World Health

There is a well established movement in the culinary world called Locavorism, that is comprised of people who are passionate about eating local foods and supporting local businesses. Not only is this beneficial for small economies, but it has the ability to impact the ecosytem of our world. Shipping and processing foods has a distinct footprint on our struggle with climate change. Keeping your food as seasonal and local as possible can help dampen these issues. This is not currently achievable for many people, especially those is lower income areas who do not have access to anything other than big chain grocery stores and no markets. But, if markets and local businesses do not get the sales they need, there is no room for growth to these areas. A real chicken or the egg situation, isn't it?

There must be more emphasis on supporting local over corporate businesses. Through outreach, making connections, making products more accessible to the people, we can establish a market and a desire for this concept to take root.

It is estimated that there are up to 10 billion microorganisms in a single gram of soil. And this aggregation of fungi, algaes, protozoans, nematodes, and billions of other organisms all play an integral role in the maintenance of soil health. Primarily, it is the dance of nutrients that occurs between plants and soil that is largely thanks to the catalyst of microorganisms. The structure of the soil, which at its best is loose, fluffy, and packed with nutrients, is also heavily dependent on organisms breaking down organic materials.

So why does this matter?

Lack of quality soil is actually the preliminary concern with a growing list of issues. If soil is compacted, dry, and barren, often because of over-tilling, it reduces the deep infiltration of water into the ground. To remedy the issue of standing water since it can't soak in, artificial drainage is implemented to direct the water away from the fields. This forced runoff drags a lot of nutrients from the soil along with it, away from the plants that need it. This brings to light another band-aid solution, and that is the application of synthetic nutrients. This potent blend of chemicals slowly destroys the rest of the organisms within the soil, reinforcing the problem. In addition to that, the high supply of nitrogen in synthetic fertilizer is beloved by none other than infestations of weeds, of course giving way to weed killer, which has gained its own reputation for subsequent health problems. It also inhibits the uptake of many micronutrients because of their high content of chelates that bind to those necessary metals and stop them from being utilized.

Stripping the micronutrients from the soil means that the food produced from these plants is also severely lacking in nutritional benefits. Nutrients also break down over time after the produce is harvested. So in the time it takes to ship produce from around the world, it is substantially less beneficial for you by the time it reaches the store shelf.

Okay, that was a lot of information at once. The point of this step-by-step breakdown of problems and "solutions" is to show you the ability of large-scale operations to completely miss the original issue, and opt for solving the symptoms of it. Putting the time and love into your own garden, or cultivating a culture of local-scale farms, can redefine the impact of highly nutritional produce.