QUOTE OF THE DAY “China is a large and growing market. Asia as a whole is a tremendous and growing export opportunity for Smithfield.”
C. Larry Pope, Smithfield Foods Inc. chief executive officer Article, 1D
Nigerian delegation to visit Arkansas
The Nigerian ambassador to the United States will visit Arkansas this week to participate in a three-day forum that will explore ways to develop a partnership between the state and Nigeria.
Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye will be part of the Nigerian delegation attending the Arkansas-Nigeria Economic Development Forum, said Princess Moradeun Ogunlana, vice chairman of the forum.
The event begins today and ends Saturday at the Little Rock Marriot Hotel, formerly the Peabody Hotel, at 3 Statehouse Plaza.
The forum will focus on health care, agriculture and education, according to the news release.
The event includes a meeting with Gov. Mike Beebe and Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, tours of Riceland Foods Inc., a miller and marketer of rice, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s fish farm.
$2.6 million in grants to aid strawberries
Grants totalling $2.6 million for projects supporting strawberry sustainability have been awarded by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
The awards are overseen by the division’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability and are part of a $3 million donation made by the Walmart Foundation in February. The program received 56 proposals from land grant public universities in 29 states, and is part of the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative, according to a release Wednesday.
A $200,000 grant was awarded to a project led by Elena Garcia from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, and a project headed up by Leonard Githinji of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff received $175,000. At least 14 other projects around the U.S. received funding.
“This grant project seeks to move the science and technology for alternative strawberry production systems and areas away from laboratories and experiment farms into the producer’s fields,” said Curt Rom, professor of horticulture at the Division of Agriculture, said in the release.
Recipients will have 12 months to complete their projects and reports will be released on their findings in September 2014.
- John Magsam
OsteoVantage receives progress grant
Fayetteville-based OsteoVantage received a $30,000 National Science Foundation grant to continue development of a specialty screw used in lower-back fusion surgery, supplementing a $150,000 Phase I grant from the foundation in January.
The smaller award is issued if the recipient shows the foundation it has made progress on its initial study, and was able to obtain additional third party investment, according to a release issued Wednesday. OsteoVantage gained funding from the VIC Growth Fund, an Arkansas based fund aimed at high growth technology companies.
If OsteoVantage completes the project it becomes eligible to compete for Phase II project status and up to $750,000 for prototype development.
Formed in 2012, the company intends to commercialize patent pending spinal fusion technology licensed by St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine.
The company is a VIC Technology Development portfolio company. Fayetteville-based VIC has 12 portfolio companies in fields including nanotechnology, cancer diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
Salads flop, McDonald’s pushes burgers
McDonald’s Corp., struggling to project a healthier image amid complaints about its high-calorie food, is having a hard time persuading customers to buy salads.
Even with such names as Bacon Ranch and Southwest with Crispy Chicken, salads make up 2 percent to 3 percent of U.S. restaurant sales, Chief Executive Officer Don Thompson said Wednesday at an investor conference. By contrast, the Dollar Menu generates 13 percent to 14 percent of sales, he said.
Instead of advertising salads, the company may push hamburgers and chicken sandwiches, said Thompson, who added that there are other ways to sell more fruits and vegetables. For example, some of the chain’s new McWraps have tomato and cucumber slices, as well as shredded lettuce.
- Bloomberg News
Honda expects record U.S. sales year
Honda Motor Co. is on pace to post record U.S. sales as its top four models lead their categories in retail deliveries, the automaker’s top marketing executive in the region said Wednesday.
Honda set a goal for this year of topping its best-ever U.S. volume of 1.55 million Honda and Acura brand cars and light trucks, set in 2007. That is being aided by sales of the Honda Accord, the top-selling car in the U.S. last month, and sales of the Civic compact, CR-V small sport utility vehicle and Honda Pilot.
Honda’s total U.S. deliveries gained 6 percent this year through April to 468,650.
Phone maker to hire 2,000 in Fort Worth
AUSTIN, Texas - Cell-phone pioneer Motorola announced Wednesday that it’s opening a Texas manufacturing facility that will create 2,000 jobs and produce its new flagship device, Moto X, the first smart phone ever assembled in the U.S.
The company has already begun hiring for the Fort Worth plant. The site was once used by phone manufacturer Nokia and was designed to produce mobile devices, said Will Moss, a spokesman for Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google.
The formal announcement was made at AllThingsD’s D11 Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., by Motorola Chief Executive Officer Dennis Woodside.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office administers a pair of state incentive funds meant to attract job-creating businesses, but Moss said the Republican governor didn’t distribute any money to close the Motorola deal.
“Motorola Mobility’s decision to manufacture its new smart phone and create thousands of new jobs in Texas is great news for our growing state,” Perry said through a spokesman.
The factory will be owned and run by Flextronics International Ltd., a Singapore-based contract electronics manufacturer that has had a long relationship with Motorola.
Business, Pages 26 on 05/30/2013