After pioneering the organic movement in the 1970s, California now leads the nation in the number of organic farms, total organic acreage and overall organic crop value. Attaining this status was no small feat, and was largely driven by resourceful growers who developed and refined the wide range of novel organic farming practices seen in California today.

The Organic Grower Summit, which is presented by Western Growers and the Organic Produce Network, will take place Dec. 1-2 in Monterey California, with the goal of showing that “organic does mean good business,” according to OPN Co-founder and Executive Vice President Tonya Antle.

The Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Agriculture are working with the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and public health agencies in other states on an ongoing investigation of an outbreak ofE. coli O157 infections associated with eating organic baby spinach.

Empire State Development and Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement recently announced $3 million in prizes of Grow-NY.

Triscuit, known for its woven wheat crackers, recently announced that Atlanta organic produce grower Jamila Norman of Patchwork City Farms and two others are the brand’s 2021 Changemakers as part of its Missing Ingredients Project.

Charlie and Jean Siegchrist are owners and operators of the historic Barber Farm in Jericho, Vermont. The farm became the third settled property in the town when it was founded in 1774.