By Stephen Gleave

1. Restoring richness, flavour and
nutrients to our food requires
restoring purity to agricultural
fields.
In many cases, that involves
dramatic changes in the way large
corporate farms grow food — not a
revolutionary leap into the
unknown, but rather a return to
what earlier generations knew was
best for the land, the crops, and us.
Organic is a step in the right
direction, but there are even more
natural options, such as using
plant-based fertilizers, together
with smart growing techniques such
as alternating crops over time to
build nutrients in the soil.
Farmers who cultivate crops
without chemicals are true soil
scientists, producing abundant
harvests by rotating crops and
plowing plants back into the soil.
They use complex crop rotations —
sometimes planting a different crop
each year for a period of five or six
years — and even letting the fields
lie fallow at times. Most of these
farmers enjoy learning as much as
they can about their soil, and
experimenting to refine their
techniques. They work with nature,
rather than against it.
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RECLAIMING PURE
TRADITIONS: PLANTS
ENRICHEN OUR
FARMS AND FOOD
By: Stephen Gleave

2. Legumes play a central role in keeping the soil rich and plants soaring sunward.
Plants need nitrogen in the soil to thrive. Only certain types of plants such as
legumes are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a nutrient for the soil, which is
why legumes such as lentils, clover and peas are favored by many environmentally-
conscious farmers.
These techniques are not only attractive alternatives to chemical fertilizers, but also
to the use of manure on fields, which is still a popular practice among North
American farmers. There’s an old saying that “manure is only as good as what the
cow ate.” Unfortunately, some cows and chickens have been ingesting hormones,
antibiotics, other pharmaceuticals, and even arsenic.
Arsenic presents risks to crops, consumers, farmers and surrounding ecosystems.
The source is usually traced back to poultry operations, where an arsenic-based
chemical known as roxarsone has often been added to chicken feed to fight
parasites, disease, boost growth and improve the grocery-store appearance of
broilers.
In the U.S., an estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics manufactured or imported are
fed to chickens, pigs and cattle. The use of veterinary estrogens is more than five
times the use of oral contraceptives. As a result, animal waste is responsible for 90
percent of estrogen in the environment.
Fertilizers with these unwanted additives don’t stay wholly on fields. They frequently
run off into streams, seep into groundwater and release into the atmosphere
ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide, a gas which is hazardous to the planet’s ozone
layer.
Many consumers are surprised to learn that these types of fertilizers are often used
on organic farms. One reason is that organic farming standards are in large part set
by a rule-making board with heavy representation from conventional food
corporations.
When The New York Times examined the issue of organic integrity, it found a
significant overlap between organic products and many processed-food giants: “The
industry’s image — contented cows grazing on the green hills of family-owned farms
— is mostly pure fantasy. Or rather, pure marketing.
“Big Food, it turns out, has spawned what might be called Big Organic. Bear Naked,
Wholesome & Hearty, Kashi: all three and more actually belong to the cereals giant
Kellogg. Naked Juice? That would be PepsiCo of Pepsi and Fritos fame. And behind
the pastoral-sounding Walnut Acres, Health Valley and Spectrum Organics is none
other than Hain Celestial, once affiliated with Heinz, the grand old name in ketchup.”
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