Why Grow Your Own Food? 

 

Since the end of WWII, major corporate agribusiness and food companies have been on a mission to produce the most product for the least cost to maximize profits (economics 101). The use of massive amounts of surplus munitions converted to ammonium based fertilizers allowed farmers to reap bumper crops which began stocking supermarket shelves and, in turn, launched the greatest economic boom in US history. Farmers became addicted to the use of chemical fertilizers to meet market demands. For decades, Americans consumers also became increasingly dependent upon the low cost, processed foods that were readily available and easy to prepare. Gradually, small farmers were faced with the decision to either “Go Big or Go Home”. Agribusiness now controls the vast majority of food production in the United States.

 

Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (N-P-K) are the three chemical elements which were thought for decades to be all that farmers need to grow good crops. Calcium was added in the form of lime to raise soil ph. In recent years more and more farmers are coming to realize that other elements are important in plant health. Elements such as magnesium, zinc, sulphur, etc., are also important to plants and to human health. Much of our farmland is almost completely devoid of these elements and in turn lacking in our diets.

 

Because of the use of chemical fertilizers on such a broad scale, a myriad of problems arose. These fertilizers were/are highly toxic to soil organisms which are vital to the overall health of crops. Chemical fertilizers met the immediate demands of keeping plants alive and producing, however, as the soil life was diminished, the need for more chemical fertilizer and eventually pesticides became necessary. This is where we are today—millions of acres of cropland that produce our food which is dependent upon these ever increasingly complex chemical compounds which undoubtedly affects the health of those who consume it.

 

In 1984, the EPA approved the widespread use of human sewage sludge for use on cropland. Most of this matter comes from larger municipalities which have major industries and institutes of higher education and research which contribute to the waste. Heavy metals, solvents, bio-hazardous waste, and pharmaceuticals end up in sewage processing plants across the country. According to government testing and requirements for reporting, the finished waste is supposedly safe for application on agricultural crops within certain guidelines. However, a common practice among farming operations in the US is to periodically plant root crops to “clean up the soil” of heavy metals. And, many of the over 180,000 known chemical compounds, most of which are in use today, are very persistent in the environment. These chemicals have a cumulative effect.

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