Who Are the Most Inspiring People in Sustainable Food?

by Katherine Gustafson · 2010-03-13 08:00:00 UTC
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There are so many inspiring people working in this field that it can be hard to pick, but Fast Company magazine has tried. Its article called "Eat-onomics: The Ten Most Inspiring People in Sustainable Food" identifies "ten trailblazers" that give us all hope that "change might be closer than we think."

The article lists the usual suspects — Jamie Oliver, Michael Pollan, Gary Hirshberg — and identifies some other exciting people to watch. Among them are:

  • Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill Farm, a supporter of regional farm networks and winner of the USA Network's Character Approved Award for his eco-friendly approach to food.

  • Deborah Kane, Vice President of Food and Farms at Ecotrust, director of the online FoodHub initiative, which connects Northwest growers and buyers.

  • Mike Yohay, CEO of Cityscape Farms, who farms using hydroponic greenhouses.

  • Dickson Despommier, founder of the Vertical Farms Project, which designs ways to house sustainable farms in urban skyscrapers.

  • Robert Kenner, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc., which exposes the unsustainable and unethical practices of the U.S. industrial food system.

These innovators are all excellent choices, though of course there are many other unsung heroes of local and sustainable food who inspire just as much. Take, for example, Mark Lilly, who has kitted out an old school bus as a local produce market and drives around Richmond selling his wares and updating his shoppers on his location via Facebook, or Timothy Will, who got broadband installed in his corner of Appalachia and created an online ordering system that connects restaurants in Charlotte with local farmers who need an outlet for their produce.

Inspiration is all around on the local food scene if you look closely.

Photo: NatalieMaynor on Flickr

Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations.
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