The Associate Press reports that a Colorado judge has ruled that a farmer spraying against mosquitoes needs to prevent the pesticide from drifting into a neighboring organic farm, likening the action to a form of trespassing. Judge Charles Greenacre ruled July 12 that two farmers cannot use pesticides within 150 feet of an organic farm run by a neighbor. The case originated in Delta County. James and Georgia Hopper, farmers near Hotchkiss, had sprayed Fyfanon, a pesticide containing malathion, in 2010 in efforts to protect themselves against the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. Georgia Hopper was hospitalized after becoming ill with the virus in 2006. Their property is near Gordon MacAlpine and Rosemary Bilchak’s farm, which can lose its organic status if the presence of pesticide is detected. The couple started their farm to avoid food with pesticides because MacAlpine has leukemia and pesticides can suppress his immune system.

Survey: Denver’s makes Top 10 veg-friendly list

Denver only ranks ninth while Seattle is rated America’s most vegetarian-friendly city with the highest percentage of restaurants offering vegetarian fare, topping San Jose, Calif., according to a survey of the country’s top 10 vegetarian cities. According to online food-ordering company GrubHub, the menus of more than 15,000 online ordering restaurants were reviewed to obtain the rankings. Following Seattle and San Jose were: San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Tex., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago.

Denver school lunches: 95 percent made from scratch

Theresa Hafner, executive director of the food services department for Denver Public Schools, told the New York Times: “Ten or 15 years ago, you wouldn’t have seen a salad bar, a fresh fruit and veggie bar, homemade pasta salads. You probably wouldn’t have seen homemade biscuits, or homemade hamburger buns, made with a white whole-wheat flour.” In Denver, 95 percent of the public school lunch menu and about half of the breakfast menu is now prepared from scratch, since the school district introduced cooking from scratch in the fall of 2010.

Community invited to vote on sustainable food project proposals

The C.A.F.E. series – part of Slow Food Denver’s Community Table program – meets 4:30 to 830 p.m. Aug. 5 at Denver’s Brava! Pizzeria. Attendees will enjoy a local community-style wine dinner and vote for food project which will receive grants. Reservations: slowfooddenver.org.