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Nominations are due by December 4, 2009

$10,000 cash prize to be awarded in the Food Producer category

Through this national award, NRDC will recognize extraordinary contributions that advance ecologically integrated farming practices, climate stewardship, water stewardship, farmland preservation, and social responsibility from farm to fork.

A Growing Green Award will be given to an outstanding individual in each of four categories, including Food Producer, Business Leader, Thought Leader, and Water Steward. A $10,000 cash prize will be awarded in the Food Producer category and all winners will be widely celebrated through outreach to media and NRDC’s networks.

Click here to nominate yourself or someone you know >>

Read below about eligibility and criteria >>

Meet the 2009 Growing Green Awards Panel of Judges

NRDC is grateful to the following sustainable food leaders who have volunteered to join the Growing Green Awards selection panel:

Susan Clark, Executive Director, Columbia Foundation (Chair)
A.G. Kawamura, Secretary of Agriculture, California Department of Food and Agriculture
Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley
Nora Pouillon, Chef and founder of Restaurant Nora, the nation’s first certified organic restaurant

Susan Clark

Susan Clark has served as executive director of the Columbia Foundation since 1979. Under her direction, the Foundation’s major initiatives have focused on sustainable food and farming, human rights, support for marriage equality, and support for the arts in San Francisco and London. Clark is a co-founder of the Stewardship Council of the Roots of Change Fund, a foundation collaborative that works to promote the transition to sustainable food and farming systems in California. In addition, Clark previously served as the executive director of the Mortimer Fleishhacker Foundation, and was a founding member of the steering committee for the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders.

A.G. Kawamura

A.G. Kawamura is the secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2003. Secretary Kawamura has represented California agriculture on numerous national committees, including as chair of the Specialty Crop Task Force of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) and as a member of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee. Kawamura is the immediate past president of the Western Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Previously, he served on the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, and was president of the Orange County Farm Bureau and chairman of the Western Growers Association.

Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is a distinguished author on food, agriculture, and the environment. He has authored numerous books, including In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2009), winner of the James Beard Award, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006), which was named by both the New York Times and Washington Post as one of the ten best books of the year. The Omnivore’s Dilemma also won the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, and the James Beard Award for best food writing. Pollan’s other works include The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001), A Place of My Own (1997), and Second Nature (1991). He was featured in the 2009 film documentary Food, Inc., and will appear in the The Botany of Desire, which will be broadcast on public television this fall.
Photo: Alia Malley

Nora Pouillon

Nora Pouillon is a chef and founder of Restaurant Nora, the first certified organic restaurant in the United States. Her achievements demonstrate a lifetime commitment to nutritionally wholesome food, balanced eating, and sustainable living. Pouillon was instrumental in creating the organic certification standards for restaurants, and initiated the first producer-only farmer’s markets in Washington, D.C., now known as Fresh Farm Markets. She currently sits on the board of directors for several organizations, including Fresh Farm Markets, the Amazon Conservation Team, Earth Day Network, and Wholesome Wave. She also authored Cooking with Nora, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Cookbook Award.

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Eligibility

Recipients may represent a variety of fields including food production, food service, retail or restaurants, academia, journalists, policy advocacy, and government. The panel will consider candidates from across the country (candidates operating outside of the United States will not be considered) Individuals in the following four categories are eligible: 

Food Producer: Farmers or other food producers, including aquaculture, who employ innovative techniques to sustain agriculture, the natural environment, workers and community;

Business Leader: Entrepreneurs who effectively use the marketplace to promote sustainable food systems, develop infrastructure that enables producers to be more sustainable, or advance sustainable innovations anywhere along the supply chain from farm to fork;

Thought Leader: Visionaries who advance sustainability as it relates to food through creative research, public education, and outreach.

Water Steward: Farmers or other food producers who have made extraordinary contributions in demonstrating water efficiency, sustainable water use and the protection of water quality.

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Growing Green Awards Criteria

In selecting from nominees, the awards selection panel will consider the following criteria:

• Innovation in promoting ecologically-integrated food systems. This may include minimizing inputs of energy, water, and chemicals; reducing pollution and global warming gas emissions; use of on-farm polyculture; increasing natural resilience; and stewardship of biodiversity, pollinators, open space and land resources.
• Potential to achieve wide scale adoption, implementation or behavioral change.
• Advancement of health, safety, and economic viability for farmers, farmworkers and rural communities.

last revised 10/5/2009