admin Varied Emotions and Perspectives Make Freedom Difficult to Discuss As regular listeners already know, this podcast aims to rotate topics so that each episode examines aspects of one of the four cornerstones, the environmental issues, the agriculture, the health, and the freedom that set the foundation of healthy food systems. As the host, I find … Read more
Herbicides Don’t Just Kill Weeds In the last post, we looked at biological cascades in ecosystems. We saw that seemingly unrelated activities are linked together through complex food webs. Living creatures that seem unrelated at first glance turn out to be so dependent on one another that what benefits one species can benefit many. Likewise, … Read more
What exactly is a food web? Nearly a century ago, the ecologist Charles Elton introduced us to the concept of food chains –linear series of links that shows how food, which provides the environmental currency of nutrients and energy, moves through an ecosystem. No doubt you’ve seen illustrations of food chains. These often begin with … Read more
Why Should I Build a Farm? The economy of the post-pandemic world has changed. As the world takes on the challenge of economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 world, displaced workers are looking at digital sales, direct marketing, and, believe-it-or-not, organic farming as niche industries where they can hang their hats anew, and restore the … Read more
Regenerative Agriculture is a Promising Approach to Building Better Food Systems. Regenerative agriculture is rapidly becoming a buzzword, largely because it offers great promise for restoring soil and environmental health while building farm profits and improving human health and nutrition. What is not to love about the concept? Food Systems are Built on Four Interdependent … Read more
Stepping into Regenerative Agriculture So, you think you are ready to get on the regenerative agriculture bandwagon? You are not alone. Farmers, food think tanks, , environmental groups, indigenous communities, and even the New York Times are taking interest in regenerative agriculture. Regenerative production models are recognized as a way to restore the environment, combat … Read more
This conference was held in early 2020, just before COVID-19 became a household word. The speaker insights are as relevant today as they were then. You can view playbacks on our sister site, at endofite.com. Watch the Playbacks Good Nutrition Begins On Farms and In Gardens. Hipocrates once recognized food as the best medicine. Of … Read more
Brackish Water is Toxic To Crop Plants About 97% of the fresh water on the earth is considered too brackish (too salty) for most agricultural use. Desalination, or purification, is of course possible. Mechanical desalination processes are widely known. But making desalination cost effective and environmentally friendly can be challenging. The National Acadamies tell us … Read more
Healthy Soils Require Amendments It is unrealistic to believe you can keep farming or gardening, and keep taking nutrients out of the soil without putting something back now and then. In the late 20th century, this was done with chemical fertilizers. No doubt, chemical fertilizers are still used today. When properly applied, qualified experts will … Read more
Today’s informed consumers are growing food at home to ensure that what they are consuming is both free of pesticides and rich in nutrients. These growers are quick to learn there are a lot of confusing so-called best practices for gardening, pest management, and soil amendments. No doubt, some of this confusion centers around over-anxious … Read more
