Lynn Schenk, social Impact investor & mom, on Growing Business radio

• Uncategorized

Lynn Schenk, social Impact investor & mom, on Growing Business radio

Lynn has an impressive resume, having worked for Citigroup and Social Finance for a number of years, as well as for the Clinton Foundation.  Lynn says, “that although her background and schooling is mostly in finance, her passion is for the environment.” She decided to find a way to marry the two, so she found a “hybrid experience”.  Lynn works to help show people that there are options to finance the needs that we have for clean energy, waste management and other socially impactful projects. Lynn says, “that the money is out there, but the key is knowing how to frame these projects so that investors will move forward with you." 

Lynn says that alternative energies, the food movement, and other social impact projects are a great field to get into. She suggests getting into something that is untapped like those involving the biomass and waste side of the food sector. She foresees a big future for these fields. The potential for job creation from these industries is huge as they are constantly expanding. The key is finding more investors to help make these things more accessible to the general public and eliminating the wall between the consumer and the farm. 

New Study: Eating organic food lowers pesticide exposure by 90%

• Uncategorized

New Study: Eating organic food lowers pesticide exposure by 90%

Eating an organic diet for a week can cause pesticide levels to drop by almost 90% in adults, research from RMIT University has found.  The study, led by Dr Liza Oates found participants’ urinary dialkylphosphates (DAPs) measurements were 89% lower when they ate an organic diet for seven days compared to a conventional diet for the same amount of time. DAPs make up 70% to 80% of organophosphate pesticides.

Dr Oates said having the same people experience a large drop in organophosphate pesticide levels when consuming organic foods as opposed to conventional foods suggested most of these pesticides come from food consumption. However, she recognized it could come from other sources.

• Uncategorized

Drinking so much Wine, millennials change how it’s sold

  —

Boomers may have the money and the historical perspective, but they are not the market of the future. Millennials have different attitudes, desires – and budgets. The industry sees an opportunity, but in the customer’s terms, not necessarily the terms with which those who grew up in the wine business are familiar or which they value. But the power of the internet, of social media and of the market itself is truly driving a new model for a new generation.

http://bit.ly/1nbHJdZ

Taking hyper-local agriculture global – Freight Farms CEO on Growing Business

• Uncategorized

Taking hyper-local agriculture global – Freight Farms CEO on Growing Business

Brad McNamara, CEO and Founder of Freight Farms is on Growing Business radio.  

Freight Farms is a critically acclaimed startup that reuses shipping containers, to offer a sustainable alternative to agriculture, as we know it.  Freight Farms takes up-cycled shipping containers and retrofits them into fully automated hydroponic farms. Their goals are to provide you with farming infrastructure to empower you to enter the local food system and offer a new platform to grow your business. Each container can provide about an acre worth of vegetation, and because it’s a soil-less system there are no herbicides or pesticides involved in the growth process.  

There are a number of benefits to operating a freight farms. For one, because of it’s fully automated system and human-centered design, labor requirements are significantly reduced and it only requires about 15-20 hours of work per week. Also, it’s possible to grow leafy greens year round because everything is operating inside a fully-insulated shipping container with extensive climate controls. This allows people to grow anywhere regardless of the outside environment.  

Bourdain Lining Up ‘Mind Blowing People’ for NY Food Hall

• Uncategorized

Bourdain Lining Up ‘Mind Blowing People’ for NY Food Hall

Anthony Bourdain is a very busy guy. In a new interview with Toqueland’s Andrew Friedman, the author/TV star/former line cook explains that he’s working on some revolutionary thing, including a new definition of food hall.

Here’s what Bourdain says about the upcoming market:

I’m working hard on the food hall, the hawker center, which is looking to be pretty big. Can’t really tell you more about it but we’re getting some very, very, very interesting people involved. I mean, really mind‑blowing people. This will not be just another food hall. Not even close. It’ll be, “Holy shit.”

• Uncategorized

High finance as cannabis fund pitches global Ag investing superpowers 

It was high times at a high society hotel on Wednesday when a new cannabis-focused private equity fund took its fundraising pitch to a big agricultural conference at New York’s Waldorf Astoria.

Addressing a ballroom of investors at the Global AgInvesting conference amid presentations from Macquarie and Deloitte, Jordan Lewis, another partner, said: “Hopefully this is the beginning of a change in acceptance of cannabis in the agriculture industry and elsewhere.”  

More food trucks take to the streets of Boston

• Uncategorized

More food trucks take to the streets of Boston

Lined up like a ring of mushrooms after a spring rain, a handful of food trucks encircle Dewey Square Plaza waiting for hungry customers to arrive. April marks the launch of the 2014 spring season for Mobile Eats on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, introducing 15 new trucks to the line-up and four to the Boston food truck scene. Before the lunch rush begins, vendors walk around greeting one another with fist bumps and handshakes or cheers of hello while leaning out of the truck windows. Here is a sampling of the new ones.

• Uncategorized

How to:  Plant & maintain a garden on a budget

–

Gardening can be a therapeutic and relaxing activity, but it can also put a little extra money in your pocket if you grow the right things (and grow them well). A seedling might cost you just a dollar or two but yield vegetables and fruit throughout the season that would otherwise cost you many dollars a pound.   Like anything else, gardening can be done on a budget, or you can get carried away and spend far too much.  Here are just a few ways you can save on your garden this year.

Cancer & Sugar – time to know the facts!

• Uncategorized

Cancer & Sugar – time to know the facts!

Whereas many within the mainstream medical community insist on promoting the belief that the link between certain types of food with an increased risk of cancer is “weak” or only “nominally significant,” the scientific evidence continues to accumulate indicating sugar feeds cancer.

According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, sugar poses a health risk—contributing to around 35 million deaths globally each year. So high is sugar’s toxicity that it should now be considered a potentially toxic substance like alcohol and tobacco. Its link with the onset of diabetes is such that punitive regulations, such as a tax on all foods and drinks that contain “added” sugar, are now warranted, the researchers concluded. They also recommend banning sales in or near schools, as well as placing age limits on the sale of such products.