Our blue planet dictates interdependency for health & survival of every living being. Soil & life always intertwine, We are intelligent to learn, adapt & co exist. For it is wisdom of existence.
Importance of Soil Health for Human Survival and Well-Being.
Soil health and the life forms it supports are crucial for human survival. Healthy soils are necessary for sustainable agriculture, which provides the majority of the world's food supply. The organisms in the soil, such as bacteria, fungi, and earthworms, play important roles in nutrient cycling, decomposition, and the formation of soil structure. Soil microorganisms also help plants defend against diseases and pests, reducing the need for chemical pesticides.
Healthy soil also plays a critical role in the water cycle. The porous nature of soil allows for the infiltration and storage of water, reducing runoff and erosion. This stored water can then be used by plants, animals, and humans. Additionally, healthy soils act as a natural water filter, removing impurities and pollutants as water passes through them.
Soil health also affects the atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and much of that carbon is stored in the soil. Healthy soils can store more carbon, reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and mitigating climate change.
In addition to its practical benefits, soil also has cultural and aesthetic significance. Soil is often the foundation of traditional farming practices and is an important part of many cultural and religious traditions. Beautiful landscapes and gardens rely on healthy soils for their growth and vibrancy.
In summary, soil health and its diverse life forms are critical for human survival and well-being. Sustainable agriculture, clean water, a stable climate, and cultural and aesthetic values all depend on healthy soils. It is therefore essential that we prioritize soil conservation and management practices that promote soil health and biodiversity.
PLANTS & SOIL RELATION.
The health of soil, plant & animal is one & indivisible. - Albert Howard.
It is astonishing to note that a single teaspoon of rich garden soil can hold up to one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and scores of nematodes, according to Kathy Merrifield, a nematologist at Oregon State University.
We are today into mono culture (growing same crop repeatedly) whereby we are losing our soil fertility at a fast rate. With our product Khuba Soil Conditioner and Natural horticulture oils we have the potential to simultaneously build the organic matter / fertility while growing our crops.
HOW TO GROW HEALTHY? Plants while photo synthesizing absorb carbon dioxide, simultaneously using hydrogen from water and combining carbon to produce sugar which is food and sequestering carbon for fungi & bacteria in the soil which is delivered through its roots.
Rhizobacteria become friends to plants, they form a partnership, these bacteria provide minerals, safeguard the roots but their movement is limited hence they depend upon Micorrhzia fungus, which creates absorption and transport system to provide nutrients & water. They help in creating resistance to diseases in return the plant provides them sugar. Humus is byproduct of dead leaf, roots or insects etc. It stores carbon in the soil and acts like a battery storing energy.
The plants live in symbiotic relationship between the organisms living in close physical association. The plants deliver food to organism and in turn they provides required nutrients to the plants, safe guard it against diseases, kill nematodes and also create a live network with surrounding plants to establish a connectivity, for exchange of nutrients, to support each other and communication system to warn them about any predator or danger of their health.
SUNLIGHT: It is essential at foundation level, because it is the bringer of new energy into the system which is known as photo synthesis, plants absorbing the photonic energy (Sun light) whereas all other energy like water, carbon dioxide, nutrients are recycled.
Sufficient light makes the plant behave differently, we can see larges & thicker leaves, growth pattern, and the internodes are stockier, higher levels of chlorophyll.
Healthy plants produce, high levels & quality carbohydrates which are non-reducing sugar & poly saccharide.
Unhealthy plants which lack sunlight or nutrients or water, or bad soil conditions & environment, etc. Produce low quality mono saccharide and reducing sugars or incomplete proteins.
ROLE OF QUALITY SUGAR: Quality carbohydrates enable more high quality non reducing sugar to go to root system. This enable plant to develop resistance to soil-borne fungal pathogen such as verticillium, fusarium, and rhizoctonis. Pythium, phytophthora & others. You will be surprised to note that with proper sunlight the enemies become our friend. For example verticillium will be present in healthy soil, but now they serve the purpose of decomposing of nonliving plant residue rather than a parasite to the living plant.
The moment soil achieves, healthy biology, these potential pathogens, fungi and the like, undergo a change to establish a symbiotic relationship with plant & feed it nutrients, in return plant exchanges sugar with them. The pathogenicity of any organism is dependent on the health of the plant and how much high quality sugar / carbon that it send out through its roots, which enables this change & establish a beneficial relation.
Organisms express themselves as pest or pathogens if we create an environment that allows them to express themselves as harmful. So we have to understand that basically it is not the pests we have to control but to grow healthier plants with proper nutrition management, sunlight, water.
So healthy plants need adequate levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, manganese with which, plant has the foundation required mineral base to increase its photosynthesis, to assist the above mentioned functions and many more.
Further if we need to understand how proteins are synthesized (food of plant). The plants convert all soluble nitrogen compound absorbed from soil to amino acids and protein, in every 24 hour photo cycle which ensures zero level of nitrates (salts) and ammonium in plant saps. This healthy condition of the plant confirms its resistance to insects that have simple digestive systems.
NEED OF VARIOUS NUTRIENTS: Protein synthesis is production of sugar, with nitrogen added it is converted to glutamine, and then converted to amino acids. The amino acids contain carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen & oxygen. Which are the building blocks for peptides. These peptides further bond together to form proteins.
To catalyze these bonding, enzymes are required. Plants need different enzyme to bond between one amino acid with other, or one peptide to another. As a result there are thousands different enzymes in a plant because each one serves one specific purpose.
For proper functioning enzyme, they need cofactors like trace metal, minerals like zinc, manganese, copper, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, boron, selenium, sulfur etc. So these become essential for healthy plant functioning, this is foundational to build plant proteins. The depletion of trace metals, mean plants start producing broken or incomplete proteins.
BUILDING SELF SUFFICENCY: The physiology of plants to produce lipids, like oil & fat. As the plants grow really healthy, they have surplus energy which is stored as fats. This is visible as glossy, waxy sheen (shine / luster). It is seen in natural eco system like forests, here nobody fertilizes them and yet we find the plants healthy. The nutrients are drawn from rhizobium the living bacterial cells in the soil.
Plants rich in lipids – oils & fats develop natural resistance to airborne or fungal diseases. They are naturally resistant to downy mildew, powdery mildew, late blight, fire blight, rust, bacterial speck and bacterial spot which land on the leaf surface and release peptolytic enzymes. The waxes and oils on the surface serve as a shield to such attacks. This is known as plant biology.
The lipids / oils / waxes which are also known as aromatic compounds or essential oils help in increasing plant metabolite synthesis. All plants produce theses oils to protect themselves from ultraviolet radiation, over grazing or even kill pest like beetles, nematodes, bacterial, fungicidal, virus, etc.
This is where a healthy plant resistance, changes to becoming actively resistant. The plants immune pathways (SAR & ISR) are triggered by microbes in the plant micro biome, both in the rhizosphere by the bacteria, phyllosphere, and leaf surface or by other immune trigger resulting in increased concentrations of immune compounds and plant secondary metabolites.
It is evident that plant immune system is linked to its robust health and plants require microbes in the plant micro biome to reach this stage of health.
Plants need passive immunity derived from balanced chemistry, and active immunity due to plant biology.
In Hydroponic system such natural biology is ignored. Therefore we find that many produce lack the aroma or the flavor. Such food & their long term effect on human health is unknown today.
IN NATURAL WORLD, PESTS ARE FRIENDS OF HEALTHY CROPS: If insects were eating human food they could have done that with every single tree or anything that grows. No they have not done that so far. Because they eat different kinds of food. Their requirements are different. The food that we eat is different.
It is cellulose material plants put together, whereas digestive system of insect, animals or human beings break these bonds apart that is in reverse order that of a plant. A cow has enzymes to convert the grass using cellulose enzymes where as humans cannot do the same because we do not have similar enzymes.
Termites eat wood, Love bugs eat decaying vegetation, clothes moths they eat clothes, dermestid beetle eat decaying meat, hair insects etc., and many flies lay eggs only on carrion (dead animals), cockroaches eat scraps of food which has fallen in inaccessible area. Fruit flies eat overripe, damaged, fermenting or in state of decay. Foods which are stored in ware house, which is the process of dying are eaten by redflower beetle or toothgrain beetle which are specifically known as store house insects.
Grasshoppers have unidirectional digestive system like a straight tube whereas Aphids digestive system folds back on itself as the digestive system. An aphid dies if it consumes high sugar content food. Therefore the foods are different even though they come from the same plant.
It is clear that the food for humans is not the food for pest like aphids, beetles, leaf hoppers because they do not have the digestive enzymes. They prefer, unfit or nutritionally poor or dead or dying. This is security provided by nature to ensure that insects eat unhealthy food before we humans do.
WHAT IS THE FOOD OF PESTS & ANIMALS? The animal kingdom thrives on different forms of sugars, nitrogen, amino acids, and nitrates as energy / protein source in specific form only.
If the plant is not healthy and unable to complete the 24 hour photo cycle within 24 hours as mentioned above they lead to production incomplete sugars and these low quality sugar below 12 brix are unhealthy matter to human beings but become interesting to the pests.
At what levels of brix, makes the insect’s loose interest in plants as a generality?
Aphid group 6 to 8 Brix - Sucking Insects 7 to 9 Brix - Chewing insect 9 to 11 Brix - Grass Hopper 10 to 12 brix. Example Aphids do not prefer plants with less than 6 brix and if plant start producing above 8 brix then they move to other areas. So is the case with other insects.
Monitoring sugar levels in the crops can be done, by using BRIX refractometer. Healthy plants have sugar – brix level at about 12 + which are pest free and considered healthy for human consumption.
This is why insects with simple digestive system like larval, sucking insects. Such as tomato horn worms, cabbage loopers, corn borers, corn ear worm, aphids, leaf hopper, white flies, thrips, keep away from healthy plants.
Healthy plants also means that, the predators are automatically forced by nature to weeds or grass to feed themselves. So farmers need not use or reduce weed or pest control.
Yet, good healthy produce is target of primates and animals like monkeys & deer. To keep them away our fields our Natural horticulture oil is most suitable. It temporarily makes the food taste bitter, it has natural off flavors, smell that animals do not like. So they leave the place and yet we do not harm them.
From the above facts it clear “That pests, insects and many animals have never competed with humans as far as the food is concerned”, it is rather the other way around that we are encroaching upon their habitat.
USE OF POISON – PESTICIDES, ITS EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH: Our use of toxic pesticides, fungicide, herbicides, they kill without distinction. In natural world, there is no such requirement. By breaking this mechanism even the unhealthy food with lower sugar, nutrients is snatched from the pest and sold for human consumption, this is how we can understand why we have public health epidemic in civilized world.
William Albrecht said “Insects are nature’s garbage collectors, and diseases are her cleanup crew”.
This broken natural balance, increases the pest and thus the need for pest control. The earlier treatable issues are now chronic because of increase in application of poison to our fields. This vicious cycle needs to be addressed by providing minimum natural repellants provided in nature.
Our product Natural Horticulture Oil provides support to grow robust healthy plant and ecology. Once the natural balance is established, even the need of such controls also diminishes. This is the need for the world today and tomorrow.
NATURAL NUTRIENTS AVALABILITY & ITS EFFECTS: Crops which had lost all hopes, supposed to be uprooted from farms have been resurrected - given new life by many farmers. The farmers simply switched from chemicals to our natural mineral based Khuba Soil conditioner. The plants regained their health within weeks, and produced good yields. The plant health & changes in plant biochemistry was a result of change in mineral nutrition.
It’s incredible to note the diseased plants regain health just by availability of the right nutrients. This also means balanced nutrients supply is the key to ward of pest attacks, healthy plants & healthy yield.
If we optimize the soil health for domesticated crops. the weeds start reducing automatically, because pests search alternative source of food and feed on weeds & grass rather than on healthy crop plants having higher sugar level.
The protein build up / protein synthesis the reason for healthy plant can be opposed by proteolysis , where in the protein can break down due to natural forces like heat, water logging or drowning etc. Such effects also happen due to fungicide or pesticides. Because. By nature, plants simply do not accept a synthetic / chemical pesticide.
The application of poisonous substances to plants shuts down the protein synthesis process, activating proteolysis, which interferes with housekeeping of plants, leading break down of its proteins, accumulating glutamine etc., this in turn increases the susceptibility to diseases and pest attack.
Plants are efficient in utilizing sunlight for its photo synthesis and have vast complex network of roots in the soil which interact with the soil and its living organisms to perform multiple activities about which we have started to know little about.
If we support the seamless natural process, the soil supports plants to sustain and thrive in unforeseen events like heat or cold, excess rains & safeguard against natural issues. Therefore healthy plants need nutrient, healthy soil life for healthy growth & healthy yield.
Plants have been known to exist 400 million years before humans, they survived many catastrophe and they have the developed intelligence, instincts and have capacity to collaborate to sustain and survive. It is now time for us relearn our ways to coexist with nature.
Further Khuba Soil conditioner has provided links to various video links which provide insight to natural sustainable farming. Kindly visit our web site: www.khuba.in
Importance of Replenishing Nutrients in Soil for Sustainable Crop Growth and Human Health.
The importance of replenishing nutrients in the soil cannot be overstated. As humans rely on crops for essential minerals and nutrients, it is crucial to ensure that the soil is healthy and able to support strong crop growth. Natural minerals can help to replace the nutrients that are removed from the soil by crops, but often, additional mineral fertilizers are needed to supplement the soil's nutrient stocks.
Without this supplementation, crop yields and agricultural productivity can be significantly reduced. In turn, this could lead to food shortages and related health problems for humans. A balanced nutrient supply from the soil is therefore the foundation to help large populations avoid nutrient deficiency related health problems.
Each crop that is grown removes nutrients from the soil, and these need to be replaced every year and after every harvest. This is essential to provide nutrients that may not be available in the soil, replace the nutrients that are removed at harvest, and balance the nutrients for better produce quality and higher yields.
Overall, it is clear that the health of the soil is directly linked to the health of humans. By replenishing the nutrients in the soil, we can ensure that crops are able to provide the essential minerals and nutrients that humans need to grow and thrive.
MAN MADE SYNTHETIC / CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS & SPRAYS - BOON OR BANE ?.
The first artificial fertilizer was superphosphate, invented by agricultural chemist John Bennet Lawes. In 1842. After the Second World War, the empty ammunition factories were put to use to manufacture and flood the market with chemical fertilizers which are quick acting as a boon to grow more food.
Most of them provide only that well-known trio, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). These three are known as the macro-nutrients, & are indeed required in greater quantity than any others, but they are only three of the many nutrients plants need. The three chemicals that qualify as secondary nutrients are calcium, Sulfur, and magnesium & they are generally ignored, as are the trace nutrients, boron, chlorine, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, etc. While these are needed in far smaller quantities than the macro-nutrients, they are still essential.
Though chemical fertilizers help plants grow faster, plants will not be healthy and strong as plants grown in that manner do not have enough time to mature to develop a good root growth, strong stems, or yield nutritious fruits and vegetables. Even their survival is questionable, because they will be more susceptible to pests & diseases as they lack good immune system and enough resistance against these forces.
When we talk of microbial activity; we need to remember that natural microbes, which include beneficial insects, fungus, and bacteria found in the soil, are very much helpful for healthy soil and plant growth. Needless to say, use of chemical fertilizers will kill these soil friendly micro-organisms.
Induced chemicals effect plants capacity to grow green and exhibit growth , but unable to produce required quality sugar for the organisms in soil. Thus the organism loose their capacity to provide the nutrients or safe guard against any pest attack and disrupt the natural network between the plants for exchange of nutrients or communication on attack of diseases or predators.
Besides this, chemical fertilizers can cause root burn or fertilizer burn, as chemical fertilizers do not allow enough water intake for the plants. As they are high in nitrogen salts, and when the nitrogen is absorbed by soil too quickly, it will dehydrate and dry up the plant. Therefore it becomes essential that the soil is either wet, or watered whenever chemical fertilizers are applied.
Since salt content is one of the most critical, characteristics of chemical fertilizers, in the long run the salts are harmful for plants as well as soil electrical conductivity. Continuous use of these chemical make plant dependent and deplete essential soil nutrients and minerals that are naturally found in fertile soil.
When we use chemical fertilizers, they do not help to replenish soil nutrients and its fertility contrary to the popular belief, but, replenish only nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. And we know phosphorous does not dissolve in water and its overuse may cause hardening of soil.
Likewise alkaline fertilizers like sodium-nitrate develop alkalinity in soil, reducing its fertility and making it barren. So to say, soil fertility and vegetation depend much on the balanced supply of essential nutrients and minerals. As such, overuse of specific nutrients may cause imbalance in the supply of soil nutrients further resulting in soil degradation and the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. It in turn leads to unhealthy plants & lower yield, apart from increase in requirement for pest control. Thus leading to, desertification of fertile lands.
Over application & even applied chemical fertilizers, at the time when the ground is waterlogged or the crop is not able to use the chemicals, can lead to surface runoff (particularly phosphorus) or leaching into groundwater (particularly nitrates).
One of the adverse effects of excess fertilizer in lacustrine systems is algae blooms, which can lead to excessive mortality rates for fish and other aquatic organisms. When prolonged algae blooms occur over many years, the effect is a process called eutrophication. Worldwide such issues of nutrient fate are analyzed using hydrology transport models, it is noted that not only on land but even patches of Dead Sea / life even loss of coral reefs in large area are being noted world over.
Excessive nitrogen fertilizer applications can lead to pest problems by increasing the birth rate, longevity and overall fitness of certain pests (Jahn 2004; Jahn et al. 2001a,b, 2005; Preap et al. 2002, 2001). It is also possible to over-apply organic fertilizers, but their nutrient content, their solubility, and their release rates are typically much lower than chemical fertilizers, partially because by their nature, most organic fertilizers also provide increased physical and biological storage mechanisms to soils.
The problem of over-fertilization is primarily associated with the use of artificial fertilizers, because of the massive quantities applied and the destructive nature of chemical fertilizers on soil nutrient holding structures. The high solubility of chemical fertilizers also exacerbates their tendency to degrade ecosystems.
Storage and application of some fertilizers in some weather or soil conditions can cause emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Ammonia gas (NH3) may be emitted following application of inorganic fertilizers, or manure or slurry. Besides supplying nitrogen, ammonia can also increase soil acidity (lower pH, or "souring").
Now many new formulations like foliar sprays are being marketed, which make the plant ecosystem hyperactive thus leading to speeding up of extraction of nutrients from the existing soil matrix. This will serve the purpose today but increasing the desertification, because the utilized minerals are not replenished thus rendering them useless.
After 7 decades we have started to realize that soil has lost its fertility, needing more inputs to grow our food. This is effecting our ecology, environment, soil health, farmers revenue and human health to the
Extent that, our coming generations will be affected.
A boon 7 decades earlier is now a bane, a cause of great distress.
SYNTHETIC / CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS : NEGATIVE IMPACTS.
Chemical fertilizers provide only the macro-nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and ignore important secondary and trace nutrients.
Chemical fertilizers lead to plants growing faster, but not necessarily healthier or stronger.
Chemical fertilizers kill beneficial microbes found in soil.
Chemical fertilizers can cause root burn or fertilizer burn and deplete soil nutrients and minerals.
Chemical fertilizers replenish only nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous and do not help to replenish soil nutrients and its fertility.
Overuse of specific nutrients may cause an imbalance in the supply of soil nutrients leading to soil degradation and loss of equilibrium of a stable soil.
Over-application of chemical fertilizers can lead to surface runoff or leaching into groundwater.
Excess fertilizer in lacustrine systems can lead to algae blooms and eutrophication.
Excessive nitrogen fertilizer applications can lead to pest problems.
Organic fertilizers have lower nutrient content, solubility, and release rates than chemical fertilizers.
Over-fertilization is primarily associated with the use of artificial fertilizers, which can degrade ecosystems.
Storage and application of some fertilizers can cause emissions of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and ammonia.
New formulations like foliar sprays speed up the extraction of nutrients from the existing soil matrix, leading to desertification.
SOIL & HUMAN HEALTH.
3 Issues Why Your Food Isn’t Providing Needed Nutrients.
Wellness With Warren Matthews
You may be familiar with the old saying, “You are what you eat.” I believe that couldn’t be more true. Even though when we look in the mirror we see the total exterior package, our bodies are made of an estimated 30 trillion cells. All of which require nutrients and energy. In this first of several videos, I’ll tell you about 3 key issues that are keeping our food supplies from providing all the vital nutrients we need to thrive. From soil health to how long it takes supposedly fresh foods to get from farm to table. Each step in the process lowers the nutrient profiles of most of our foods. See you in the next video. Visit Xtendlife.com: https://www.xtend-life.com/ Visit Wellness With Warren: https://www.wellnesswithwarren.com/
Micronutrients for the Prevention of Age-Related Diseases and Brain Dysfunction. - Humans have to get these nutrients from fertile soil.
Poison on our Plate. Ramanjaneyulu GV.
Is our food safe? A red alert question that, puts out to all of us. Hear him talk about the quality of food we are eating. Listen to the reasons we need to adapt to organic farming as a results of excessive use of chemical pesticides and horrifying facts and statistics, surrounding them. He alerts us to the damage we are doing to our ecological footprints. In his heart wrenching talk, Ramanjaneyulu, highlights the plight of farmers and the reasons they commit suicide and the many reasons that farmers and farming should not die.
“We are what we eat and plants give us what we feed.” He is waging a war against the use of pesticides in agricultural activities and has challenged the traditional methods of farming. Ramanjaneyulu dedicated himself to the benefit of farmers and his campaign, ‘India for Safe Food’.
Soil: An essential ingredient to healthy food and nutrition.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Learn more on how our soils are by nature linked to the micronutrient content of our food production and how to reverse the increasing trend of nutrient depleted soil by adopting sustainable soil management practices. Follow #UNFAO on social media! * Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/UNFAO * Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+UNFAO * © FAO: http://www.fao.org
Dirty secrets of healthy soil. Peter Rutherford |TEDxPittwater.
Ingleside's Peter Ruthrford will share his life’s journey from 20 years of ‘chemical farming’ to 20 years of ‘organic growing & teaching'. Giving us insights into the relationship between ‘healthy soils’ and healthy humans. Everything we eat comes from soil! What is it? What is healthy soil? How does the life in soil, (ie microbes and worms etc), impact on the way food plants grow? Is our human health related to the type of soil that our food is grown in? How do we create a truly healthy society?
Serious Effects of Soil Pollution On Humans.
- Organ Damage 0:37
- Bioaccumulation 1:04
- Cause cancer 1:46
- Economic Loss 2:13 5.
- Air and Water Contamination 2:43
- Endangers Human Health 3:17
Now that you know what all serious effects can soil pollution have on humans. Try to make the soil in our surroundings as neat as possible, To stay healthy and live longer For More Visit ► www.healthveins.com
Serious Effects of Soil Pollution On Humans.
For More Visit ► www.healthveins.com
Soil Pollution. - A hidden reality.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
While we can see many of the changes we have made to our planet, some of our impacts are virtually invisible, and soil pollution is a good example. Soil is a much more complex growing habitat that remains productive only when it is cared for and nurtured. Combating and addressing soil pollution means assessing and minimizing the risks for food security, human health and the environment. Global activities need to be launched and implemented in order to reduce soil pollution and remediate polluted sites. Be the Solution, to Soil Pollution! FAO: http://www.fao.org
Managing Crop Nutrition. (vs. Pest Management) & Sap - Brix - Sugar. - Analysis | John Kempf
Advancing Eco Agriculture
AEA founder John Kempf explained how to manage crop nutrition and the importance of using Sap analysis in a regenerative operation. For more information, check out our website at advancingecoag.com
Biodynamic Agriculture : Farming in Service of Life.
A few voices of Biodynamic Agriculture share their view of the beautiful harmonies that exist within nature and how following Biodynamic practices can heal the land, influence our food systems and, in turn, nourish our health. To learn more visit http://kisstheground.com/biodynamic/
Kiss the ground. Allan Savory
Force of Nature Meats.
Do we really need pesticides? - Fernan Pérez-Gálvez.
Annually, we shower over 5 billion pounds of pesticides across the Earth to control insects, unwanted weeds, funguses, rodents, and bacteria that may threaten our food supply. But is it worth it, knowing what we do about the associated environmental and public health risks? Fernan Pérez-Gálvez weighs the pros and cons of pesticides.
NATURE AT ITS LIMIT. - Toxic chemicals. - A menace to bees and farmland.
DW Documentary Modern agriculture is designed to produce high yields. But it also depletes the soil. How do over-fertilization and pesticides impact the environment and humans? Are we poisoning our world and driving species to extinction? Fertile farmland is a precious resource - and it is vital to food production. But the abundant use of chemicals is ravaging the Earth, while pesticides are making species go extinct, contaminating soils, and killing off microorganisms important to a healthy generation of humus. Glyphosate, neonicotinoids, organophosphates, or pyrethroids: These are just a few of the approximately 1,000 pesticides and herbicides approved in Germany to kill pests, fungi, and weeds. Farmers distribute about 90,000 tons of pesticides a year on their crops - yielding billions of euros of business for chemical companies. "Neonicotinoids are flushed into the soil by the rain. There, they are highly toxic to many organisms ... They poison insects and the environment", explains toxicologist Henk Tennekes. Neurotoxins from neonicotinoids have long been suspected of causing bees to die en masse. It took 30 years for neonicotinoids to be prohibited EU-wide, in 2021, even though early studies had warned against their use. Even now, the fight isn’t over. For one thing, emergency approvals for neonicotinoids are being used to circumvent their prohibition. For another, other substances with similar applications have been on the market for a long time, the effects of which are insufficiently researched. Moreover, neonicotinoids are still authorized for use in many countries outside the EU. Nearly 40 percent of the EU budget is spent on agriculture. The common agricultural policy (CAP) was recently renegotiated and will be in place until 2027. It is supposed to also promote eco- and climate-friendly agriculture. But many say the new CAP is still far from green. #agriculture #documentary #environment #dwdocumentary #freedocumentary
A Six-legged March Toward Regenerative Agriculture. Jonathan Lundgren | TEDxBrookings
Insects shape the colors, scents, and tastes of the world we live in, but too often we choose to stomp, smack, squish, crush, and spray them out of our lives. Regenerative farmers are promoting insect life on their farms and may have figured out a way to solve planetary scale problems to boot. Dr. Jonathan Lundgren is an agroecologist, entomologist, farmer, and beekeeper. He started his career as an award-winning scientist working for the USDA Agricultural Research Service on risk assessment of pesticides and developing ecologically intensive pest management solutions for farmers.
The goal of this initiative is to reinvent our food production system along regenerative principles. By conserving soil and promoting biodiversity on farms, we can produce nutritious food profitably. All while reducing many of the negative impacts that agriculture has on our planet. This talk was given at a TEDx Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Can we feed our population without synthetic pesticides?.
DW Planet A Pesticides have a bad rep, but they have been instrumental in feeding growing populations through history. However, an increasing numbers of critics and farmers say they have brought about a new, and bigger challenge – poor health and the decimation of biodiversity. Is it realistic, then, to get rid of them and still feed everybody on the planet? We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What can we do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess. Author: Aditi Rajagopal Camera and Video Editor: Henning Goll Supervising Editor: Kiyo Dörrer, Joanna Gottschalk #PlanetA #Organicfarming #Pesticides Read More: Feeding the world, protecting the planet: http://www.fao.org/3/ca0130en/CA0130E... Pesticides and health: https://www.consumerreports.org/pesti... The Green Revolution: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe...
Why is organic food so *#@! expensive??. Ali Partovi TEDxManhattan
Ali Partovi serves on the board of FoodCorps, a non-profit that deploys volunteers to improve food sourcing & education in schools. He is a passionate advocate of sustainable food systems.
Most people are befuddled by the cost of organic goods. He provides insight intelligently about the costs of organic food and many more eye opening information.
How regenerative farming can help heal the planet and human health. | Charles Massy | TEDxCanberra
Regenerative agriculture is an ecological approach to agriculture that enables natural systems & functions to not just be renewed, but also to do the renewing: to self-organise back to healthy function, a radical idea of empowering and not controlling nature. Charlie’s concern about land degradation and the Anthropocene crisis led to him completing a PhD in Human Ecology (ANU) in 2012. This resulted in his new book, Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture – A New Earth (UQP Sept. 2017) concerning the emergence of a regenerative agriculture in Australia and cause for hope This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Revolution Food.
Revolution: Food is all about the positive changes taking root in our modern food system. It focuses on real farmers who are growing, raising real food and the consumers who are demanding it.
BBC IDEAS - Soil is underappreciated. But it's vital in so many ways. Here's a look at the importance of soil - and why soil matters so much.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations LETS TALK ABOUT SOIL. This animated film tells the reality of soil resources around the world, covering the issues of degradation, urbanization, land grabbing and overexploitation; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable. © FAO: http://www.fao.org SHOW MORE
Shri. Rajiv Dixit. Harmful Impact of Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides on Farmers. Hindi
Is our food supply making us sick?. Dr. Pete Myers, Chief Scientist of Environmental Health Sciences, explains the distressingly personal cost of chemical inputs in our food supply.
Infertility, breast cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases affect the lives of loved ones. Could these diseases be caused by exposure to tiny amounts of toxic agricultural chemicals? Crunch the numbers and we see that exposure to these chemicals is costing the US 1.2 billion dollars per year. But these figures are old, and vastly underestimate the true cost of human interaction with chemicals such as 'obesogens,' or the embryonic chemical interactions which only plague society years after exposure. With a new understanding of the devastating effect of exposure to extremely low doses, Myers advocates urgent action to help combat future costs. Chemical exposure is no longer an issue solely for farm workers; it is an issue in all of our kitchens. Here, Pete speaks at the Sustainable Food Trust's international conference on the theme of 'True Cost Accounting in Food and Farming', London, December 2013. A full list of talks and resources from the event can be found on the Sustainable Food Trust website: https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/agricultural-chemicals-impacts/
Let Food Be Thy Medicine.
University of California Television (UCTV) In collaboration with the UC San Diego Center for Integrative Nutrition, the Berry Good Food Foundation convenes a panel of experts to discuss the rise of comprehensive medicine and nutritional healing to treat chronic disease and maintain general well-being. [6/2018] [Show ID: 33486] Future Thought Leaders (https://www.uctv.tv/future-thought-le...)
Back To Eden Gardening, Documentary Film. - How to Grow a Regenerative Organic Garden.
Dana & Sarah Films
Back to Eden Gardening Documentary Film - Learn how to grow a regenerative organic vegetable garden the best and easiest way! Grow fruits and veggies with less labor, less watering, fewer weeds, and an extremely abundant harvest! Paul Gautschi, featured in the documentary Back to Eden, has popularized the use of free wood chip mulch from tree trimmings in vegetable gardens and orchards. Discover the regenerative organic gardening movement that has made millions of people worldwide love growing their own food by watching the film, streaming online for free! OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.backtoedenfilm.com
Back to Eden shares the story of Paul Gautschi and his lifelong journey walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive organic gardening methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The food growing system that has resulted from Paul Gautschi’s incredible experiences has garnered the interest of visitors from around the world. Never, until now, have Paul’s organic gardening methods been documented and shared like this! You will walk away from Back to Eden Film with the knowledge of how to plant an organic garden and how to grow your own food. Back to Eden gardening is the best gardening technique!
Food or Poison. Find out the truth about today's food.
Einum - European Institute of Nutritional Medicine
Discover more on http://www.einum.org/
Industry Scandal: The Loss Of Nutrients - Sixty years of producing standardized fruit and vegetables and creating industrial hybrids have had a dramatic impact on their nutritional content.
Industry Scandal: The Loss Of Nutrients (2019) Director: Linda Bendali Genre: Documentary Country: France Language: English Also Known As: Cash Investigations: Seeds of Profit Synopsis: Sixty years of producing standardized fruit and vegetables and creating industrial hybrids have had a dramatic impact on their nutritional content. In the past 50 years, vegetables have lost 27% of their vitamin C and nearly half of their iron. Take the tomato. Through multiple hybridizations, scientists are constantly producing redder, smoother, firmer fruit. But in the process, it has lost a quarter of its calcium and more than half of its vitamins. The seeds that produce the fruits and vegetables we consume are now the property of a handful of multinationals, like Bayer, and Dow-Dupont, who own them. These multinationals have their seeds produced predominantly in India, where workers are paid just a handful of rupees while the company has a turnover of more than 2 billion euros. A globalized business where the seed sells for more than gold. According to FAO, worldwide, 75% of the cultivated varieties have disappeared in the past 100 years. Loss of nutrients, privatization of life, We reveal the industrialists’ great monopoly over our fruit and veg.
Satyamev Jayate - Food or Poison. - Find out the truth about today's food.
You can also visit us at http://www.satyamevjayate.in Food, the source of nutrition, is actually the carrier of many chemicals because of the rampant use of pesticides down the decades. Farmers themselves have realized this, and many farmers in various places all over India are cultivating two sets of crops -- the majority for sale and a smaller amount for their own family's consumption.
Satyamev Jayate - Food or Poison. - Find out the truth about today's food.
You can also visit us at http://www.satyamevjayate.in - Farmers all over the country are turning to organic cultivation, and they have no regrets about doing so. Hukumchand, who hails from Manpura village, says that output has increased after organic methods were adopted, and with only a little more effort.
Satyamev Jayate - Food or Poison. - Find out the truth about today's food.
You can also visit us at http://www.satyamevjayate.in - In Punjab, which takes up 25 per cent of the country's pesticide usage, the link between pesticides and disease is strong and the 'cancer train' is only one indication. The unrestrained use of pesticides has resulted in farmers being caught in debt traps, and entire swathes of the population riddled with grave health issues.
Health Benefits of organic agriculture -
Organic food contributes to better health through reduced pesticide exposure for all and increased nutritional quality. In order to understand the importance of eating organic food from the perspective of toxic pesticide contamination, we need to look at the whole picture—from the farmworkers who do the valuable work of growing food, to the waterways from w
Sustainable Food Trust
Our vision is for food and farming systems which nourish the health of the planet and its people.
Our mission is to accelerate
AGRICULTURE.
"Building a Sustainable Future: Affordable Mineral-Based Farming for Optimal Crop Yield"
"Regulating Crop Metabolism: Boosting Development from Roots to Leaves for Optimal Yield"
"Natural Plant-Based Extracts for Sustainable Agriculture: Enhancing Crop Health and Fertility"
"Providing Nutrient-Rich Crops While Conserving Water Resources"