Food Shipping
Amazon Looks to Use More Contractors for Grocery Delivery
A shopping cart filled with Amazon Prime grocery bags sits outside a Whole Foods store in Washington on March 31. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)
Amazon .com Inc. is experimenting with a new program that pays independent contractors to fetch groceries from shelves in Whole Foods stores and deliver them in their own vehicles.
September 15, 2020Americans Take Up New Eating Habits, Forcing Farms to Raze Crops
A worker rides a tractor while spraying organic pesticide on crops at a farm in Hudson, N.Y. on May 18. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg News)
Americans have rapidly changed the ways they buy, cook and eat food in just four months, leaving everyone from farmers to restaurants unable to match their pivot.
July 16, 2020Uber to Buy Postmates for $2.65 Billion to Expand Delivery
(Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News)
Uber Technologies Inc. agreed to buy Postmates Inc. for $2.65 billion to expand in food delivery after the coronavirus pandemic cratered demand for ride-hailing, its main business, and an earlier attempt to acquire Grubhub foundered.
July 6, 2020Meat Shortages Reopen Costly Path to Small US Slaughterhouses
Angus bulls stand in pens prior to an auction in Wisconsin in April 2019. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)
When coronavirus outbreaks forced shutdowns at America’s giant meat plants, it quickly created a bottleneck.
June 26, 2020China’s Meat Testing Threatens to Derail US Pork Exports
An employee handles a Smithfield Foods pork belly on a production line in China. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News)
China’s move to test imported meat for the novel coronavirus is threatening to derail trade with the world’s largest pork consumer, hurting American farmers who had seen shipments boom.
June 17, 2020Booming Business: Pigs Flying to China in 747 Jumbo Jets
A pig looks out from a cage to be loaded onto a cargo plane. (Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images)
The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on commercial aviation, but Alexey Isaykin’s cargo carrier has been fully loaded.
June 10, 2020Uber-Grubhub Deal Hinges on Breakup Fee, Sources Say
The logo for the Grubhub app shows on a laptop. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News)
Uber Technologies Inc. and Grubhub Inc. are haggling over a breakup fee after nearing an agreement on a merger price, according to people familiar with the matter.
May 29, 2020Workers Cheered Upon Return to South Dakota Pork Plant
Residents cheered and held thank you signs to greet employees of a Smithfield pork processing plant as they began their shift on May 20 in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Stephen Groves/Associated Press)
Employees at a Smithfield pork processing plant in South Dakota where a coronavirus outbreak infected more than 800 people were greeted at work May 20 with thank you signs, cheers and waves from about a dozen area residents.
May 20, 2020US Meat’s Run of Growth to End in Pandemic
(Dania Maxwell/Bloomberg News)
Meat-processing disruptions in America are set to strip billions of pounds of production, snapping a yearslong run of growth in the industry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
May 12, 2020China Steps Up US Soybean Buying With Million-Ton Purchase
Soybeans are harvested in Illinois in September 2018. (Bloomberg News)
China is stepping up purchases of soybeans from the U.S. as Brazilian sales start to wane and the Asian nation seeks to meet its pledges under the trade deal with Washington, according to people familiar with the matter.
May 12, 2020