Ocado's management believed the Smart Platform, which they planned to market internationally, had the potential to disrupt the global grocery retail market.

Unigrains is a French agribusiness-focused private equity firm that has provided specialized financing to France's agribusiness sector for decades and, as a result, cultivated a strong reputation and relationships in that space. Now that the broader investment community around the globe has become more interested in agribusiness, Unigrains faces growing competitive pressure. This case describes the general private equity model, provides an overview of agribusiness investing trends, and invites students to weigh the relative merits for Unigrains of expanding its reach globally versus maintaining its specialized position in French agribusiness.

Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

Judge William Wright considers the case of the dispute of a whale carcass wherein several whaling ships claim ownership based on each one's contribution to its killing. The judge must weigh in the differing efforts and costs of three ships who each played a role at different stages of the hunting process, as well as the prevalent norms-of-ownership at the time.

Argentina-based Cresud managed 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land in South America. For 20 years, the publicly traded company's strategy had been to acquire underutilized properties and turn them into productive farmland for cattle and crops. In 2014, Cresud's CEO wondered if the strategy was still correct in the face of falling commodity prices, more powerful input companies, and potentially positive changes in Argentina's political environment.

This note describes the history of Argentina agriculture and how it has been affected by government policies and new technologies.

JBS is a Brazilian protein company that started in beef, but has quickly expanded into pork and chicken, and around the world. The company has many critics who say it has expanded too quickly and that it is overextended financially. The case allows the reader to form their own opinion and consider whether the success/failure of the company is due to the personal style of the CEO, Wesley Batista. A current issue is the recent expansion of the company into value-added protein products in a division called JBS Foods.