I interact with a countless number of early-stage, organic food companies and I can tell you one thing – running these businesses is not an easy task.

Aside from the tight profit margins, increasing food costs, and extensive paperwork dealing with organic certification, raising investment dollars is a very challenging endeavor.

These are not high-flying technology companies, which attract the lion’s share of angel investment money. Furthermore, most investors don’t understand the intricacies of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies.

Fortunately, a San Francisco-based start-up called CircleUp is helping to address this fundraising problem. Read more »

When I found out the other day that New York City-based Organic Avenue became USDA certified organic, I got pretty excited. (Yes, these things seem to excite me.) But why was I so happy?

There are several reasons.

– As far as I know, there is no other company in the U.S. that sells unprocessed, unpasteurized, pressed juice that is USDA certified organic. So, this is the first of its kind. Read more »

I was at the Tribeca Whole Foods in New York City this morning to hear a presentation by John Mackey, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the company.

The crux of what John Mackey discussed was healthy eating and how the overarching philosophy of Whole Foods is to improve people’s health by emphasizing a plant-based diet.

He also talked about some other very interesting initiatives, including opening stores in inner cities and a status update on the Wellness Clubs. Read more »

As part of its year-long “Know Your Food” campaign, Stonyfield has launched The Great Food Find, an interactive online scavenger hunt that takes food lovers on a journey to find organic foods around the web.

For each action that a person takes on The Great Food Find (capped at 50 actions – an action would be answering questions, finding a product and adding it to the virtual tote bag, Tweeting something, Liking something on Facebook, etc), he or she will be added to the drawing to win a $15,000 kitchen makeover.

Also, the first 50,000 people who finish the entire online scavenger hunt, which ends May 21st, will receive coupons from Stonyfield and partner companies such as Annie’s Homegrown, Nature’s Path, Sambazon, Woodstock Farms, Organic Valley, Applegate Farms, Honest Tea and more. Read more »

I see a lot of products in the organic food world but there is a buzz about Harmless Harvest and its coconut water that I have never seen before.

This tends to happen when you are in a super-hot category and you are the best tasting, healthiest product in that category.

Harmless Harvest’s raw organic coconut water is made by using a technology called high pressure pasteurization (HPP), which I named one of my top 5 organic food trends for 2012. Read more »

Last week in Costa Rica, I visited with some women entrepreneurs who are receiving microloans from the Whole Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization of Whole Foods.

I have written about the Whole Planet Foundation before and the amazing job that it is doing around the world but meeting the loan recipients in-person gave me a much greater appreciation for the impact that this program is having.

Women entrepreneurs from impoverished communities receive loans, starting at a few hundred dollars, to start businesses – baking, sewing, buying animals, running a small store, etc. With a 98% success rate (only 2% of the loans default), this incremental revenue plays an essential role in improving the well-being and welfare of thousands of families. Read more »

The reason for my trip to Costa Rica was to come learn about a place called EARTH University.

EARTH University in Costa Rica is a 4-year accredited school where students come from all over the world to learn about sustainability and entrepreneurship. The goal is to have these students take these skills and knowledge back to their home countries after graduation in order to positively impact their communities.

What is important to know about EARTH University is that almost all of the students come from Latin America and Africa, 71% of the students come from rural impoverished areas, and 60% of the students receive full scholarships. Read more »