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Phoenix666 writes:

Bryce Lundberg is elated, which is saying a lot for a California farmer these days.

"Hop on in," he says, wading into eight acres of ragged stalks, their seed tassels turning russet in the desert sun.

Lundberg, 54, soon is chest-high in quinoa, a crop that is thriving in an unexpected place: on a patch of mediocre soil that lies below sea level in the scorching-hot Imperial Valley in California, more than 4,500 miles removed and some 10,000 feet down in elevation from its native range in South America's Andes Mountains.

If the harvest proves profitable here, California could dominate yet another niche crop, as the grain-like seed graduates from health-craze fad to a popular ingredient in energy bars, cereals and even drinks. Acreage dedicated to quinoa may reach into the thousands in the next two years in California, a state that already is a hub for quinoa imported from South America. That's about where kale was in 2007 before it took off.

Grows on marginal land, is good for you, and tastes good. What's not to like?

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