Breeding A Better Tomato, And The Fresh Take Guide To Austin

I saw someone on LinkedIn call Expo West something else — Inflammation West. I laughed, but I also really feel it. The foods may be debuting at a show with natural in the name, but the aisles are dotted with samples that are ultra-processed. I still went all-in, so much so that a few folks I walked with told me they were surprised by how willing I really was to try and taste. I take the anything-can-blow-your-mind-mentality to heart. And I want to give myself the chance to stumble upon something new. That means, now, I hear the sauna calling me to sweat it all out.

There are important headlines I’ve been mulling over during my recovery week after the food fest in Anaheim and then SXSW: the Silicon Valley Bank fallout and what it means for food brands and ag tech startups caught in the crosshairs, of course, but also how Kraft Heinz convinced public schools to sell its lunchables in cafeterias, Sen. Cory Booker trying Josh Tetrick’s no-kill meat, and how the Farm Bill debates are accelerating.

There’s a lot to keep tabs on! You might have seen my name in the New York Times earlier this week, in a blurb promoting a virtual book talk I’m doing next week with authors Marion Nestle, chef Tanya Holland and Alex Prud’homme. I’d love to see you there, at 5:00 pm ET on March 23 — RSVP here, and have a great weekend!

—Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

Order my book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, out now from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.

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The Fresh Take Hit List: Austin

What’s Fresh

This Startup Says It Can Breed A Better Tomato On Demand. California startup Sound Agriculture is launching a pilot project with its new tomato, which it says has been bred quickly using epigenetic techniques to be both flavorful and durable. Forbes senior science editor Alex Knapp reports.

Can Data Deliver Safe And Reliable Water To Jackson, Mississippi? The reality is that the challenges faced by Jackson are ongoing – and the same challenges loom for many other cities in the U.S. South, reports John Sabo.

Why Community Is the B-Corp Movement’s Biggest Strength. As Christopher Marquis writes, businesses can take more responsibility for community and the world.

Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, published on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.

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