I’m attending the Acres USA conference in Madison, Wisconsin for my annual agricultural recharge. I’ve been going for several years now. It’s interesting to me how the education has shifted to regenerative agriculture. I think the booth I have is the only organic animal mineral and fertilizer company here. The rest are predominately biological amendments, biological inoculants for microbial growth, soil testing labs or specialized equipment dealers. The shift towards building the soil using biology and encouraging microbial activity in the soil is the predominant theme now.
Most of the talks are about biodiversity, organic crop production and ecosystem restoration. The old ways of plowing the soil and dumping chemical fertilizers onto the land and using all the “cides” (insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) are a thing of the past. The emphasis now is building the soils using cover cropping, composting and regenerative practices. There was a keynote speaker talking about the discussion of our ability to feed the world. He stated that the decline in the nutritional density of the food produced now is more the problem than actually having enough food.
A farmer these days that produces corn, wheat or soybeans doesn’t ever actually get to eat the food they produce. It’s a commodity crop shipped somewhere else to be processed into packaged food. Locally produced farmers actually can eat the food they produce and will stand behind the quality and flavor of their product. Support you local farmer and keep the economy in your neighborhood alive.