A half century ago, I wrote about the seven bank accounts of a farmer. Many of our readers can remember that soil is the farmer’s largest asset. When we think way back, First Nation people referred to the ground as Mother Earth because everything came from and returned to the Earth. Too many people referred to First Nations people as savages and very primitive people. Actually, those First Nations people inhabited this land many generations longer than our European ancestors. Our earliest immigrants would have starved and died of disease the first few years that European settlers were on this continent without the Indigenous way of living off the land, including for medicine, using roots, tree bark, and other natural cures that Mother Earth provided.
My earliest Brownlee ancestors were extremely sick and near death when a group of First Nations people who they had befriended a year before found them in a small shack beside the Rideau River and stayed with the family until they had all recovered, before continuing down river to sell their furs near Bytown.
While we watch the news on TV, we can see how dependent we have become on recent amenities like oil, chemical fertilizer, world trade, and the good will of other countries, some of which we had regarded as enemies. Most of our farmers have become dependent on very expensive fuel, fertilizer, GMO seed, and chemical sprays to produce a big crop that many countries will not buy because there are risks of diseases caused by chemical residue or hidden chemical binders.
There are other farmers (who some call “behind the times”) who have learned how to farm without chemical fertilizers, poisonous sprays, and by feeding the important bacteria in the soil. These bacteria can break down mineral particles, break down crop residues, and regenerate the soil to be softer and have far greater water holding capacity, which can reduce water and wind erosion while holding more water for dry times. The colour of the spring run-off water coming from a field can tell you how good the water holding capacity is. Clear water means that that field has great water holding capacity, but brown water means that the soil is low in organic matter and water holding capacity.
More consumers and even countries are looking for those crops and foods that have zero chemical residue, and are higher in nutrient density. Our medical industry – doctors, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, clinics, backup staff – is now one of our largest, most overworked and most expensive industries. You may notice that countries with free health care are the first to promote safer food.
A true nutritionist knows how to feed the biome in an animal’s digestive system, and yes, humans are animals too. Those little bugs that make up the biome, not only help digest fibrous foods and make the amount of expensive foods less necessary, but those little bacteria also help repair little tears and holes in the digestive system. Some herbicide residues contain bactericide which kills those biome bacteria and makes living more of a challenge. If you use antacids, it’s a sign that you probably have eaten food with some chemical residue in it.
In North America many foods are not very well labeled to protect consumers from those chemical residues which can be dangerous to the health of the biome in your gut. Industries that are quite profitable also have a large lobbying budget and very effective lobbyists. They have lobbied to have the allowed amount of chemical residue left in the food raised to avoid fines. Although foods labeled “organic” are usually safer from chemical residue, different countries have different limits on residues. Usually Mexican, European, and Asian foods are safer than North American.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
