You hear a lot these days about the effects of commercial farming on the fertility of the soil. And with good reason; ecologists have been warning us for years about the impending consequences of not being good stewards of our arable land. People are finding out for themselves what conventional farming methods really mean for our food supply.
Commercial farming, the kind done on an industrial scale, only sees that land as a limitless tool to drive up profits. This outlook does not take into consideration that the soil is a non-renewable resource once it has been completely depleted and eroded away. Their outlook is quickly turning our planet into the dust bowl of the 1930's or the desolate island called Easter Island. These practices and philosophies used in farming also mean that industrial farmers are forced to utilize chemical fertilizers to force crops from the depleted soils.
This chemical fertilization uses three basic chemicals: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium. This mans that they are not using organic soil enriching methods to return the 52 essential nutrients and countless other beneficial elements such as bacteria, all of which are needed to maintain healthy soils and healthy plants. Naturally, this means that farmers also need to rely on chemical pesticides and insecticides to deal to with less resistant crops.
The end result of commercial farming is poor soil, unhealthy plants and toxic contaminants in our food supply; this of course bodes well for our own health. The kinds of soil deficiencies caused by industrial farming leads to a multitude of ailments which we need not suffer from if only we would change the way that our food is produced and eat organic foods. It is no coincidence that an increase in industrial food production has accompanied an increase in cancer, diabetes and other illnesses.
So what do we do now? Jerome Rodale (founder of Prevention magazine) once said: " The health of the people is dependent upon the quality of the food they consume. And the quality of their foods depends on the quality of the soil on which that food is grown." So simple, yet so important. Rodale came to this view while studying the Hunzan people, living in mountainous northern Pakistan. The Hunzan practice organic agriculture and served as Rodale's inspiration for adopting an organic viewpoint.
The ingenious irrigation systems used by the Hunzan incorporated fertilization and composting and wood ash was used to repel pests. By using this system for millennia, the soil became incredibly rich and thanks to smart agricultural management, erosion of the topsoil was never a problem. What does this tell us? Simple - that the health of our soil is vital to the health of our crops and by extension, all of us.
In the United States alone, more than 3 billion tons of top soil is lost every year. This is over seven times the rate at which the top soil is amended and replenished. Organic farming looks at the bigger picture, not just the current need. Organic farming means that the health of the soil is taken seriously and is treated as the most important part of the farming process. By supporting our soils and treating our crops properly, organic farming serves to support our health too.
When we choose to eat organically grown food produced by sustainable farming methods we are truly supporting not just ourselves, but also the health of our families, of the environment, and our earth herself. Eating organic is really good for everyone involved.