Scott Arrington
Small Farm Consultant
CEO 3rd Angel Farm & Publishing
I write this with the hope of inciting a revolution in the cities and suburbs that inspires people to actually get outside and grow their own fresh vegetables. But more than this, to grow them in a way that works in cooperation with nature rather than subverting it. When we grow our food working with the laws of nature, we create win-win relationships between us, our environment, and our food. It does not take a lot of analysis, we just instinctively feel good about this. We know the food was grown without poisoning the air, soil, or water. It is not the typical grocery store produce that travels an average of 1500 miles from source to consumer.
This is called “sustainable agriculture” because ultimately it has the capacity over time to regenerate itself using less and less outside inputs. The big corporate agriculture of today finds itself having to use increasing outside inputs to get the same yield as the year before. This method has a future endpoint and implodes when inputs either run out or become so costly it defies continuance. In the future, when this “unsustainable agriculture” shuts down, what do we do then? Food production will have to go back to being very local and very small.
Why very small? Because big agriculture by necessity has to take shortcuts like using toxins or a disparaged work force to deal with pests, weeds, fertility and harvest demands. A small plot can be managed using slower, less toxic methods with just one person who is likely to be amply compensated. Weeding is a cinch using a couple of specialized hand hoes at the proper time. The best pest deterrent is a healthy biologically active soil, where the plant establishes a symbiotic relationship with the beneficial soil microbes.
The plant provides sugar through the roots to feed these microbes while the microbes protect and feed the plants’ roots. Above ground, a well-nourished plant, much like a person, relies on its immune system to thwart bacterial, fungal, viral, and even insect attackers. Insects are without livers so they are attracted to weak plants with short-chain protein and sugar molecules. Mammals, like humans, thrive on long-chain molecules that a healthy plant provides.
Large corporate farms have to build in the efficiencies of mono-cropping (growing just one crop over a large area any given year). With millions of dollars invested in one crop, they cannot afford one bad year. This forces them to use harsh fertilizers for maximum yield, and poisons to kill any would-be attackers nature brings.
However, the small gardener can mimic nature and build in diversity in the yearly crop selections. Of course, this is less efficient and requires more management, but the payoff is less pest pressure. Crop diversity is foundational to sustainability.
Human health is directly impacted by not only what we eat but also by the quality of what we eat. Most people can discern the difference between car qualities. They understand a Mercedes will cost more than a Volkswagen. Yet when shopping for produce at the grocery, we tend to focus on price. But who hasn’t complained about tasteless tomatoes from the store and then had their eyes open wide when the flavor of a homegrown tomato explodes in their mouth. More flavor means more nutrients which translates to improved human health. Why the difference? The soil! And, just like a Mercedes, expect it to cost more. Forget the car, pay more for healthy food.
Living, fertile soil full of earthworms and beneficial microbes are much more able to bring the full complement of the 23 known nutrients plants need plus 7 more nutrients that humans need. Modern Big Agriculture kills soil life with harsh highly soluble fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. To keep fertilizer costs low they use the bare minimum (normally only 3 elements: N, P, & K) to get a decent crop yield. This leads to nutrient-limited plants that are bad for humans and the environment when toxins are needed to rescue sick plants.
One of the most widely used herbicides in the world since the 1980’s is Glyphosate (trade name, “Roundup”). This non-specific, systemic herbicide kills plants from the inside by blocking the plants usage of micronutrients to make enzymes necessary for its immune system. It is heavily used growing grain crops such as wheat and oats. Refined grains become the starch most packaged foods and breads are made from; the base of the food pyramid. In 2002, plant pathologist Dr. Don Huber was forced to retire from Perdue University for warning of the negative impact this weed killer has on human health. In 2019, Dr. Don Huber was vindicated when a California jury was convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt that Roundup usage had compromised the plaintiff’s immune system resulting in a terminal cancer diagnosis. This is just one real-life example confirming “How food is grown” is a life and death matter.
With the decision to grow your own food garden, the environment benefits as well. In World Wars I & II, individuals and families state-side grew “victory gardens” to help conserve natural resources stretched thin by these massive war efforts. It’s a fact; “victory gardens” helped win these wars against the tyranny of fascist collectivism. They can be used again to help win the war on climate change and global warming, which are stretching thin our natural resources.
Modern, big agriculture methods release a lot of carbon into the atmosphere due to heavy tillage and high nitrogen fertilizer use. Overuse of nitrogen fertilizer stimulates soil microbes to over-consume soil carbon which then is collectively exhaled and gassed off. This leads to unproductive, compacted soils and atmospheric warming. Likewise, deep frequent tillage exposes soil carbon to the sun causing it to gas off as well. An over-abundance of atmospheric carbon gas leads to solar heat being trapped and warming the planet.
Small food gardens achieve sustainability with methods that seek to keep carbon sequestered in the soil, in solid form via compost and humus. Soil carbon houses beneficial microbes, and bonds nutrients at just the right covalence to keep them from leaching away but still easily accessible to plant roots. Soil carbon can hold 4 times its weight in water; conserving water and drought-proofing the cash crop. To achieve carbon sequestering: tillage must be infrequent and shallow, low doses of slow-release organic nitrogen inputs must be used, and cover crops must always be grown when a cash crop is not planted. This protects the soil from the sun and keeps beneficial soil biology happy.
I know firsthand how working the soil, planting, tending, and harvesting the crops makes me feel. It’s a very positive, energizing feeling not easily expressed. If a friend or acquaintance is going through a tough time, I’ll invite them over to help me do something in the garden. There’s always something that needs attention. They always seem to leave happier and more energized than when they came. Gardening is in our DNA. Working a garden brings all the ingredients for great health together:
- Peak Nutrition from eating fresh-picked crops
- Exercise while accomplishing tasks
- A reminder to hydrate with plenty of Water
- Working outdoors in the Sun helps the production of Vitamin D known to elevate one’s mood.
- A well-managed garden has a lot to do with Balance. Not too much water, not too much fertilizer. Gardening is all about timing, so the right things get done at the right time. This allows your plants can reach their full potential.
- Fresh Air is important to health and plants purify the air around you.
- Garden work induces sound Rest.
Working with plants and respecting nature’s laws to produce food is a humbling experience. The garden is full of many natural cycles our Creator has put in place long before we arrived, and they will continue long after we return to the soil. Our purpose is to learn of, and trust in, our Creator and the natural cycles He put in place and left us to steward. This quote pretty much sums up my view of a good steward: “… an exceptional man knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to cherish it and do it no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but because he loves the world and loves his children…” Wendell Berry, 1971
Finally, humor me with some math: as of 2019, there are 7.7 billion people in the world, and this number grows each year by 0.004%. As of 2019, there are roughly 4.23 billion acres of land designated as “farmable” in the world, and this number shrinks each year by 0.004% due to desertification, erosion, sea levels rising and human development. At present, that’s 0.55 acres/person. If it takes 0.1 acre to sustain 1 vegetarian person for 1 year, then in less than 60 years we are at the person to “farmable” land limit. Sub/urban land is not counted as “farmable.” So by growing our own food gardens or buying our food from a local sub/urban farm, we increase the amount of “farmable” land. Add a vegetarian/vegan diet, and we become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Scott Arrington is local to the Atlanta area and is available for lectures, garden installs, and urban garden / small farm/soil consulting. Email: torahisgoodnews@hotmail.com
