Biological Soil
Food Chain Radio Show #989
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
FIRST BROWN, THEN GREEN
Can we become green without first becoming brown?
Guest: North Dakota Rancher Gabe Brown
We have developed the ability to grow food without the organic processes of soil.
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio: FIRST BROWN, THEN GREEN Guest: North Dakota Rancher Gabe Brown
In fact, many food production systems have demoted their soil to inert mediums with the simple job holding plant roots in place. The more complex work of feeding and watering plants is conducted by growers wielding fertilizers, irrigation and other inputs money can buy. For many of these systems, biological processes of soil are simply a nuisance.
Others, like North Dakota rancher Gabe Brown, have turned away from the soil-less convention of modern times to refocus on the biological processes that have sustained food production through the milleniums. And those processes begin in the soil.
It has been said the quality of our lives depends on the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. If such is indeed the case, we ask…
Can we get to the green, without building the brown?
