101 Facts That Should Make You Hopeful About the Future of Food

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81. Chipotle has made the decision to voluntarily disclose the presence of genetically modified organisms in their food, with a long-term goal of removing them to the fullest extent possible.

82. Grow Dat Youth Farm in New Orleans creates job opportunities for high school students in the field of urban agriculture through a 19-week program, during which youth participants learn a variety of skills related to growing, cooking and selling organic vegetables and fruit.

83. India will help Kenya bring down production costs for smallholder farmers by providing inexpensive farming equipment, for which Kenya currently has a deficit.

84. In an effort to curb endemic food waste, British retailer Waitrose will start selling a “weather-blemished” fruit line—rather than throwing out the ugly fruit, it will be sold at discounted prices.

85. Writer and farming activist, Gary Paul Nabhan, proposed that farmers adapt to new climate conditions by planting drought-resistant crops.

86. Launched by former Trader Joe’s president Doug Rauch, Daily Table is a market for expired food in Massachusetts, which takes tax-deductible food donations from other grocery stores and provides produce and other perishables for consumers who could not otherwise afford them.

87. Sainsbury, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, has partnered with Google to create Food Rescue, which provides recipe inspiration for using up old or forgotten ingredients in an attempt to prevent food waste.

88. The Green Bronx Machine is dedicated to growing, re-using, resourcing and recycling landscapes, and teaches inner-city kids and adults from the Bronx, New York, about urban farming.

89. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program will provide $48 million USD in funding to help rural businesses across the U.S., including farmer-owned cooperatives, to establish rural-urban partnerships and make infrastructure upgrades.

90. Fair Trade tea company, Bhakti Chai, invests in female tea pickers in India who belong to the Self-Employed Women’s Association and give 90 percent of earnings back to their families and communities so that their daughters can receive an education.

91. The Land Institute is rethinking agriculture by developing perennial grains, a multi-year alternative to soil-eroding annual crops.

92. GrowNYC provides a venue for over 230 small family farms to sell local products directly to consumers in Greenmarket, a network of outdoor urban farmers markets.

93. Sustainable Rural Development improves and implements efficient and sustainable farming practices throughout Vietnam, bolstering community organizations and empowering local farmers.

94.Voluntary Drought Initiative has been recently created by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to protect and recover sensitive species of salmon.

95. The Sustainable Agriculture Project in Haiti has planted four model farms in the regions of Cap-Rouge and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite, which offer organic farming training to aspiring farmers.

96. The Bangladesh Federal Agriculture Organization is currently working on a project to promote food security in the country through enhanced agricultural production as well as the promotion of diversified sources of income and value addition.

97. The Slow Food Foundation recently held a training meeting for their Thousand Gardens in Africa project in Mbour, Senegal. The project aims to propose sustainable agriculture models that most effectively use the available resources of nations.

98. The Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto, a conference for the world’s food communities, will be held on October 23-27 in Turin, Italy. Hundreds of delegates and small-scale farmers from around the world will connect to build relationships and develop innovative ideas to address their countries’ challenges.

99. Food security challenges for the 21st century were recently addressed at the Global Food Security Symposium hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The Symposium is dedicated to finding sustainable solutions to problems in the food system.

100. The International Food Policy Research Institute  hosted a conference in May 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, about how to strengthen resilience for both food and nutritional security.  

101. Chef and activist, Alice Waters, was named one of Time Magazine’s most interesting people, for her work on the Edible Schoolyard Project to empower children and teach them life skills through education about food.

 

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