The film “Farmer’s Footprint / Regeneration: The Beginning” sheds light on the negative impact of our current chemical-dependent food and farming system, which harms our soils, pollutes our air and water, and contributes to rising cancer rates and chronic diseases in the U.S. However, the film also offers a solution: regenerative agriculture, which focuses on protecting and rebuilding topsoil and ecological biodiversity.
Featuring experts like Allen Williams, Ph.D., and Dr. Zach Bush, the documentary showcases the benefits of regenerative agriculture in rebuilding soil health, restoring ecosystems, and promoting human health through nutrient-dense food production. The film also highlights the harmful effects of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller, on human health.
Allen Williams, a sixth-generation farmer turned regenerative agriculture consultant, shares his experience of transitioning from conventional farming to regenerative practices. He emphasizes the importance of healthy soil for water retention, increased productivity, and healthier food production. The film also addresses the high suicide rates among American farmers and the financial struggles they face, attributing these challenges to industrial farming practices and the Farm Bill.
Through real-life examples like the Breitkreutzes, who have successfully transitioned to regenerative agriculture, the film demonstrates how farmers can escape the cycle of debt and improve productivity by implementing regenerative practices. Cover cropping is highlighted as a key step in the journey towards regeneration, showing how simple changes can lead to significant benefits for both farmers and the environment. In a short period of time, the family transitioned from experiencing cover crop failures to achieving cover crop success. Cover crops, along with other regenerative practices like no-till and purposeful livestock grazing, play a crucial role in improving soil health. Planting cover crops is especially important as conventional farmers are losing significant amounts of topsoil each year. Gail Fuller, a regenerative farmer from Kansas, suffered significant soil erosion on his farmland, resulting in substantial financial loss.
The key to successful cover crop usage is to keep the soil covered to promote healthy soil microorganisms, leading to more productive soils with fewer inputs. Healthy soil is linked to healthy food, which in turn benefits human health. The soil microbiome, a complex ecosystem, contains more microorganisms in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on Earth.
The human microbiome and soil microbiome function similarly, with both playing essential roles in various bodily processes. The film also highlights the detrimental impacts of glyphosate and GMOs on public health, suggesting a link between the rise in cancer rates and the use of Roundup weedkiller on food crops. The increased use of glyphosate in agriculture has led to soil degradation, posing a threat to family farms and creating vulnerability to multinational corporations buying up fertile land. No tiene sentido alguno desde cualquier punto de vista de la seguridad nacional o la seguridad nacional. Y si observamos esta dependencia cada vez mayor y la escala de la mega agricultura, nos volvemos muy propensos a fallas catastróficas en el sistema de entrega.
“Se necesita una mega industria para cometer un error tan grande”
Bush señala las 12 millones de libras de carne de res que se retiraron del mercado en 2018 debido a la contaminación por Salmonella. “Estas bacterias invasivas son un síntoma del colapso del microbioma mayor en las vacas”, dice Bush, añadiendo:
“Se necesita una mega industria para cometer un error tan grande, para hacernos tan vulnerables. A medida que la escala de la granja crece, no deberíamos engañarnos pensando que significa seguridad. Significa peligro. Significa una dependencia extrema de una situación extremadamente precaria.”
La buena noticia es que a través de la agricultura regenerativa, que está creciendo en popularidad, podemos revertir todo esto. Los agricultores tienen la oportunidad de superar el miedo, transformar sus suelos y reclamar su derecho a cultivar alimentos saludables, dice Bush.
“Nadie sabe mejor que un buen agricultor que somos simplemente la punta del iceberg de la biología cuando se trata de la vida en este planeta”, dice. Un granjero sabe que su ganado, su ganado y sus plantas tienen una interdependencia que se origina en lo más profundo del suelo.
Es por esta razón que los agricultores tienen la clave para restaurar la salud pública y eliminar nuestra epidemia de cáncer y enfermedades crónicas. Si destruimos nuestros suelos, entonces nos destruimos a nosotros mismos. Bush lo dijo mejor en una publicación reciente en su página de Facebook:
“La agricultura regenerativa no es solo un problema de suelo, es un problema de salud humana. Con la pérdida de nuestros ecosistemas de suelo, nuestra comida carece de nutrientes que nuestros cuerpos necesitan para un funcionamiento saludable. Cada consumidor, familia, granja y empresa deben reorientar sus prioridades para considerar primero el suelo. Nuestra salud está en juego.”
“Farmer’s Footprint” tiene como objetivo regenerar 5 millones de acres de tierras de cultivo para 2025. Visita su página de Facebook para obtener más información.