Princetonians Photo: Craig Leon ’85

Published March 30, 2023

Craig Leon holding a plant.

Photo: Damian Edi

CULTIVATING CROPS: Craig Leon ’85 is the founder of Cloud Forest Organics, an organization that operates 30 miles south of the equator on a 170-acre parcel of land to produce naturally occurring foods for commercial sale. Foods native to the cloud forests of Ecuador include lucuma, a fruit the flavor of caramel, and tocte, a wild and now endangered walnut. Profit is only a piece of Leon’s vision: His larger aim is to restore and conserve cloud forests by developing an alternative food production system. Since rewilding the land, native plants, birds, fish, amphibians, and mammals have returned. Leon sees this as success. “Even if this project had no commercial value … would we still do it? The answer is absolutely yes.”

Read more about Leon in this Tiger of the Week story.

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