In an expanse of Mexican coastal desert on the Gulf of California, American environmental innovator Carl Hodges is thinking big. He envisions planting vast saltwater-tolerant crops to produce biofuels, capture carbon, create jobs and buffer rising tides. “We are trying to create integrated systems that produce health, jobs, beauty and environmental enhancement,” says Hodges, head of the Seawater Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit developing seawater agriculture. To implement the plan, Seawater Farms Bahia Kino, the foundation’s Mexican counterpart, is creating a large-scale plantation of salicornia (Salicornia bigelovii) on the coast of Sonora state, about 60 miles (155 kms) southwest of Hermosillo. The plantation will be irrigated with saltwater shrimp-farm effluent that otherwise would be piped into the Gulf of California. Oil from... [Log in to read more]