Newsletter - May 12, 2021

Dear brothers and sisters,

In this video we celebrate growing fruits and veggies in chemical soup. They call it hydroponics. This sort of agronomy is typically done in a greenhouse, the crops are  isolated from the entire ecosystem—soil, flora and fauna, as well as all insects, birds, and other plant life. This is a mockery of ecological balance and  biological diversity.                        

On the other hand, when plants are grown in soil, the breakdown of organic matter by microbes and invertebrates releases most of the nutrients plants need, particularly the micronutrients. The soil is a biological network, an amazing and diverse ecology. Living soil is teaming with micro organisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. These microscopic organisms interact with the plant roots allowing plants to absorb nutrients from the soil. The root ball of the plant is the gut or intestinal tract of the plant. It houses microbes just like the human gut does.            

Organic farmers build fertile soil by adding organic matter from crop residues, animal manure, and cover crops and provide the conditions that allow the organic matter to decompose and form humus.

The use of cover crops, compost, natural sources of minerals and grazing animals  improves the organic matter content and biodiversity in the soil. This is the fundamental process of regeneration that makes organic agriculture truly sustainable, able to grow food over the long term. No such regeneration occurs in soil-less systems such as hydroponics.                                                         

Lets look closer. Fruits and vegetables grown hydroponically under LED lights and in the most controlled of environments are fundamentally different  from those grown under natural conditions; they are deficient in life energy.

Hydroponics disrupts the ecosystem; it tears apart  the relationship between soil, flora, fauna, insects and birds. Contrast  this with a family farm where the farmer is the true husbandman of his soil, plants and animals. He labors continuously to augment the fertility of his topsoil which  gives life to all.

The organic label will still assure you that an item has not been contaminated with pesticides, artificial fertilizers or GMOs. But it is of no help in knowing whether or not a fruit or vegetable is grown in living soil or a lunarscape. That tomato-has  it been grown  in rich, black soil by a family farmer, or has it been grown by a technician in a lab coat, in chemical soup?

We urge you to support the Real Organic Project. They are family farmers who are standing up for truly alive organic agriculture.By healing this American earth they are helping all of us  be more vital and alive.

Jesse Schwartz PhD
President
Living Tree Community Foods