The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has announced the nomination period for its third annual Growing Green Awards, given each year to individuals who have demonstrated original leadership in the field of sustainable food and farming.

A Growing Green Award will be given to an outstanding individual in each of the following four categories:

Food Producer: Farmers or other food producers, including aquaculture, who employ innovative techniques to sustain agriculture, the natural environment, workers and community;

Business Leader: Entrepreneurs who effectively use the marketplace to promote sustainable food systems, develop infrastructure that enables producers to be more sustainable, or advance sustainable innovations anywhere along the supply chain from farm to fork;

Knowledge Leader: Scientists or practitioners who advance the knowledge that is needed to increase the sustainability of American food production; and

Young Food Leader: Sustainable food advocates, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and innovators who are 30 years old or younger.

Cash prizes of $10,000 and $5,000 will be awarded in the Food Producer and Young Food Leader categories, respectively, and all winners will be celebrated through outreach to media and NRDC’s networks.

The awards will be selected by an independent panel composed of Dan Barber, Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture; Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism, UC-Berkeley; Maria Rodale, Chairman and CEO, Rodale Inc.; and Dr. Tom Tomich, WK Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, and Director, Agricultural Sustainability Institute, UC-Davis.

Applications are due by December 10, 2010, and must be submitted electronically using the website application process at http://www.nrdc.org/growinggreen.

For more information, contact Suzanne Vyborney at gga@nrdc.org or (415) 875-6134.