It's not often we see crowdsourcing applied to food products, and when we do—Yellow's chocolate bar and Vitaminwater's flavour contest both come to mind—it's typically a matter of soliciting input on product development. Bringing the concept into the realm of the supply chain, New Zealand's Giapo Gelato is now inviting consumers who grow organic fruit to sign up as suppliers for the store's new “Giapo Certified Organic” line.

Located in Auckland, Giapo Gelato serves up an all-natural line of healthful gelato and sorbets, with inventive flavours including Spirulina, Feijoa and Chili Chocolate. Earlier this week, it kicked off its new crowdsourcing effort to incorporate organic fruits supplied by the crowds. To be eligible for consideration, consumers must guarantee that no herbicides or pesticides have been used within the growing area of their fruit; samples will be randomly tested to ensure compliance. The price of the fruit supplied will then be calculated in current market prices, and Giapo will give suppliers free Giapo Gelato in return.

Given the garden produce that tends to overflow each growing season, it's a safe bet there are gardeners aplenty willing to exchange some of that abundance for free ice cream—not to mention a good status story and some (still) made here appeal. Next, who will find a way to help consumers unload all that excess zucchini...? ;-)

Website: www.giapo.com
Contact: giapo@giapo.com

There seems to be no end in sight to the urban gardening innovations. No sooner did we publish our story about the rooftop garden at London's Thornton's Budgens than we got word of Triscuit's Home Farming effort, which aims to create 50 community-based home farms across the United States in 2010.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are interested in growing food in a backyard garden, according to a recent Triscuit survey, and three out of four of those surveyed prefer to eat foods with a few, simple ingredients. Toward that end, Kraft's Triscuit brand recently teamed up with nonprofit group Urban Farming to launch what it calls a Home Farming movement, with a site that aims to provide a place where both beginners and seasoned gardeners can connect and get advice about growing food at home. Four million packages of Original and Reduced-Fat Triscuit crackers have been packed with cards including basil or dill seeds that are ready for planting; with the help of crop guides, a community forum and tips from master gardener Paul James, visitors to Triscuit's new site can use those seeds to reap the rewards of home gardening. Triscuit and Urban Farming are also collaborating to create 50 community-based home farms across the U.S., starting with one in Los Angeles that launched in March; others are slated to appear in such cities as Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tampa, to name just a few. A full list of cities participating in the community-based program is available on the new Triscuit site, along with details about where people can volunteer or get started with their own community-based home farms. Both individual and community farms can be plotted on the site's Google-based Live Map.

There's certainly no shortage of gardening advice sites out there; what's interesting here is the big-brand involvement and the “seeding” of all those boxes of Triscuits. Not that it's surprising, mind you, given the USD 167.5 billion-plus globally that's at stake here. (Source: Husqvarna's 2010 Global Garden Report.) Other food brands: time to find—and flaunt—your own green thumb...?

Website: www.triscuit.com/homefarming
Contact: www.nabiscoworld.com/misccontent/contactus/contact.aspx?m=cu_form1

Spotted by: Jim Stewart

Businesses can give back to the world in many ways, from making one-off donations to innovating new, socially minded solutions of their own. Opting more toward the latter end of the scale, Vai Vai is a drink brand that dedicates one side of each Tetrapak container to featuring worthy social organizations.

Founded last year, French Vaiva is a registered collaborative whose principal product is Vai Vai, a coconut water beverage made from coconuts that are hand-picked on socially minded farms in the southern Philippines. Nothing is added to the healthful coconut water, and the project helps to support 8,000 local families with development programs, microcredit and training. Product transportation is chosen as sustainably as possible, and Vaiva uses its profits to hold concerts, sports matches and other events. Most interesting of all, however, is that one side of each Vai Vai package is set aside for the promotion of various socially minded artists, entrepreneurs and associations, at no cost to them. Currently, the project of the month is Durable.com.

Packaging space, of course, is something any brand with a physical good could donate in a similar way. One more chance to please the generosity-minded masses of Generation G!

Website: www.vai-vai.com
Contact: www.vai-vai.com/noustrouver/contacts

Spotted by: Florent Lesauvage

If Fortnum's can keep bees on its roof and sell the hyperlocal honey they produce, it stands to reason that other purveyors of food should be able to make the most of their rooftops in a similar way. Enter London grocer Thornton's Budgens, which just began selling organic produce grown in a rooftop garden of its very own.

Dubbed Food from the Sky, the rooftop garden project is a collaboration between Thornton’s Budgens, The Positive Earth Project and the local community. In late May, a crane lifted up the necessary materials onto the roof of Budgens' Crouch End store, including 10 tonnes of compost, fencing, trees and over 100 pallets. The project is collaborating with the heritage seed library to grow a number of endangered species of food; it also plans to run food growing workshops on the roof and provide seeds from the harvest free of charge to residents and schools. The garden's first organic fruits and vegetables just went on sale in Budgens, all grown and harvested by volunteers. All proceeds from the not-for-profit venture will be put back into the project; plans for the future include the addition of chickens and top bar bee hives.

As urban areas continue to sharpen their focus on sustainable and local production, it's not hard to imagine food retailers large and small setting up rooftop farms of their own, buoyed also by consumers' love for a good still-made-here story. Other grocers around the globe: what about you?

Website: www.thorntonsbudgens.com/social-environment/food-from-the-sky
Contact: andrew.thornton.tle@gmail.com

Spotted by: market.se via Maria Dahl Jørgensen

The locavore movement may be focusing new interest on locally produced food, but regional farmers, ranchers and fishermen continue to struggle to find a market for their products. That's as true in the Pacific Northwest as everywhere else, which is why Portland, Ore., nonprofit Ecotrust created FoodHub.

Launched late last year, FoodHub aims to increase food trade in the Pacific Northwest by connecting food buyers of all types and sizes with local farmers, ranchers, fishermen and food manufacturers. For food sellers, FoodHub offers an easy way to let buyers know what products are available and how to make contact to complete a sale. For food buyers—including local restaurants, public schools, grocery stores, caterers, universities and hospitals—FoodHub provides a robust database of food products that are available. Customizable search features allow a buyer to hone in on the exact product specifications they're seeking -- “pallet quantities of Northwest-grown certified organic black eyed peas,” for example. After paying an annual membership fee of USD 100, both buyers and sellers can create detailed online profiles; FoodHub's message center, meanwhile, streamlines communications.

Deborah Kane, vice president of Ecotrust’s Food & Farms program, explains:“FoodHub is designed to be a one-stop-shop for the chef who needs six dozen artichokes for a menu special, the baker looking for a local source for flour, or the large institutional food buyer whose purchasing power could significantly stabilize a family farm.”

Currently, FoodHub is open to food buyers and sellers of all types in Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. However, Ecotrust intends to make the FoodHub platform available to qualified partners in other parts of the country as well. One to emulate in other parts of the world?

Website: www.food-hub.org
Contact: connect@food-hub.org

Spotted by: Anna Brones