Alex Velez & Nikhil Arora are the founders of Back to the Roots. Inspired by the idea of turning waste into wages & fresh local food during their last semester at UC Berkeley, they experimented in Alex’s fraternity kitchen by growing a test bucket of oyster mushrooms in recycled coffee grounds. With that one bucket and a grant of $5000 from UC Berkeley Chancellor for social innovation, Velez and Arora forged a new career path — full-time urban mushroom farmers! They shared their story in April 2011 at TEDxPresidio.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nboaE3O8zE8[/youtube]