The goal of cover crops and other soil health practices is human nutrition
Americans are living longer today than they did in past decades. Yet in spite of all the pills and medications Big Pharma has to offer, we are sicker than ever.
Those of us in the regenerative agriculture movement have found a better way — one that will revolutionize our approach to living healthy lives. The answer lies in how food is grown and in understanding that eating nutrient-dense food should be our primary approach to fending off the chronic diseases, toxicity and poor health that is so prevalent today. And it all starts in how you manage the soil your food was grown in.
I grew up not having a clue about the connection between soil health and human health. When I began managing my farm 40 years ago, the soil was eroded, degraded and didn’t hold many nutrients. Every pest problem was addressed by the use of chemicals. Most fertility for the crops was synthetic, and we tilled the fields to control weeds and break up compacted soils.
I didn’t realize that by using these products and practices, I was killing the life in my soil — the very foundation of what I was trying to make a living from. My fields were addicted to the inputs I was applying to them, resulting in the natural microbes no longer functioning and vital minerals being unavailable.
But more significantly, my way of growing food yielded a nutritionally deficient product — much like most of my fellow farmers at the time and most to this day! Ninety percent of the food we buy in the grocery store is still farmed in a way that focuses on quantity, not quality.
The next time you are in a grocery store, look at the ingredients in pet food. There are more minerals and vitamins in those products than in most that are sold for human consumption. Why? Because there is no healthcare system for pets! Eating a proper diet, fortified with nutrients that help resist sickness and disease, is the frontline defense for these ailments in pets.
The same can be said for our farm animals. We make sure they are getting the minerals they need for optimum health. But we as humans have pills and all kinds of medications that are touted to cure the maladies that affect us. And in spite of a myriad of side effects, these solutions seem to be par for the course. I’m not against modern medicine, but we as a society have lost our way to true health and wellbeing. Wellbeing as an aspect of healthcare has been neglected by mainstream medicine. The way COVID was handled really magnified the lack of priority for this.
Meanwhile, back in time and back at the farm, there was one specific issue that I realized had to be addressed on my land: soil erosion during heavy rain events. Ditches in my hilly fields were so deep that I had to fill them in so our machinery could harvest our crops. I had heard about the concept of not tilling the soil. In 1982 I planted my first no-till field, and the concept worked — no more erosion! I was even featured on the front page of Acres U.S.A. in the mid-nineties with an article about us being the first commercial farmers to transplant multiple acres of fresh market tomatoes with a specially designed no-till transplanter.
But no-till was not enough. I began to dig deep into how to grow crops in healthy soils that produced nutrient-dense food. That led me to my guiding mission of “mimicking nature” — implementing the principles of no soil disturbance, soil covered with vegetation year-round, living roots growing year-round and a diverse species of plants. Look at a forest or an undisturbed prairie and these principles will be evident.
Over the years, I applied these principles to my growing methods, and in the year 2000 I submitted samples of produce grown on my farm to be analyzed for nutritional density by USDA. I was elated to learn that my practices were effective, and my produce tested significantly higher than the average found in a grocery store. I’ve done soil health research on my farm and have collaborated with several universities, USDA and other organizations. Currently I’m doing research with a major university that has shown that the CBD hemp oil grown on my farm is more effective in killing and suppressing cancer cells and provides effective pain management similar to Tylenol, as compared to CBD hemp oil grown in other soil.
Regenerative agriculture was born as a remedy to restore life to the soil and to increase the nutrient density of the food produced. This methodology transcends organic farming because its mission is to deploy practices that reduce soil erosion, increase biodiversity and regenerate the natural fertility of the land — which is the secret of growing nutrient-dense food. I am proud to have played a hand in developing these regenerative agriculture techniques — designing the first cover-crop roller-crimper in the United States, becoming the first commercial vegetable farm to grow no-till transplanted vegetables and developing the tillage radish.
Nutrient density in our food has declined over time, and there has been a concurrent increase in physical, psychological and emotional ailments related to nutrient deficiencies in our bodies. Seventy percent of Americans die from a chronic disease, and half the population has either heart disease, hypertension or type 2 diabetes. Once-rare autoimmune diseases, asthma, digestive issues, cancers, autism and Alzheimer’s are ravaging our population like never before.
And the costs are staggering. As of 2016, treating these diseases accounted for three quarters of the $3.3 trillion spent annually on healthcare in the United States. That works out to $5,000 per person. In addition, doctors prescribed $374 billion in pharmaceuticals — an additional $1,000 per person per year! Add these costs together and, ironically, it adds up to nearly the same amount that each person spends on food in a year!
I recently wrote a book called The Future Proof Farm: Changing Mindsets in a Changing World that outlines the case for nutrient-dense foods being the future of agriculture. To my knowledge, I am the only farmer in the world who has been using regenerative agriculture practices for 40 years and grows vegetables and CBD hemp in fields managed as such. The result has been a measurably higher level of nutrients in the vegetables we grow, as tested by USDA and now the Bionutrient Food Association. The Bionutrient Food Association is developing a nutrient density meter — a handheld spectrometer to measure the nutrient density in food that allows farmers to see how well they are doing in this aspect and that will eventually allow consumers to shop for food based on its nutrient content. This could be a gamechanger!
In conclusion, I never imagined that the switch to no-till 40 years ago, and subsequently using methods to regenerate the soil, would lead to killing cancer cells in the lab from the CDB hemp I now grow on my farm! It’s been a journey and will continue to be so — I never stop learning how to grow nutrient-dense food and food as medicine.
My challenge to you is to learn all you can in this arena. Talk to others who are using regenerative agriculture principles and start applying what you learn to your operation. You are not a farmer just growing food. You hold the keys for the potential of better health and wellbeing for those who consume your products. It is a high calling with huge rewards!
Steve Groff farms in Pennsylvania and is the author of The Future-Proof Farm. Learn more at stevegroff.com or @CoverCropCoach.
