NEW YORK – Fast Company magazine cites nine people and their companies who are changing the future of food:

Cory Carman of the Carman Ranch, a 3,100-acre cattle-raising operation in Wallowa Valley, Oregon, convinced her family to turn to holistic ranching and eliminate chemical fertilizer, minimize irrigation, and move cattle methodically, “keeping them in one place just long enough to munch the grass tops and drop fertilizing waste,” writes the news source. Today, grass at the ranch grows thick and supports nearly 70% more cattle. Carman educates other ranchers about the benefits of holistic land management. "They’re giddy about the potential," she told the news source, adding, "It’s about getting more nutrients into the soil and getting more out of their ranches in return."

Mansour Samadpour, food safety expert and president of IEH Laboratories, is helping Chipotle recover from its recent foodborne illness outbreak. He told the news source that as more companies turn to organic, natural foods, it doesn’t mean the food is safe because microbes are organic and natural. Samadpour advises that it’s better to set up systems properly in the beginning, rather than have to deal with an outbreak. “Food safety is a moral obligation.”

Kara Goldin, founder of Hint Water, is appealing to consumers who want healthier beverage options. Fast Company notes that Hint offers 23 varieties of fruit-flavored drinks that use fruit oils to add flavor, with no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Starting Hint "was really a health initiative versus launching a beverage company," Goldin told the new source. The company reached an estimated $80 million in sales in 2015, which is nearly double its 2014 revenue.

Nick Green and Gunnar Lovelace, co-CEOs of healthy food retail outlet Thrive Market, launched in 2014 and sells high-end natural products up to 50% below market rates. The company has raised $58 million in funding and has nearly 200,000 members who pay a $60 annual fee. “People don’t join just for low prices and home delivery," Lovelace told the news source. "They trust the quality of our products." For every new customer, Thrive donates a membership to a family in need.

Megan Miller and Leslie Ziegler, founders of Bitty Foods, are making high-protein crickets a palatable meat alternative. Fast Company notes that Bitty Foods has developed everything from cricket flour to Chiridos, air-puffed chips made from crickets, lentils and spices. “People just need to try it," Ziegler told the news source. “Any hesitation is usually erased after a taste.”

Danielle Gould, founder of Food + Tech Connect, developed the networking platform to unite food producers with digital creators through meet-ups and hackathons. Connections users have made through F+TC allow the more small-scale producers to sell their goods via online marketplaces, and developers are creating cloud-based systems for restaurants. "We’re teaching people to prototype solutions," Gould told the news source. "It’s exposed everyone to new ways of thinking."

Bryant Terry, chef in residence at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora, is working to lower disease rates in food-insecure communities, writes Fast Company. In 2002, he founded b-healthy, an after-school program in New York that teaches kids how to grow and cook fresh food. "They were trying food they wouldn’t have in any other circumstances, just because they made it," he told the news source, noting that he is launching similar programs in San Francisco and Oakland.