Spirit Science 33_9 ~ The Dirt on Agriculture

Hey there! As we continue our exploration into health, it’s time we take a look at some of the challenges we have with our modern plant-based agriculture industries. When addressing the topic of nutrition and the healing diseases with food, we truly wish we could simply say “eat fruits and vegetables and all of your problems will be solved”. This idea has a lot of truth to it, especially if we lived in a world of perfect gardens. However, we need to apply a little bit more awareness to what is going on behind the scenes in the modern world of agriculture if we are to see the bigger picture and make more informed choices when it comes to our health and wellness.

Because of the way we have constructed our lives as a species when investigating industrial plant-based agricultural, we have found that the system is in the same kind of trouble as it is with the other industries that we’ve looked at previously, such as meat and dairy production. The issues surrounding plant-based agriculture are slightly different, but don’t let that fool you. They are just as dangerous as any other of the heavily commercialized industrial practices are on our health.

Although there seem to be fewer diseases related to consuming mass-produced plants they are still responsible for major health issues due to modern chemical agriculture, genetic modification, and low nutrient quality. When we found out that the most traditionally nourishing plant foods on the planet now have the lowest levels of nutrients within them than they ever have, we just had to find out why! One of the things we found out is that it all comes down to the dirt.

Dirt is incredibly important to the nutritional content of the plants, as it is the source of where plants draw their nutrients from, to begin with. Without healthy soil, plants become nutritionally empty, and those who consume the plants also suffer less nutrition as a result.

Sources:
This episode was based on the film Dirt! You can watch it on Youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHhhHpohglg

Minerals of the Earth’s Crust
http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/resources/jesei/minerals/students.htm

The importance of soils organic matter
http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0100e/a0100e02.htm

The Dust Bowl
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/americas-10-worst-man-made-environmental-disasters/dust

Lost 1/3rd of our Topsoil
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/arable-land-soil-food-security-shortage

Have Fruits and Vegetables become less nutritious?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/

All about Pesticides
https://toxicsaction.org/issues/pesticides/

Microfibres in our Fish
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/microfibers-plastic-pollution-oceans-patagonia-synthetic-clothes-microbeads