www.forbes.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
151.101.2.49
Public Scan
Submitted URL: https://e.email.forbes.com/c2/869:635a6e7a86d8b14c840805f8:ot:6316f01cf9c34d1310d4ad52:1/15ac5e75?jwtH=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJh...
Effective URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/10/26/meet-the-chef-whos-saving-high-end-culinary-treasures-from-extinct...
Submission: On October 27 via api from CA — Scanned from CA
Effective URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/10/26/meet-the-chef-whos-saving-high-end-culinary-treasures-from-extinct...
Submission: On October 27 via api from CA — Scanned from CA
Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM
<form class="search-modal__form"><input class="search-modal__input" type="text" placeholder="Search" autofocus=""><button class="search-modal__submit" role="button" tabindex="0" title="Submit"><svg class="fs-icon fs-icon--arrow-right"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
<path d="M12.6 6.4l4.6 4.6H3v2h14.2l-4.6 4.6L14 19l7-7-7-7z"></path>
</svg></button></form>Text Content
* Billionaires
Billionaires
View All Billionaires
* World's Billionaires
* Forbes 400
* America's Richest Self-Made Women
* China's Richest
* India's Richest
* Indonesia's Richest
* Korea's Richest
* Thailand's Richest
* Japan's Richest
* Australia's Richest
* Taiwan's Richest
* Singapore's Richest
* Philippines' Richest
* Hong Kong's Richest
* Malaysia's Richest
* Money & Politics
* 2020 Money
* Innovation
Innovation
View All Innovation
* 5G
* AI
* Big Data
* Cloud
* Cloud 100
* COP26
* Consumer Tech
* Cybersecurity
* Enterprise Tech
* Future Of Work
* Games
* Healthcare
* Innovation Rules
* Magnit BrandVoice | Paid Program
* SAP BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Science
* ServiceNow BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Social Media
* Sustainability
* Tanium BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Transportation
* Venture Capital
* Wind River BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Leadership
Leadership
View All Leadership
* Careers
* CEO Network
* CFO Network
* CHRO Network
* CIO Network
* CMO Network
* Crowe BrandVoice | Paid Program
* CxO
* Dell Technologies BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Deloitte BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
* Education
* Forbes EQ | Paid Program
* Forbes The Culture
* ForbesWomen
* Leadership Strategy
* Under 30
* Working Remote
* Over 50
* Money
Money
View All Money
* Banking & Insurance
* ETFs & Mutual Funds
* Fintech
* Hedge Funds & Private Equity
* Investing
* Investing Basics | Q.ai
* Markets
* Personal Finance
* Premium Investing Newsletters
* Retirement
* T. Rowe Price BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Taxes
* Top Advisor | SHOOK
* Wealth Management
* Forbes Digital Assets
Forbes Digital Assets
View All Forbes Digital Assets
* Dashboard
* Traded Assets
* Research
* Events
* Crypto Portfolios
* Forbes Virtual NFT Billionaires
* Investment Newsletters
* Business
Business
View All Business
* Aerospace & Defense
* Energy
* Food & Drink
* Hollywood & Entertainment
* Manufacturing
* Media
* Mitsubishi Heavy Industries BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Policy
* Retail
* SportsMoney
* Tableau BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Small Business
Small Business
View All Small Business
* Entrepreneurs
* Franchises
* Small Business Strategy
* Lifestyle
Lifestyle
View All Lifestyle
* Arts
* Boats & Planes
* Cars & Bikes
* Dining
* ForbesLife
* Forbes Travel Guide
* Spirits
* Style & Beauty
* Travel
* Vices
* Watches
* Real Estate
Real Estate
View All Real Estate
* Commercial Real Estate
* Forbes Global Properties
* Residential Real Estate
* Forbes Store
Forbes Store
View All Forbes Store
* U30 Collection
* ForbesWomen Collection
* Core Collection
* Vetted
Vetted
View All Vetted
* Gear
* Health & Wellness
* Home & Kitchen
* Style
* Tech & Electronics
* Travel
* Hotels & Lodging
* Coupons
Coupons
View All Coupons
* Purple
* Squarespace
* Verizon
* Lululemon
* AT&T
* Lowe's
* Brooks Brothers
* Tory Burch
* Dr Martens
* Dell
* Chewy
* Advisor
Advisor
View All Advisor
* The Best Credit Cards Of 2022
* Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards
* Best Cash Back Credit Cards
* Best Travel Credit Cards
* Best Business Credit Cards
* Today's Mortgage Rates
* Today's Refinance Rates
* Best Mortgage Lenders 2022
* Best Life Insurance
* Best Travel Insurance 2022
* Covid-19 Travel Insurance
* Online Car Insurance Quotes
* Car Insurance Companies
* Cheap Car Insurance
* Pet Insurance
* Cheap Pet Insurance
* Personal Loans
* Debt Consolidation Loans
* Student Loan Refinance
* Business Loans
* Best Online Banks
* Best CD Rates
* Best Savings Accounts
* Best Checking Accounts
* Forbes Advisor UK
* Health
Health
View All Health
* Body
* Best Diets
* Healthy Aging
* Best Medical Alert Systems
* Medicare
* Medicare Advantage Plans
* Medicare Supplement Plans
* Medicare Advantage By State
* Health Insurance
* Hearing Aids
* Best Hearing Aids
* Senior Living
* Mind
* Best Online Therapy
* Family
* Lists
* Video
* Newsletters
Newsletters
* Crypto Confidential
* Editorial Newsletters
* Investing Digest
* Premium Investing Newsletters
* Forbes Magazine
Forbes Magazine
View All Forbes Magazine
* Forbes Asia
* Free Issue of Forbes
* Latest
Latest
* Coronavirus Coverage
* Daily Cover Stories
* Dark Capital
* Editors' Picks
* Visual Web Stories
* Featured
Featured
* 30 Under 30 2022
* American Heart Association BrandVoice | Paid Program
* AWS Transformation BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Black Is Tech Conference 2022
* BlueJeans by Verizon BrandVoice | Paid Program
* DNA of Success
* EY BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Forbes Insights with Adobe | Paid Program
* Forbes Insights with American Express | Paid Program
* Forbes Insights with Cloudera | Paid Program
* Henley & Partners BrandVoice | Paid Program
* How Three Under 30 Founders Use Technology And Creativity To Shake Up
Food, Media And Transportation
* How To Earn Cash Rewards For Everyday Spending | Paid Program
* Maserati BrandVoice | Paid Program
* Redefining The Future Of Power: Celebrating 10 Years Of The Forbes Power
Women's Summit
* Right Now In Tech: Grace Hopper Celebration 2022
* Right Now In Tech: PyCon U.S. 2022
* Snowflake Summit 2022
* Tech Trailblazers: The Women Disrupting Disruptive Industries | Paid
Program
* The Forbes 400 2022
* The Forbes CEO Next List: 2022
* Top Creators 2022
* Advertise with Forbes
* Report a Security Issue
* Site Feedback
* Contact Us
* Careers at Forbes
* Tips
* Corrections
* Privacy
* Do Not Sell My Personal Information
* Terms
* AdChoices
* Reprints & Permissions
* © 2022 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe
Sign In
BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here
Edit Story
Food & Drink
Editors' Pick
MEET THE CHEF WHO’S SAVING HIGH-END ‘CULINARY TREASURES’ FROM EXTINCTION
Chloe Sorvino
Forbes Staff
I lead Forbes coverage of food and agriculture.
Following
New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it!
Follow
Oct 26, 2022,08:30am EDT|
0
New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it!
* Share to Facebook
* Share to Twitter
* Share to Linkedin
Chef Dan Barber has a question he asks when he meets a seed breeder: “What are
you throwing away that keeps you up at night?”
Often, the breeder moves to open a desk drawer or cabinet, where some seeds have
been collecting dust. The breeder can’t bring themselves to throw them away.
Barber’s seed brand, Row 7, relies on a network of 55 breeders who, as Barber
describes, have “come out of the woodwork” to commercialize the kinds of
vegetables and grains they adore but haven’t been able to grow. Barber finds
that more often than not, these strains are the most flavorful and sustainable
of a breeder’s collection even if they didn’t find a home before he arrived.
Barber explains this phenomenon from his restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns,
which tops many world’s best restaurant lists from its perch on an experimental
farm in Tarrytown, New York. He’s clad in chef whites and deep inside the
kitchen — at one point Barber stops halfway through a response to make a plea to
his staff, “Can you put that crab on ice?” Then he’s back to his point: “Even in
the hands of the best farmer, with the best soil, with the best rotations, if
the genetics aren’t there to be expressed, then the cake has already been baked.
It’s too late.”
Chef Dan Barber holds a Row 7 squash.
Gentl and Hyers
Barber and his cofounder Michael Mazourek have been trying to reinvigorate the
seed industry with a model hinged on “true seasonality,” as Barber boils it
down. Now, Row 7 is expanding its markets. The Badger Flame Beets, squashes
named Honeypatch and Koginut, along with a cornucopia of other varieties, are
hitting more stores this fall.
The high-end produce is carving out a niche among shoppers who see the ultimate
luxury as hyper-local, terroir-driven sustainability. That’s hard to come by at
your typical grocery store. Barber’s seed business suggests a revolution in the
way food is currently done in the U.S. As forests have been cut away into
commodity cropland and the kinds of food grown has been reduced to a handful of
key crops, crucial biodiversity has eroded. Row 7 offers a path to an expansion
of flavors and a widening of choices on a regional level without reliance on
pesticides or other chemicals — in short, stronger farms with a better chance at
thriving amid climate change.
Customers are willing to pay for it. The produce will sell at prices slightly
above bulk-bin organic. Barber says prices have to be high because the brand is
shelling out for a lot, including some of the first home-compostable packaging
in use in America. A pound-and-a-half bag of his Badger Flame Beets will cost
around $4.49, while the same sized bag of Upstate Abundance Potatoes will cost
$5.49. Koginut Squash will sell for $2.49 per pound. A two-pack of Honeypatch
Squash will sell for $4.29.
Says Barber: “We are on the high end, but not in a gross way.”
A two-pack of Honeypatch Squash will sell for $4.29 at Whole Foods starting this
month.
Gentl and Hyers
Row 7 produce will now test its popularity across some Boston and other
Northeastern locations of Whole Foods, which calls them flavor-first “culinary
treasures.” That may represent a small overall footprint, but that’s because
that’s how much Row 7’s farmers can handle. “The retail caught us by surprise,”
Barber says, “the interest that was there.”
Row 7’s produce certainly is different. Decades of prioritizing speed and
efficiency over healthy foods have stripped many breeds of their flavor and even
their nutritional content.
Most of the seeds sold today require farmers to comply with certain kinds of
farming, and grow breeds that could withstand traveling long distances and
spending weeks if not months in warehouses. Often, it necessitates the use of
non-organic fertilizer, herbicides and other chemical inputs, which contribute
to the pollution of waterways and degrade soil.
“It’s closing a loop and fixing some gaping holes in our food system,” Barber
says. “If we’re not thinking about seed, we’re missing a huge part of the
story.”
Row 7 seeds are bred to naturally withstand harsh conditions without chemicals.
Row 7 also guarantees its farmers with a contract to purchase what they can
produce at above-market rates.
Says Barber: “You change seed and the whole system starts to change.”
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website. Send me a secure tip.
Chloe Sorvino
Follow
Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture at Forbes. Her book Raw
Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat
will be published in
... Read More
* Editorial Standards
* Print
* Reprints & Permissions