What People Who Care About The Earth Should Know About How Their Food is Grown

1. What People Who Care About The Earth ShouldKnow About How Their Food is Grown

2. Just a few of the issues……. • GMOs • pesticides • artificial/chemicalfertilizers • manure • animal by-products • animal exploitation • loss of wildspace and habitat

3. Monsanto to Sell Biotech Sweet Corn for U.S. Consumers • By Jack Kaskey - Aug 4, 2011 11:25 AM PT • Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s biggest vegetable seed maker, said it will begin selling genetically modified sweet corn in the U.S. this year, the first product it has developed for the consumer market.

4. Pesticides kill pollinators and beneficial insects…… Freeeco-system providers

5. …… and birds…. Photo Courtesy of USFWS

6. …… and amphibians, such as the Red-legged Frog - a Species in Decline, Photo Courtesy of USDA NRCS

7. Chemical fertilizers = ground water pollution through nitrate and phosphate leaching erosion Mississippi Delta Dead Zone Soil food web Changes in number and species

8. Dairy cow POWs on a 3000 cow operation CAFOConcentrated Animal Feeding Operations

9. Fish Farm on the Snake River in ID ….. and pollution downstream

10. TILLAGE and CULTIVATION = LOSS Of EARTHWORMS, SOIL INSECTS AND MICROBES

11. Loss of habitat - wetlands and riparian areas

12. Loss of wild areas, “Habitat Connectivity” and biodiversity: Photo Courtesy of USFWS

13. Organic Agriculture • The production of crops and animals without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

14. NOSB Principles of Organic Production: • Healthy soils and environment • Enhance biodiversity, ecosystem function • Use renewable resources • Plants, animals, techniques are locally adapted • Manage the farm as a system • Traceability

15. Conventional organic uses manure and animal parts (bones, blood, feathers, bodies) as fertilizer….. Manure problems: herbicide/antibiotic contamination, nitrate-N leaching into ground water, human pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella…..

16. “Cattle are the primary reservoir of Escherichia coli. This has serious implications for the land-based disposal of organic wastes such as cattle manure, cattle slurry and abattoir waste.” Potential health risks associated with the persistence of Escherichia coli O157 in agricultural environments 2010 D.L. Jones “This study points out the potential human health risks associated with consumption of fresh vegetables grown in soil amended with antibiotic laden manures. The risks may be higher for people who are allergic to antibiotics and there is also the possibility of enhanced antimicrobial resistance as a result of human consumption of these vegetables. “ Antibiotic Uptake by Plants from Soil Fertilized with Animal Manure 2005 K. Kumar *a, S. C. Guptaa, S. K. Baidoob, B. Chandera and C. J. Rosena

17. Liquid fish fertilizer sprayed on crops to produce high yields on over-tilled, over-cropped soils.

18. Pastured, organically raised chickens lay eggs in buses that move from one fresh pasture to another.

19. Pastured chickens are vulnerable to predators who are eliminated by trapping and shooting

20. Most grocery stores who sell Organic have Zero-tolerance for insects, so Organic farms spray organic insecticides.

21. Spraying Organic Insecticides = Loss of lady bugs, spiders, and syrphid flies

22. Spraying “selective” Organic Insecticides, such as Bt, is better.

23. “Industry Standards” for quality: “ Barbie Broccoli” skinny stems, big heads.

24. “Conventional Organic” vegetable production – lots of bare soil to control weeds. Murdered soil food web

25. Conventional Organic Production: Monocrop Desert lots of tillage to manage water, nutrients, and weeds.

26. HOW DO WE RECONNECT NATURE, AGRICULTURE and OURSELVES?

27. Veganic Farming and Gardening

28. Veganic farming and gardening is a willingness to balance our existence with the natural world. the soil microorganisms we try not to disturb with excessive tillage, the birds, butterflies, and insects we do not poison with insecticides, the weeds that are not killed with herbicides, and the animals who are not killed for food or fertilizer.

29. Veganic Works With Nature to Mimic Natural Plant Eco-Systems: Reduced tillage – keeping soil covered, Increased plant diversity, Regular addition of plant residues.

30. Plant – based Fertilizer System:Using Clover Living Mulches Case study @ Biodesign Farm

31. NO BARE SOIL - Soil covered spring, summer, fall, & winter.

32. Light tillage in the spring (lots of plant residue left) Bed making – Plant residue inside beds

33. Seed new cover between rows in spring, recruits from previous season’s living mulch already re-growing

34. New living mulch well-established by late spring for broccoli harvest

35. Mature living mulch kept mowed monthly (surface-applied residue)

36. Benefits of Living Mulch System: balanced nutrient supply

37. Improved yield and quality

38. Improved cold tolerance

39. Habitat for beneficials provided

40. Habitat for pollinators = increased fruit set

41. Long-term soil health improved with Living Mulch system N levels drop without manure 2003 5.4 204 222 613 397 1998 7.6 44 2006 5.2 260 261 323 254 2024 7.6 33

42. No-till Experiments 2004- 2010

43. No-till Brussels sprouts www.veganicpermaculture.com

44. Possible on a large scale? Living mulch experiment on 10 acre field in CO. September 2011

46. FOREST GARDEN: Seven layers

47. Peaches, strawberries , and grapes in a forest garden

48. Releasing fruit trees from the jungle and Chop & Drop mulch on a forest farm in Panama

49. Farming with Nature: Fukuoka

50. Conventional organic – raspberries under plastic high tunnels Multi-layer, multi-species orchard