It’s a good water year in California. As of early April, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains was 110 percent of average. Winter rain storms have filled reservoirs, creeks, streams and lakes. And as the mountain snow melts, more water will be added.  For almond grower Christine Gemperle, it means that, for the second […]

Standing amid rows of juicy, lime green lettuce and chunky florets of broccoli, Jose Paiz appears as if he could be the owner of a modern, high-tech farm. But the crops thriving here, in the suburbs of Mexico City, are part of a 1,000-year-old tradition. “My ancestors were doing this before even the [Spanish] Conquistadors […]

For many small-scale fruit and vegetable growers, “local” is the word that makes their business work. Shoppers seek out—and pay premiums for—the promise that a juicy tomato or vibrant squash was raised right down the road.  Yet much of the time, the local food economy ultimately depends on big farms thousands of miles across the […]