Cashing In on Eco-Minded Consumers

Many consumers are increasingly alarmed about issues such as the genetic altering of food or the rising use of pesticides—commercial broccoli is treated with 35 pesticides, for example, and carrots with 22—it’s difficult to find fresh, organically grown produce. That’s because organic farming is a tough, labor-intensive business that struggles to make a profit. Few growers are willing to convert from toxic chemical fertilizers to piles of aged chicken manure or to use boxes of ladybugs instead of insecticides to control pests. And how many will hire workers to sit on their haunches in rows of escarole, painstakingly pulling every weed, instead of quickly dousing everything in herbicide?