By Joshua Machinga
The chronic diseases of our era—from heart disease and diabetes to cancer and obesity—have their roots in nutrition. But it’s easily overlooked that nutrition has its roots in agriculture, in the very soil the food is grown in. Healthy soil grows healthy food, and healthy food makes for healthy people, and healthy people grow healthy soil. It’s a sweet, simple chain of events that carries immense benefits and yet is often ignored. There is a small but expanding movement that aims to connect the dots between agriculture and human health. And I think that anyone concerned with their own and their families’ health needs to be part of this movement that promotes cultivating fertile ground for a healthy society. As John Jeavons, Executive Director of California based Ecology Action says “I believe medical professionals need to broaden their expertise beyond how food influences the health of individuals … to how individual, community, and societal food choices affect the availability and quality of natural resources: soil, water, genetic biodiversity, and nonrenewable energy. Everything we and animals eat is linked to soil. It is the life-support system for plants, animals, and eaters. Healthy soil is the basis for a healthy plane.”
A life-support system: some very interesting facts about soil you might not know
Soil is a surprisingly interesting and staggeringly important resource. Mr. Jeavons describes soil as the Earth’s skin—a delicate living, breathing ecosystem covering much of the Earth’s surface. One teaspoon of soil from American native grassland contains between 600 million and 800 million individual organisms, many of which have yet to be discovered, with several microscopic miles of fungi, more than 10,000 individual protozoa, and 20 to 30 beneficial nematodes. Soil is a virtual community of living organisms. The richer the biological diversity, the better the soil.
All food that is grown on the Earth is impacted by the soil food web, powered by plants, lichen, moss, bacteria, and algae in the soil that use the sun’s energy to fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Other soil organisms get energy and nutrients by feeding on the organic compounds found in plants, other organisms and their waste products. As organisms die and decompose, their nutrients become food for plants and other organisms. This web is an essential lifeline for all plants to receive nutrition and, in turn, for animals and humans to receive nourishment.
If you’ve ever taken an interest in gardening or producing your own food, you’ve probably thought about soil “health” – the capacity for soil to be used productively without negatively impacting future productivity, the ecosystem, or the environment. The health of the soil not only depends on its natural characteristics, such as its texture, but also on certain dynamic components that can be changed depending on how you manage the soil. The way the farmer chooses to treat the soil impacts its fertility, which impacts the food that he/she grows.
Modern agriculture takes its toll
A bowl of dirt tells the story of the age-old dance between life and death that feeds our planet. Decaying matter goes back to the earth and feeds it, creating a cycle in which the soil becomes fertile and ready to support life again. This balance was understood and put into practice every day on your great-grandfather’s farm. Before modern fertilizers were available, the nutrients in the soil were in balance because farms had livestock and the manure was applied to the field. They grew cover crops to return nutrients to the soil and used organic material as well. They didn’t go to the store and buy a big bag of fertilizer. They planned the whole crop rotation to benefit the soil.
Today, modern agriculture is a vastly different scenario, with enormous centralized farms growing single crops and relying on synthetic inputs from outside for productivity. How does that affect soil health? To some extent, if you grow the same crop year after year (monoculture), you risk the biological diversity of the soil. Crops that require intensive tillage, produces compaction, and high pesticide use decreases soil health.
Erosion is another big threat to soil health. Poor land and agriculture management practices allow the wind and water to degrade the by removing organic matter, clay particles, and nutrients, thus destroying the community of soil organisms. Erosion decreases nutrient bioavailability, root growth, plant fertility, biological productivity, moisture retention, and water filtration of soil, and it perpetuates further erosion. For Example, in June 2008, 60% of Iowa’s counties lost an average of 7 tons of soil per acre due to flooding, amounting to 15,680 lbs of soil lost per acre in one month. The Soil Science Society of America reports that it takes 500 years to build 1 inch of topsoil. Erosion is a big concern for soil health.
The heavy use chemicals beginning in the 1950s has also been linked with excessive erosion and water contamination. Modern soil enhancements don’t always take into account their effects on soil biological activity. The big impact when farmers use synthetic fertilizers is that they tend not to use organic fertilizers. In the pre-World War II era, most farmers used manure and soil rotation. But when synthetic fertilizers came along, they supplied nutrients. Nutrients are important, but the organic matter is also important because it sustains the life of the organisms in the soil. The paradigm I cater to is that we feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants. The organic material applied to the soil will decompose, and the plant will absorb those nutrients. But with synthetic fertilizer, you directly feed the plants but not the soil.
Modern agriculture’s dependence on pesticides is another sore spot for soil. The use of pesticides on soil is like a vicious cycle. When soil is degraded and in poor health, it is less resilient to pests. Pesticides lower the biological diversity in the soil so that there are less beneficial organisms in the soil that might keep pathogenic organisms and insects in check. This results in farm management that is inclined to include more pesticides. Poor soil health leads to increased pesticides, inputs, and cost, which negatively influence the health of the soil. A simple solution is inducing a diverse mixture of plant materials that creates a more hostile environment for pests. Crop rotation can help take away the crop-specific overwintering sites that pathogens and insects need to survive.
A sustainable soil system
When it comes to soil health, it’s all about sustainability. A sustainable food system includes diversified farming systems that renew the soil and regenerate natural resources by maintaining soil nutrients, eliminate dependence on chemical pesticides and herbicides, promote crop diversity by using heirlooms seeds, decrease erosion and preserve water. GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Mini-farming provides a better solution that mimics nature and balances its consequences with the environment. Its soil preparation practices create growing beds with more surface area to maximize the effect of nature’s life processes. The health and vigor of the soil are maintained through the use of compost. Close plant spacing is used to protect soil microorganisms, reduce water loss, and maximize yields. Companion planting facilitates the optimal use of nutrients, light and water, encourages beneficial insects and creates a vibrant mini-ecosystem within the garden. A focus on the production of calories for the farmer and carbon for the soil ensures that both the farmer and the soil will be adequately fed and that the farm will be sustainable. The use of open-pollinated seeds helps to preserve genetic diversity and enables gardeners to develop their own acclimatized cultivars. All of the components of this system must be used together for optimum effect and to avoid depleting the soil.
GROW BIOINTENSIVE® mini-farming techniques make it possible to grow food using:
- 67% to 88% less water
- 50% to 100% less fertilizer
- 99% less energy than commercial agriculture, while using a fraction of the
resources
These techniques can also:
- Produce 2 to 6 times more food
- Build the soil up to 60 times faster than in nature, if properly used
- Reduce by half or more the amount of land needed
In our villages in Western Kenya, farmers are doing a terrific job using GROW BIOINTENSIVE® Mini- farming. They might not bring it back 100%, but they are bringing it back to a better level. A lot of change is coming to farms. Many villagers recognize the importance of preserving their farmlands as it their only inheritance that they can pass on to the next generation. Many family values the land because they own it and their lives is depended on it.
Healthy soil’s nutritional payback
Does soil health directly impact the nutritional quality of food? “There is a very direct link between the health of the soil and the health of the plant. If you have diseased soil, you can’t have a healthy plant.
Soil scientists believe that we’ve barely scratched the surface on understanding this issue, but the bits of data coming in are intriguing. For starters, it does appear that the fruits and vegetables we are eating today may have fewer nutrients than they did 50 years ago. Dr. Donald R. Davis, a research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas in Austin, analyzed data gathered by the USDA in 1950 and 1999 on the nutrient content of 43 fruit and vegetable crops, discovering that six out of 13 nutrients had declined in these crops over the 50-year period. Seven other nutrients showed no significant, reliable changes. The minerals phosphorous, iron, and calcium declined between 9% and 16%; protein declined 6%; riboflavin declined 38%; and ascorbic acid declined 15%. It is time for us to revisit our food system. Thank God, Ecology Action has already done a lot for us and all we need is to learn and teach it out.
Science shows that greater the diversity of organisms in the soil, greater the nutrient profile of the soil. Well-nourished soil will grow plants with optimal nutrient profiles. If animals and people eat those plants, they will have greater micronutrient intake. Just like plants, animals, and humans, soils need to be fed in order to keep the vibrant and diverse community of organisms alive.
Our farmer’s farms created by using GROW BIOINTSNIVE® Mini-farming methods are many things: They’re clean because they make rational use of natural resources, and they’re fair because they provide nutrition and a source of income to the communities that cultivate them. But let’s not forget that they’re also good!
In Nakwangwa village, a community garden is run by an association of 25 farmers and serves as a kind of training ground for passing on knowledge about GROW BIOINTSNIVE® Mini-farming techniques from older to younger generations. One of the recipes the farmers prepare with their produce is millet with vegetables. Millet is one of the oldest grains, already known to the Ancient Greeks. It can tolerate drought, making it well suited to arid African regions, and is also rich in B vitamins and gluten-free.
In Kiminini, Pathfinder Academy school garden is part of an educational program on GROW BIOINTSNIVE Mini-farming practices which includes workshops on Kenyan cuisine. From here comes a vegan recipe made with local vegetables known in the local language as Kunde, Sukuma wiki and Suja. Salati and Kabeji mwiti are from the Brassicaceae family. Brassicas are originally from Asia, but they have long been part of Africa’s traditional vegetable heritage. These two vegetables have cabbage-like leaves and a sweet flavor, while Suja has a bitter taste and is enjoyed by the elderly.
We are immensely proud of this garden that links what is on the farm to the classroom, to the kitchen and on the dining table three times a day.
Joshua is the Founder and Director of Common Ground for Africa (CGA) in Kitale, Kenya, a community-led organization with a mission to alleviate poverty while also conserving the Earth’s natural resources and biodiversity. CGA strives to demonstrate, in a concrete, observable way, that modern human societies can live sustainably and comfortably with nature. Their projects include training local farmers in sustainable agricultural practices, providing micro loans and training to women (especially widows) through the SiSi (Sister to Sister) microfinancing fund, conducting youth-led public health awareness workshops around issues such as HIV/AIDS and sanitation, offering educational opportunities to nearly 500 children (often orphaned and vulnerable children) through the Pathfinder Primary School, and providing vocational and entrepreneurial training to young women through the Lenana Girls High School, where each student recently received funding to start small enterprises. Learn more about volunteer opportunities with Joshua at CGA here: http://www.villagevolunteers.org/volunteer-abroad/destinations/kenya/common-ground-africa/
We’re grateful to Joshua for sharing this with us and the larger Village Volunteers community. Thank you, Joshua!