Hurst International's print-on-demand Versaprint labeling system can track the origins of individual produce items rather than cases of products. It could allow companies to recall specific items, thus eliminating needless food waste.

Flexible packaging continues to pick up momentum in the dairy segment due to sustainability benefits and consumer convenience. Anna Anneras, marketing director for Ecolean Group, says the packaging offers sustainability benefits throughout its lifecycle, such as shelf-life extension, material/resource efficiency and reduced materials to landfill.

Starbucks will begin testing new versions of its cups that are compostable and recyclable in several markets this year, and will also test a strawless lid in Canada and the US. At its annual meeting this week, the company also said it will invest $100 million in a venture capital fund to support innovation in food and retail technology and new products.

Macky McCleary, formerly of the Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities, will join Boston-based innogy Consulting as a partner. McCleary worked on updating Rhode Island's electric grid, integrating renewables and, last year, bringing 400 megawatts of clean energy capacity online to the state.

Investors will feel confident about US offshore wind and begin developing a supply chain when a few projects, like Vineyard Wind's 800-megawatt Massachusetts-based project, make it through the permitting stage, writes Utility Dive's Iulia Gheorghiu. "I think people are appreciating that U.S. offshore wind is here and now, and a lot of people want to get involved around the world," says Vineyard Wind Chief Development Officer Erich Stevens.

United Wind will install 50 distributed wind turbines for a total capacity of 3 megawatts at numerous Smithfield Foods' hog farms in Colorado. "We're excited to bring competitive distributed wind energy options to food and agricultural companies like Smithfield in wind-rich environments throughout rural areas of the country," says United Wind CEO Russell Tencer.

Northeastern University is working on various projects with academics in France and the Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Research to identify barriers to offshore wind development in the US and possible solutions, like equipment that can stabilize turbines during extreme weather, says professor Jerome Hajjar. "We can do the research that's needed to help the industry build safe and effective wind farms and in turn create a whole new workforce," he says.

The Maryland Senate advanced the Clean Energy Jobs Act with a vote of 33-13, taking a step closer toward enacting a 50%-by-2030 renewables target. The state's House of Delegates has yet to consider the measure.

The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners in Nebraska has voted 4-1 to relax the county's setback requirements for turbines, easing a rule passed in February. Moving forward, turbines will have to be placed two times the machine's height from the property line or five times the height to a nonparticipating landowner's home, depending on which is farther.

While the term "transparency" has become a buzzword, there remains value in authentic, open communication, writes Guy Pierce Bell. What's secret can be secret, but otherwise expect what information you share to be given to everyone, not just the people in the meeting.