T
housands of years ago, agriculture
started changing civilization. As
humans fi gured out ways to grow
crops and domesticate animals, they
stopped being hunters and gatherers
who continually moved around on a
never-ending search for food and shelter,
and created communities with distinct
cultures. And eventually, we ended up
where we are today.
While industrial farming on a grand
scale has become very effi cient, it has
degraded the quality of soil. “As the soil
has been mined of its fertility, we’ve
seen the loss of vitamins and minerals
within foods,” says Ann Adams, PhD,
executive director of Holistic Management
International, a nonprofi t organization
that educates farmers in regenerative
agriculture. “If we have a truly living,
fertile soil, that’s very diff erent than dirt
that’s being used to grow food by putting
in synthetic fertilizer and herbicides and
pesticides,” she adds.During the past 80 years, tests performed
by the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) show the concentration
of essential vitamins and minerals in our
food, especially vegetables, has dropped
by 5–80 percent, depending upon the
nutrient. Depleted soil also makes land
more vulnerable to climate changes that
destroy crops and threaten our food
supply, and increases air pollution. But a
regenerative way of farming can reverse
these trends.SEPTEMBER 2017 (^) • 47