In February 2016, Mr Emmanuel Faber, chief executive of French multinational food company Danone, put a radical proposal to its senior US executives at a meeting in White Plains, New York.

Against the grain of agricultural production in the United States, where the vast majority is genetically modified, he proposed shifting about half of Danone's products - representing some US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) of yogurt sales - to non-GMO (non-genetically modified organism) ingredients. He argued that this was an important change that would improve soil health and biodiversity.