While You Were Working: Is Albertsons After Sprouts?
; SEPC Hands Out Record-Breaking Scholarships; and Potatoes USA Gets a New Marketing Chief — The Week In Review.
Well, Karin O’Rourke (photo above) went bananas for Team USA in a CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer match against Martinique in Tampa 7/12.
Some other important stuff happened, too — Albertsons postponed an IPO (again) and might be chasing Sprouts after losing out in a bid for Whole Foods; the Southeast Produce Council handed out a record 52 scholarships; Potatoes USA got a new marketing chief; Here’s a way you can help protect the U.S. food supply from outside threats; IFCO drops a new water resources e-book;the Fresh Marketing Webinar Series returns (it’s a new name); and Whole Foods came out with an organic farming app for kids.
If you’ve got a story you think we should cover, feel free to shoot us an email right here.
Two years ago, Albertsons Cos. postponed an initial public offering (IPO).
READ MORE Southeast Produce Council Scholarships Grow to A Record-Breaking 52 Last year, SEPC awarded 38 scholarships worth $76,000.
Here are the winners.
READ MORE Pro Chef RJ Harvey Named Head of Potatoes USA Foodservice Marketing Chef RJ Harvey has joined Potatoes USA as global foodservice marketing manager, where he will develop and manage the domestic and international marketing programs.
READ MORE IFCO e-Book Helps Manage Water Resources, Reduce Water Footprint Presently, 4 billion people face severe water scarcity.

This they said during a seminar on “Water Security and Emerging Threats in Pakistan” organized by the Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS) arranged a Seminar.
Chairman CGSS Lt Gen (R) Zahirul Islam in his opening remarks stated that water was once our biggest asset, the blood to the agricultural backbone of our economy, now it is our biggest threats.
“This shows the amount of mismanagement and ignorance we show to this vital commodity.
The biggest threat to our water security is our neighbouring India,” he said adding that mismanagement and bad border relations are not the only reasons for water scarcity, the fact is population explosion and both countries have entered a struggle to attain the bigger portion of natural water reserves.
He enlightened the participants regarding the importance of water resources management in Pakistan.
He stated that proper management was mandatory.
Most important issue, however was pollution to water sources.
He also talked about the loopholes in the bureaucracy which is hampering the implementation of various projects and the need for reforms.
Brigadier (R) Aslam spoke on “Realistic Appraisal of Indus water Treaty”.
He stated that there was a strong perception of Indian wrongdoing with the water situation in Pakistan.

SA’s worst drought ever recorded may be largely broken, but there is no room for complacency in a country where water scarcity remains a very real threat to economic sustainability.
Hammering this home, Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN) project manager Nick Tandi warns that without concerted action to reduce consumption, SA’s total water resources will fall 17% short of supply in just over a decade.
Water supply shortfalls are a threat that brought companies and the department of water affairs together in 2011 to form the SWPN.
The network now has 20 core corporate members, including Coca-Cola SA, Woolworths, Nestlé, SA Breweries (SAB) and Sasol, says Tandi.
Another priority is elimination of alien vegetation, which draws more than 7% of SA’s water resources.
"In 2010 we set a target of reducing our water consumption by 20% by 2020.
"Every year we set increasingly demanding water-savings goals," says Thole-Muir.
Not all companies consume the volume of water that Coca-Cola SA does, but they are still making a meaningful contribution to water saving.
Recycling is a key target.
Water saving initiatives by corporates, state-owed entities and municipalities will go a long way to reduce SA’s water supply deficit to below 17% by 2030, says Tandi.

Israel, Palestinian Territories: The Glass May Be Half Empty When It Comes to a New Water Agreement.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a water-sharing agreement under U.S. mediation.
Though the agreement is an advancement on a contentious issue, it is relatively little to ask of Israel.
The 32 million cubic meters Israel will provide — until the desalination plant in Aqaba, Jordan associated with the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance project is completed — is less than 10 percent of total Palestinian consumption.
With demand outpacing supply, the Palestinian Authority needs a renewable source of affordable water.
Water ownership and control is a tense topic between the two governments.
Israel may be a water-scarce nation, but it is also the world’s leader in water management, water recycling and desalination technology.
The Palestinians rely mainly on groundwater resources within their territories to meet demand.
While U.S. envoy and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt said he hoped the July 13 water-sharing agreement is a "harbinger of things to come," Palestinian officials are less optimistic.
The United States aims to use the agreement as a stepping off point for cooperation on more vexing issues, including settlements, Palestinian security, potential embassy moves and refugee resettlement.

WATCH: U.S.
Announces Landmark Water Deal Between Israel, Palestinian Authority.
Jason Greenblatt, the White House’s special envoy for international negotiations, announced on Thursday that Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached a landmark, U.S.-mediated water agreement.
Though Greenblatt presented the agreement in the context of a planned canal extending from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, he focused on the part of the deal that calls for Israel to sell the PA 33 million cubic meters of water, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Explaining the significance of the water deal, as well the electricity deal concluded earlier this week by the Palestinians and Israel, Greenblatt said: This agreement is an example of the parties working together to make a mutually beneficial deal.
In fact this is the second important agreement reached between the Israelis and Palestinians this week, the first being the agreement to energize the Jenin electrical substation, which was signed on Monday.
Hanegbi stated that while the canal won’t be finished for five years, Israel will be selling the water to the PA before the project is complete.
Gidon Bromberg, the Israel Director of EcoPeace, an organization that connects Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian environmentalists, told The Israel Project (which publishes The Tower) that the deal is “absolutely critical” because there is “real water scarcity.” He also noted that water sharing plans between Israel and Jordan have already begun as a pipeline for carrying water from the Sea of Galilee to Jordan is being built.
A full recording of Bromberg’s remarks is embedded below.
[Photo: U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv / YouTube ]

A number of villages in the state have faced water scarcity this year and Seraje village in Vittal is no exception.
When the local elected representatives failed to find any solution to the problem, Shafi provided a supply of water to slake the thirst of the residents of Seraje.
Although he supplied water to the residents of the village for a month without any political intention, Shafi’s good deed has only availed him of praises from every resident of the village.
I was greatly saddened by their attitude and behaviour.
Water is available in two borewells, but is not sufficient to meet the needs of the entire ward.
“If the pipeline work doesn’t get completed by before the next summer, then we have to struggle to get drinking water,” said the villagers.
Town Panchayat president Arun Vittal said that tender has been called for construction of pipeline at the Seraje wards.
“Work may begin in August.
“The available water resource is not enough to supply water to all the villagers.
If three-phase power is provided, then the panchayat is ready to dig another borewell,” promised the president, however, he refused to give any statement on the difference of opinion between the executive officer and members of the Panchayat.

Come to the water.
However, the partnership between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya, focuses a lot on water.
(See related story on page 7.)
Some had walked miles.
The center staff rescues as many of these vulnerable children as possible and provides them with a safe home.
I cannot make it rain.
Since coming home to Minnesota, I have thought, reflected and prayed much about my experience.
I learned from the people of Kitui that there is a joy of faith that perseveres through a poverty I’ve never known and challenges I’ve never faced.
I experienced a people who are rich in the eyes of God.
In comparison to the good people of Kitui, I am a billionaire with access to more water than I ever need.

13 July 2017: The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) launched a publication that shares perspectives from 20 UN heads on how and why information and communication technologies (ICT) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical.
ITU launched the publication at an event on the sidelines of the 2017 session of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
First, it calls for leaving no one offline.
Second, the report showcases ways in which ICTs are an accelerator for innovation and change, sharing examples of farmers that use satellite imagery to monitor shifting climate patterns, land use and water scarcity and opportunities for ICTs to improve capabilities to gather, analyze, manage and exchange information on health and humanitarian interventions.
Finally, the report calls for creating new, innovative and multi-stakeholder partnerships to realize the SDGs and ensure a coordinated approach to leveraging ICTs to achieve the SDGs.
ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao recognized the particular role of ICTs in achieving SDG 9 (infrastructure, industrialization and innovation) and urged leveraging ICTs to advance achievement of all 17 of the SDGs.
Efforts to implement e-agriculture contribute to progress on SDG 2 (zero hunger).
On SDG 3 (good health and well-being), better connectivity and e-health initiatives support access to health care and services as well as exchange of critical health-related information.
ITU launched the report at an event, titled ‘ICT for sustainable development: How digital solutions can drive progress towards the SDGs,’ co-organized with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO) and the SDG Lab.
[ITU Press Release] [Publication: Fast-forward progress] [ITU Secretary-General Blog Post on ICT for SDGs] [ITU ICT and SDG Platform]

Call to conserve wetlands.
CPI leader and former Forest Minister Binoy Viswam has called for stern and effective steps to protect wetlands, especially at a time when Kerala, the land of rivers, too has started witnessing acute water scarcity.
He was inaugurating an environment seminar organised in connection with the district-level golden jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Legislative Assembly at the Catholicate College auditorium here on Wednesday.
The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act was a landmark legislation passed by the Kerala Legislature in 2008.
The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was the most effective Act aimed at environment conservation.
It was a golden chapter in the independent India’s history of legislations and the political will shown by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in enacting the law was praiseworthy, he said.
The former Minister said the United States’ decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be a big blow to the global efforts for environment conservation.
Struggle against airport Addressing the seminar, John Fernandez, MLA, recalled that Pathanamthitta could add a new chapter in environment conservation through the historic popular agitation against the controversial Aranmula airport project that would have required conversion of a vast expanse of wetlands and paddy fields.
He also stressed the grave need to check indiscriminate razing of hills and granite quarrying.
Veena George, MLA, was the moderator.

Little Suns.
Kaira is one of the 1,265 women and girls, who received a solar lamp from IOM, the UN Migration Agency, in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, through a partnership with Little Sun.
Worsening conditions continue to deplete the coping capacities of vulnerable pastoralist farmers in drought affected areas.
Single female-headed households (5,259 in the Somali Region) face additional challenges.
Women and girls are also likely to have specific health needs making them more vulnerable.
When women are forced to leave their houses, they often only carry items, which are thought to be essential to the family.
“There is no light at night and I use a battery-operated torch to carry out my household chores, such as washing clothes and cooking food.
Women and girls often rely on firewood, kerosene lamps and candles emitting toxic fumes, which can pose fire hazards to wooden-based shelters and the displacement camp at large.
Through this solar lamp, women and girls will be given the possibility to pursue their studies and other essential tasks in the hours of darkness.
We are grateful for the generous support of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and Little Sun in the provision of dignity kits, including solar lamps to displaced women and girls in Ethiopia.