Even though Dr. Jonathan Lundgren had won several
awards and published hundreds of scientific articles, he was reprimanded and
treated with hostility for expressing the findings of his research on the ways
neonicotinoids harm bees and monarch butterflies. In 2016 Jonathan Lundgren
left his job at the USDA and began a fifty-acre farm: Blue Dasher Farm; he named it after his favorite dragonfly.
Dr. Jonathan Lundgren also created the Ecdysis Foundation, a non-profit research lab located on the farm. The name of the
foundation refers to the stage of metamorphosis in which insects shed their
skin.
Several farmers support his research and
partner with him to create a community of farmers who are interested in
sustainable practices that work to improve the quality and resilience of the
soil. In doing so, they restore the integrity of ecosystems, curb climate
change, improve the quality of water and air and support human health. What is
not to like about that?
Kristin
Ohlson reflects on their partnership in practical terms: “All these farmers are
citizen-scientists. They walk the land with the informed, fond curiosity of
naturalists and know that it’s folly to approach their work as if they were
baking the same cake every season using the same recipe and ingredients. They
know that nature has many moving, changing, interacting living parts and that
these parts need our respect. For the farmers trying to find a path to both
healthy profits and healthy landscapes, Lundgren’s science can answer some of
their questions about how to proceed.”
Buz Kloot is a scientist at the University of
South Carolina who used to hate his work because he felt like a coroner. “The
waterways were dying and the only thing I could do was to declare the cause of
death.” He did not think that anything could change because he did not
think farming could change. He did not think the health of the soil in modern
America’s farmlands could change until he visited a farm owned by a soil-health
pioneer: Ray Styer.
Ray Styer had not used chemical fertilizers
in twenty-five years.
You can learn more by listening to Dr. Buz Kloot
here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWDO_O3JUSI
The experiences of various farmers are
featured in the chapter entitled “Agriculture that Nurtures Nature”. It is the
fifth chapter of Sweet in Tooth and Claw by Kristin Ohlson.
I appreciate how the author debunks the false
assumption that more agricultural productivity is needed to satisfy the demands
of a growing population. “According to the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, we already grow enough to feed ten billion people, which
is one estimate of the world’s peak population. A third of that production goes
to waste, and another third feeds automobiles and CAFOs—Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operations are where animals are divorced from their natural surroundings,
crammed into very small spaces, and often fed things they never evolved to eat.
The massive amount of food produced by industrial agriculture rarely reaches
the billion people who are hungry, not because there isn’t enough food, but
because it’s too expensive or is not locally available. And the farmers who are
on the industrial-production treadmill suffer, too: the problem for them is
overproduction, which results in lower prices despite their hard work”.
Why has
cooperation in the natural world been overlooked for so long?
Sweet
in Tooth and Claw delves into the ways cooperation in the natural world works to sustain life.
Her exploration of scientific facts may help readers understand why it is
necessary to learn these concepts and may inspire societies to emphasize
cooperation.
The facts she shares in her books corroborate how
our lives are interdependent and connected. To illustrate the awareness on the essence of her message, I can cite beavers and focus on how
their actions benefit the environment.
Many
people do not know anything about the unique role beavers play through their sophisticated work. Beavers help to minimize the effects of floods, and they even help
to prevent them. Beavers improve the quality of the water, store water during
droughts, and create wetland habitat for other species, enhancing biodiversity.
How does our own survival depend on the integrity
of life on earth? How can our choices help to make a difference? Sweet in
Tooth and Claw is a comprehensive resource to answer these questions.
If you
don’t have time to read the whole book, I recommend the chapters entitled “Living
in Verdant Cities” and “We are Ecosystems”.
Perhaps you remember that 90 percent of
vascular plants interact with fungi. Their exchange plays a role in their
health and survival, but these interactions are often ignored. I wrote about
this here.
There are more living organisms in a teaspoon
of healthy soil than human beings on earth, and understanding this web of life
is a work in progress.
When soil is healthy it is better prepared to withstand unexpected phenomena such as droughts and floods. Sustainable practices of agriculture that are based on fostering biodiversity and enriching the health of the soil with organic matter rather than using synthetic chemicals are reasonable ecological strategies to face the challenges ahead.
I
highly recommend Kristin Ohlson’s Sweet in Tooth and Claw. Some of the
topics she addresses in this book have been discussed in previous posts at My
Writing Life blog.
