By Farmer Ben
You have probably heard my story of why I became a farmer. (If not, then join us for a farm tour this spring or summer.) I won’t go into the details now, but I was very sick in my 20’s.
After various diagnoses and recommended surgeries and medications, I saw a naturopathic doctor who tested me for food sensitivities. I am sensitive to milk, wheat, and sugar.
After changing the foods that I was eating, I completely healed within a year. No surgery. No medication.
It recently occurred to me that regenerative agriculture is very similar to naturopathic medicine in many ways.
They both look for root causes rather than treating symptoms. And they both require changing your habits rather than using a chemical or a procedure to temporarily resolve your symptoms.
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The conventional agricultural approach to weeds is to kill them, either with chemicals or by physically destroying and removing them (similar to medication and surgery).
The regenerative agricultural approach to weeds is to understand why they are there. Weeds are opportunists. If there are some environmental conditions that are unfavorable to the plants that we want to grow, then some weeds will fill that space.
So we need to change our management (our behavior) to make the conditions more desirable for the things that we want. Focus on what we want, rather than on what we don’t want. Encouraging life, rather than encouraging death.
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The conventional approach to soil fertility is to add the cheapest nutrients available every year. Nitrogen is in high demand by many plants, so synthetic nitrogen is spread on almost all conventional fields every year. Unfortunately, this creates soil conditions that require more and more every year, as the natural systems that produce nitrogen are no longer needed.
The regenerative approach is to figure out which nutrients are deficient and why.
Then, how can we build self-perpetuating soil fertility?
It involves adding leguminous plants that convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available nitrogen in the soil. It involves rotational grazing of livestock which converts atmospheric carbon to organic matter in the soil, and converts the living plants into valuable manure. It involves covering every inch of soil with a living plant that can photosynthesize sunlight into carbohydrates for new growth, rather than plowing the earth, which releases carbon into the atmosphere, leads to soil erosion, and destroys nature’s solar panels.
3. The conventional approach to livestock parasites is to spray on parasiticides to kill external parasites and give them a shot or drench to kill internal parasites, which inevitably devolves towards superbugs that are resistant to the chemicals.
The regenerative approach is to first ask why these parasites are affecting our livestock. More often than not, it is either due to dirty living conditions (think feedlots and industrial pig barns) or to an imbalance of certain nutrients.
So instead of aiming to kill the parasite, we change the management system. Rather than confining them to a single location for months on end, we move them regularly to new, clean pastures. AND we add an abundant diversity of forage species so that the livestock can self-select the nutrients that they need most (yes, they are that smart - it’s so cool to watch).
Naturopathic medicine almost always requires a change in behavior to achieve true long-term health. The human body and our earth provide incredible feedback loops. If we watch and listen carefully, they tell us what they need for optimum health.
If I had gotten the recommended surgery to open up my sinuses, the inflammation from my food sensitivities would have still been in my body. Maybe I’d be able to breathe for a while, but that inflammation would have shown up again eventually.
Affecting true, long-lasting change in health demands a willingness to act differently. I won’t lie. I really miss pizza and ice cream. But I have learned that the short-term satisfaction of
those treats does not outweigh the long-term effects of having consumed them.
I have seen the damage from other farmers spraying herbicides on a field one time, which is still apparent a decade later.
Let’s support each other to have the willpower to change our behavior for long-term health. It’s not easy and can feel lonely when the mainstream advice is so different.
- Farmer Ben
Reply to this blog to share your story of healing through behavioral change, or your struggle to change behavior. Please email info@Wildharmonyfarm.com.
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