Taking steps toward greater soil — and human — health
The soil microbiome of one’s farm and the microbiome of one’s body — are these different, or one in the same? Where does one begin and the other end?
At its essence, what is the root of the soil? What does it trace back to? What makes it “soil”? What makes you “you”?
Digging deeper into such questions is part of the path of rejuvenation for our farms and our bodies. Farmers or consumers may not realize that it is one’s beliefs, intentions and expectations that serve as the underlying guidance system for one’s farm and body, prior to management decisions or lifestyle choices.
When we recognize that the health of people is a reflection of the vitality of a farm and its soil, the many layers of interconnectedness between humans, nature and soil begin to unravel. As Sir Albert Howard, one of the founders of the organic farming movement, once said, “The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible.”
The Current Paradigm
Because people are indivisible from the soil, the current experiment in agriculture that has been occurring since the green revolution and introduction of GMOs is reflected back to us in the health of the US population today. The list of disease (dis-ease) conditions affecting individuals is too exhaustive for this article, and many of these conditions are experienced in some way by most people; for example, unfortunately everyone knows someone with cancer.
But we are sick because the soil is sick. A question to consider is if there is an underlying belief or expectation within culture that this is just the way it is — that cancer is inevitable for a portion of the population, similar to how a crop may eventually succumb to a pest infestation.
Is it the current paradigm that “dis-ease” within farm systems and human bodies is inevitable?
A Different Belief
There is a motto by Gail and Lynnette Fuller of Fuller Farms that is all encompassing: “Soil is the answer; what is your question?” When we start from the base of soil as the solution, the soil is only as good as its foundation and how we build it up.
We need to foster the soil, pay attention to it, and give back for it to fulfill its innate natural functioning. Such practices include not only amendments and management decisions, like seed selection, rotation and crop maintenance, but also our awareness and presence. For example, what is the soil’s texture, moisture, smell? What does it feel like between your fingers? These are indicators of the life within it — the microbiology that is ultimately responsible for the soil’s nutrient cycling, aggregate formation, tilth and drainage, as well as for the immunity protection gifted to the plant communities that grow in it.
Depending on how much we foster the soil, there exists a spectrum of possibilities for its functioning and growth. This might be what we call “health.” There can be a high or low level of functioning, with a wide or narrow capacity for growth. Wherever a soil finds itself on the spectrum of health, there is always room for improvement.
Gold-Standard Soil
Let’s draw out an example to describe this spectrum for improvement. Think of it as a range of different levels: gold, silver and bronze. What would make a gold standard for soil health — for optimal function and potential for growth? Would this be a closed-loop system in which there are no external inputs of fertilizers or chemicals? Would it involve robust microbiology belowground and insect pollinators aboveground? Would there be diversity of plants and animals cycling nutrients, and phytochemicals and microbes to maximize the plant’s immune response, so that disease or pest presence is balanced with predator insects and resilience? Would the gold-standard soil produce the most nutrient-dense food, sequester and cycle the most carbon, and maintain clean air and water?
These attributes are posed as questions because the opportunity for potential and benefits seems limitless. The gold-standard soil produces food that is healing — that is truly medicine. The gold-standard soil smells sweet, it is soft to walk on, and even the simple acts of walking barefoot on this soil or breathing in a handful of it are healing to the human body.
One might ask, “Is this possible?” Researchers are beginning to uncover the mechanisms of particular microbes that up-regulate aspects of the human microbiome, and the electrical conductivity benefits of “grounding” from the soil. For most famers or “salt-of-the-earth” people, we know good soil when we see it. We can feel it. While Science may be starting to quantify with finer granularity the qualities of soil health, there is an innateness within us as human beings, who have co-evolved with soils and natural ecosystems for hundreds of thousands of years, to know when it is good and life-giving for us.
Unfortunately, the number of “gold-standard” soils is diminishing, and so we may be forgetting what life-giving soil really can be. Do we even know what this soil looks like, what it feels like, and how it functions? Many soils are so depleted and undernourished of carbon, microbiology and air-flow exchange (due to compaction) that we need to dream a little bit to reimagine what soil can be.
One Step at a Time
Regardless of where a farm finds itself in regard to its soil health, there is at least one step of improvement it can achieve. One step leads to another, along the spectrum of change, reaching toward the gold standard. This process is true for both the soil, or “terrain,” of our farms and for our human bodies:
1. Start where you are.
2. Decide with intent that you want to change some aspect of your soil or personal health.
3. Take the first practical step that is possible.
4. Small practical steps add up to the bigger change along the spectrum of improvement over time.
To recognize the ever-present opportunity for healing and growth, and to celebrate the wins — the steps of progress that each farm or person can make within their journey — is the foundation of what we foster at the Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health (MTIH.) Wherever a farm or a human body finds itself on the spectrum of health, there is always room for improvement. We welcome you to imagine, aspire and grow with us.
Dani Kusner is a Certified Crop Advisor, independent consultant, certified Terrain Advocate and owner of Deep Soil, a company that serves the intersection of soil health and human health (dani@deepsoilhealth.com).
Dr. Nasha Winters is a licensed naturopathic doctor (ND) and is an expert in integrative cancer research. She is the author of The Metabolic Approach to Cancer, and she and her team are currently building a first-of-its-kind integrative cancer hospital and research institute (the Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health — mtih.org) in southern Arizona.
Hear Dr. Nasha speak again at this year’s AcresUSA Eco-Ag Conference, 4-7 December (events.acresusa.com).
