The July 19th edition of The Economist had a wonderful obituary on Simon Groot who transformed tropical vegetables. He was from Holland and his family business revolved around cabbage, which grew beautifully in Europe.
He was on a trip to Java and saw this cabbage in less than glory; they did not do well in the tropical weather with special pests and diseases. He believed the problem was bad seeds.
His family sold its business and Mr. Groot set out to improve the seeds like his family had done since 1867.
There was Amaranth, water spinach, mung beans, daikon, choy sum and tatsoi. His firm, East-West Seed improved the income of 20m small farmers in 80+ countries.
Seeds were carefully cross bred and were successful, but the key was to get farmers to adopt his seeds and methods. This is more difficult than you might expect because farmers do not like change.
This took decades (but Mr. Groot lived until he was 90).
Hybridization meant that seed could not be kept, but he made his seeds affordable at a $1 per packet.
One man made a huge difference. Mr. Groot was not seeking wealth from those who could not pay, but the gift of helping others.
He helped establish better food habits, with nutrition and vitamins.
Many of the plants he helped to improve are becoming part of the diet of those in Asia and Latin America.
This is part of the future of food.
In my recent book, Reflections of a Futurist, I talk about the future of food and how obits can inform the future. This is a perfect example.