The Musk Who Wants to Change The Way We Eat

Globally, productivity isn't our big food problem. Sustainability is. But the best solution for sustainability is probably the opposite of GMO - protecting heirloom varieties and local crops, using crop rotation and low-till techniques to minimize soil damage, and thinking about farms in terms of centuries rather than years.

As of late April, Musk was finishing off the contracts for the community bond arrangement. Musk, believing that transparency is critical in social investing, shares some details: For a ten million dollar low-interest loan (with $4 million approved initially, and the rest coming as the project develops), he will open as many as five community restaurants — including the Shelby Farms operation — and possibly even take over the farm on the property. In exchange, he vows to deliver a specified list of social benefits to Memphis (when the entire operation gets rolling): an annual boost to the local farming economy of over a million dollar; an additional $1–2 million to the “real food economy (fishmongers, bakers, etc.); 600,000 guests per year served with “food that is better for you”; $140,000 of the yearly proceeds donated to the Learning Gardens (which had already received its initial stake, largely from Mason Hawkins’ Pyramid Peak foundation); and “up to 270 quality, mission-driven jobs.”

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