People growing food in healthy soil hold all the keys to food security and wellness. Increasingly, we see the benefits from eating whole foods grown in these regenerative systems. Healthy soil is the foundation for the ecosystem services that are at the heart of our food production system. The evidence or metric for this relationship is the nutrient value in the food. Plants take up nutrients more effectively and efficiently when mediated through a biological system. Restoring and optimizing ecosystem services in soil has far reaching positive consequences on climate, water and air quality, and general planet wellbeing.
Everything we do on the land has associated risks that can have positive, neutral, or negative consequences on soil health. All our agroecosystem management practices need to be in synch with the concept of building and sustaining healthy soils. Firstly, we need to stop losing soil through erosion, and start the process of rebuilding or regenerating soil if we are to produce enough quality food to feed a growing population.
Food security too often is associated with abundance and yield. The concept of food security based on quality would mean we eat less food get the tasty nutrition we need and be well without compromising the environment. It is this model for agriculture that will nourish us and future generations.
Let’s talk about the steps we can take towards making food our medicine.