How did organic food become a million dollar endeavor in the Egyptian desert?

Despite what appears to be continuing bad news from Egypt, SEKEM is an exciting profitable company located in a huge 2000 acre property east of Cairo. SEKEM was started by an Egyptian, Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in 1977, with a vision of turning the desert into a flourishing organic farm. Today this award-winning project consists of a large organic farm that hires only local people, schools for local children, a university, and processing and packaging plants for marketing their products throughout Africa and Europe. It also partners with over 700 Egyptian farmers to encourage soil reclamation and organic farming. SEKEM has become an exemplary model for desert reclamation and organic farming.