Today in Organic: March 29, 2010

First Tomato Seedling of 2010 / Chiot's Run

• Summer forecast: locusts. "Farmers and ranchers across the West are bracing for a grasshopper infestation that could devastate millions of acres of crops and land used for grazing," according to the Wall Street Journal. 

• Fast Company compiled a list of the top 10 most inspiring people in sustainable food. Many of the usual suspects make the list, along with a couple of vertical farming and aquaponics innovators. 

• The New York Times ran a nice story last week about rice farmer in Louisiana — a state with just 23 organic farms — who converted to organic 15 years ago. 

• The newly formed Sustainable Restaurant Association will rate restaurants according to how green and sustainable they are, TreeHugger reports. 

• Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's new TV show, Food Revolution, is shining a bright light on the amount of junk food served in schools. Read about it at The Atlantic. 

• The Washington Post published a roundup of suburban subdivisions where an organic farm is the primary amenity. 

• "Organic groups say they're not surprised by a recent audit report that faults USDA for inadequate enforcement of organic food standards, but they lay the blame on the former administration," according to the Ag rag Capital Press. Organic watchdogs are reportedly optimistic that the Obama administration can clean up the mess.

Comments

[Charlie Goodman]

The future is now... vertical farming is here...

Time Magazine says Valcent's Vertical Farming Technology one of the Top 50 Best Innovations of 2009: http://bit.ly/5zDIqh

"I can't think of any technology that addresses more urgent issues than Valcent's vertical farming system", says RFK Jr http://bit.ly/cPb00g

Reuters Video features Valcent's VertiCrop vertical farming system: http://bit.ly/a9p47W

[OrganicNation.tv]

Hi Charlie,

What's your interest / investment in vertical farming? You've posted similar links about vertical farming all over the web.

-Mark