Why Regenerative Agriculture is critical to the future of our Health
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What is Regenerative Agriculture?
Simply put, regenerative agriculture is a method of farming that strives to mimic nature. Imagine this as a macro-managed, hands-off farming approach that allows nature to do what it does best when unbothered; Progress and thrive.
Regenerative agriculture implements practices that allow the soil, crops, land, and animals to come into an interconnected balance. In very little time, the land can balance itself and develop a robust ecosystem.
Inputs are minimal when it comes to regenerative agriculture; there is no tilling, pesticide or herbicide spraying, minimal water usage, and zero feed or fertilizer usage.
Regenerative agriculture is, at its heart an approach to farming that puts more back into the environment and society than it takes out. (1)
A central tenet to regenerative agriculture is known as ‘rotational grazing.’ Rotational grazing is a designed farming technique that circulates the animals to different areas of the land. This technique mimics how the land was used hundreds and thousands of years ago when ruminants roamed freely. Through this design, the animals become a natural fertilizer to the land, the soil becomes enriched, and carbon sequestration occurs.
When nature is allowed to use its core intelligence, it weaves itself into a harmonious ecosystem. A biological symphony ensues, which is paramount to our health, the health of future generations, and our planet's health.
What does Regenerative Agriculture have to do with our Health?
Soil!
Soil composition is the single most important factor impacting our health. Research is now directly linking soil composition to be either health-promoting or disease-causing. (2)
A primary focus of regenerative agriculture is soil enhancement. By emphasizing the development of quality soil, every component of the land begins to function far better.
When considering our health now and for future generations, soil composition must be the main discussion topic.
How we take care of the soil is a reflection of how we take care of ourselves and mankind.
A soil rich in organic matter will give rise to healthy microorganisms, leading to healthy crops, leading to healthy animals, leading to healthy foods, leading to healthy humans.
Our foods become real food when our soil is healthy. Foods that are nutrient-dense, rich in minerals and vitamins, and have medicinal like properties. Ultimately, foods that our bodies will start to feel benefits from.
Is the goal of farming not to support human life by giving us the food and nutrients our bodies require? Is the goal of healthcare and doctors not to make us well? Then how did farming become solely about efficiency and yields, and healthcare about managing expensive disease? (1)
Soil and our Microbiome
The conversation about soil and its impact on our health cannot go without mentioning our microbiome.
Health experts now agree that our microbiomes are the most important organ to our health and overall wellbeing. When our microbiomes function properly, our bodies become more resilient to diseases, metabolic dysfunctions, illnesses, and endocrine disruptors.
Living in your gut are hundreds of trillions of bacteria, cells, protozoa, and fungi. One of the gut’s primary functions is turning the food we eat into usable energy. To function properly and for your body to unlock digested foods, a couple of things need to occur.
I will go more into this below.
What is wrong with our Soil today?
Nearly all of our soil today is farmed using conventional practices. Farming practices involving over-tilling of the land, mono-crop planting, glyphosate use (aka round-up), and other destructive methods to increase yield and efficiency.
For decades, these conventional farming practices have exhausted, beaten, and depleted our soil into what I’m going to refer to as rubbish.
Basic, dried-up, poison-filled, toxic, deserted, cancer-causing rubbish
The loss of the world’s fertile soil and biodiversity, pose a mortal threat to our future survival. According to soil scientists, at current rates of soil destruction (i.e. decarbonization, erosion, desertification, chemical pollution), within 50 years we will not only suffer serious damage to public health due to a qualitatively degraded food supply characterized by diminished nutrition and loss of important trace minerals, but we will literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves. Without protecting and regenerating the soil on our 4 billion acres of cultivated farmland, 8 billion acres of pastureland, and 10 billion acres of forest land, it will be impossible to feed the world, keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, or halt the loss of biodiversity. (3)
Let’s look closer at the most used herbicide/pesticide today.
Dr. Zach Bush attributes glyphosate as public enemy number one to the many health problems we face today and will continue facing in the future. At staggering rates, the main health problems observed since the beginning of glyphosate use are cancer, autoimmune disorders, infertility in both men and women, and sadly, our children's diseases.
Glyphosate/Round-up - I strongly encourage you to research this chemical for yourself. Caution: Be aware of how you look at food after you do some digging.
For the sake of keeping this a ‘newsletter,’ I will do my best only to list the main points of how harmful this chemical is and the detriments seen so far:
The indirect effect of glyphosate
Shikimate pathway - This is an enzymatic pathway that exists in plants, fungi, and bacteria. Plants specifically rely on this pathway to produce certain ‘essential’ amino acids. Essential amino acids are necessary to humans and animals' diets because our bodies cannot synthesize them.
Glyphosate targets and blocks the shikimate pathway within plants, bacteria, and fungi. Once again, this pathway's blocking eliminates the building blocks for proteins essential to our body’s health. This means that foods treated with glyphosate (conventional foods) will lack the essential amino acids that we must get from our diet.
More troubling, glyphosate residues found in foods and water are known to cause imbalances and protein dysregulations in our microbiome.
The direct effect of glyphosate in our bodies
When exposed, glyphosate instantly starts destroying the protein structure of the cellular matrix and intracellular systems. This leads to catastrophic cellular dysfunction within the body.
Glyphosate is known to target and denature the proteins in our gut lining. This leads to ‘leaky gut syndrome.’ The protein degradation will cause a tear in our gut lining that releases undigested food particles and toxins into the bloodstream. Almost immediately, this causes inflammatory responses that often go undetected, leading to chronic illnesses, endocrine/hormone dysfunction, autoimmune disorders, chronic diseases, fatigue, cancers, and many other health problems.
Once the gut lining is compromised, every bit of food or water you ingest has the potential to cause harm to the body.
Worth Noting
When geographical population maps are studied, the highest cancer rates can be seen in areas with the highest glyphosate concentrations in the environment.
Click this link to find out more: ‘Cancer Alley.’
Cancer Alley is home to the highest rates of cancer per capita in the entire developed world.
We’re using more pesticides and herbicides in our conventional agricultural systems than ever before.
Cancer rates are on the rise worldwide.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified glyphosate as a human carcinogen.
Incidents of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and metabolic dysfunctions have increased significantly worldwide in the last 30 years. That increase has been sharpest in the U.S. and developed countries, suggesting environmental factors contributing to poor outcomes.
How Regenerative Agriculture can help our planet
September 2020 was the warmest month on record worldwide, with this year set to be one of the five hottest in recorded history, scientists with the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Wednesday.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that our planet is getting warmer. This is primarily caused by humanity and its contribution to carbon emissions. A simple way to put this; carbon is getting trapped in the atmosphere and creating warmer weather across the globe. This is a very straightforward way to put ‘The Greenhouse Effect.’
Our planet needs help offsetting carbon emissions that are being produced by humans.
Carbon emissions are one type of greenhouse gas emission that happens when carbon dioxide enters the air after a human activity or process. They are crucial to this conversation because they are the most significant type of emission in terms of quantity. As of 2017, carbon emissions comprised 82 percent of all total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
In the soil section above, I discuss how soil enhancement is a primary focus for regenerative agriculture. When soil becomes healthy, the soil will absorb carbon from the air. This process is known as carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is a known byproduct of regenerative agriculture.
What can we do?
We can vote with our dollars. By supporting regenerative farms, we can start moving the dial from conventional farming purchases to regenerative agriculture. I highly encourage you to visit some of the sites below - link provided.
Force of Nature, BelCampo, White Oak Pastures, US Wellness Meats Please support these guys or your local farms applying Regenerative Farming practices.
We can raise awareness through conversations with each other and our local farmers, grocery stores, and health officials. Discuss ways to help bridge the gap between our healthcare, food, and agriculture systems.
We can support the initiatives and coalitions that are paving the way in this movement.
Click Here for a link to the Rodale Institute. Download, read, and share their white paper “The Power of the Plate.” They are bringing farmers, consumers, educators, and professionals together.
Click Here for a link to the Savory Institute. Here is their mission statement:
“To facilitate the large-scale Regeneration of the world’s grasslands and the livelihoods of their inhabitants, through Holistic Management.”
Spread articles, videos, books, and podcasts about Regenerative Agriculture
Create businesses within this space. I feel like there are going to be a ton of entrepreneurial opportunities within this space.
A better understanding of our food manufacturers and their practices gives us the power of choice. Our health, the planet, and our future generations should not be at the mercy of poorly-governed, fractured industrial systems.
As consumers, we can drive the change. Consumer awareness will lead to consumer demand.
Happy Holidays, enjoy your loved ones, take care of yourself and each other.
-Zach Winfield
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References
https://www.forumforthefuture.org/scaling-regenerative-agriculture-in-the-us?gclid=CjwKCAiAiML-BRAAEiwAuWVggi3CF761u18NngiUbPrNdAwf6Bl81f0NugXN3ihUIciPuUdMN_ed9hoCxE0QAvD_BwE
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-influence-of-soils-on-human-health-127878980/
https://regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gases/#close