The Harvest Blog

Wonder Weed If a weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered, then seaweed is ready for rebranding. This food source, underutilized in the Western world, is rich in vitamins and minerals such as iron and iodine. To cultivate, seaweed requires no fresh water, no land, no chemical inputs, and no fertilizers, and it creates no nitrogen runoff. Furthermore, sea vegetables sequester carbon as they grow, helping to combat the effects of global warming and mitigate ocean acidification. When it comes to feeding a global population of 9.7 billion people in 2050, seaweed could play a large role in finding

Nobody panic, but honey bees are lousy pollinators. They get a lot of credit for keeping our crops afloat, and an entire industry has evolved around trucking hives across the country to pollinate plums and almonds in California and tangerines in Florida, but it’s the 4,000 species of native bees who are the heroes of our produce aisles. From teddy bear bees and tickle bees to mud bees and squash bees, the diverse world of wild pollinators is critically important to our farms. In many cases, native pollinators do the heavy lifting while the honey bees get the glory. A 2014 study that evaluated 41 crop systems around

Gizmos and Grains Self-driving vehicles aren’t just for the streets of Mountain View, California anymore. As Google races to bring fully autonomous cars to market by 2020, a driverless tractor may be rolling out into the fields around the same time. From drones to PrecisionAg, America’s amber waves of grain have never been so decked out in 21st century tech. Yet for the past half century, the story of technological innovation in agriculture has progressed lockstep with the consolidation of the industry, loss of biodiversity, and depletion of soil nutrients and natural resources. Our digital era was always going to

The local food movement has deep roots in urban centers, but the juxtaposition of urbanites’ locavore enthusiasm with the shortage of arable land in cities raises the question: how local is local enough? In terms of geography, there is no consensus or regulation around what “local food” should be. Depending on your definition (or marketing strategy), the term could refer to anything from food produced in your own backyard to food produced 100 miles away or simply within the state. Community gardens and urban farming are obvious—if partial—answers to this paradox. And while urban farming is nothing new, there’s no

Chaga Elixir by Four Sigmatic | Image courtesy of Four Sigmatic Meet the Mushroom Merchants Medicinal mushrooms like reishi, chaga, and cordyceps are taking the U.S. market by storm. While these fungi have long been central components of Chinese medicine and eastern traditions, the growing interest in wellness and preventative care among U.S. consumers is opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs to introduce these ancient ingredients to a new generation of health enthusiasts. A jar of reishi mushroom extract from Moon Juice promises that this “Nootropic Supershroom” (read: brain enhancing mushroom) is a “calming

In the era of biohacking, big data, and a worsening health crisis, startups are clamoring to personalize nutrition plans according to individual genetic profiles. It seems a perfect solution to the conflicting nutrition advice provided by today’s diet zeitgeist: mediterranean vs. ketogenic, paleo vs. plant-based, DASH Diet vs. Whole30. Which macronutrient is most evil? Which of these dietary equations will solve our personal and public health problems? The new answer, according to cutting edge companies like Habit, Nutrigenomix and DNAFit, is that there is no one-size-fits-all diet. Our metabolic responses differ

Fertile topsoil is a lively ecosystem, teeming with microorganisms and worm life. It has robust soil structure that retains water well and allows plant roots to penetrate, to breathe, and to forage for nutrients. But there’s a problem. We’re running through our supply of fecund soil in the U.S. at an alarming rate, with an estimated 996 metric tons of soil erosion annually. Conventional agriculture enables—and the tight margins of the farming industry incentivize—short-term bounty to the detriment of sustainable practices. Annual tilling, monocropping, and chemical inputs promote an abundant harvest in the near term

Whether you have resolved to get healthier in 2018 or to lead a more earth-friendly lifestyle, choosing plant-based foods is a great place to start. It’s becoming increasingly easy to do so as the plant-based market shifts from niche to mainstream. Citing everything from personal wellness and public health to ethical concerns and environmental responsibility, a growing number of consumers are opting for plant-based products. Investors like Bill Gates and even Tyson Foods are betting on the plant-based businesses. According to recent Nielsen data commissioned by the Plant Based Foods Association and the Good Food

Plant-based proteins have a new audience: meat eaters. Market data indicates that more and more people are seeking to reduce their meat intake. For the discerning consumer, there are any number of motivating factors: the health benefits of reduced meat consumption are increasingly recognized; animal rights activists are shedding light on the cruel realities of factory farming; and, as discussions of climate change reach new levels of urgency, animal agriculture is more frequently acknowledged as a major contributor. According to a World Resources Institute study, the average American diet causes nearly twice the