What motivates you to want to improve our environment?

(i.e.… to recycle, compost, and use resources responsibly?)

​For us, our children do.

Almost daily you can find an article or news story about climate change, and the misuse of natural resources and energy. A lot is blamed on agriculture pollution, and understandably so. 95% of agriculture in the US is conventional- using GMO seeds, herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, tillage, and heavy machinery. Many are factory farms, forcing the small farmer to make tough decisions to make a living. Farming income is the lowest it has been in 12 years. Small farmers have always been stewards of the land, but today, many are going from being practical to panic mode- cutting corners that make the land suffer. It’s the age-old fight between ecology and economy. I won’t keep writing about this because it can get quite depressing and I do believe ecology and economy can go hand in hand. There is an optimistic view! One that the Kenosha Regenerative Producers Group is ready to take on.

Regenerative agriculture is a “new type” of farming that has been gaining ground. It has soil health as the foundation for healthy land, ecosystem, and environment while producing the healthiest and best quality food system. It consists of soils being covered with plants at all times during the year and building organic matter (adding carbon into our soils) as paramount to a healthy ecosystem.

We began learning and practicing RE when we bought our farm in 2012. At our farm, we have a diverse amount of plant types populating our fields. The perennial plants capture water from rain to prevent runoff. These plants capture the sun's rays and turn this energy into food through photosynthesis. The plant takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. The land provides a wonderful habitat for pollinators. There is wildlife below the ground too, as millions of microbes, earthworms, and insects break down and recycle minerals and dead growth. Let the animals above and below the soils contribute to the interworking of our natural ecosystem! Our cattle are integral to this ecosystem process. They harvest these perennial plants and turn the plants into meat and milk. By plant harvesting, carbon gets deposited into the ground through root system death and regrowth. Without the cows harvesting the plant life, this ecosystem would become out of balance, and certain species would dominate. The cows also deposit fertilizer for the ecosystem to take in and recycle. All this is the ecology part.

However, without the economic part, the ecology suffers. For small farmers to be able to make a living in our “big business-factory farming world”, we as consumers need to provide support to this movement. We can encourage this type of production and environmental protection with the spending of our food dollars. Grocery stores, restaurants, chefs, school cafeterias, and people cooking at home are what drive the food economy. We can make a difference in our health, our environment, and our children’s future with how we spend our food money.

I once read “Don’t ask why food is expensive, ask why food is so cheap” and it is so true. Keep in mind “cheap food” has a tremendous cost to our environment and our health. We might not consider this when spending our money on food but you are paying for it through your health care costs and your taxes.

With economy and ecology working together you have the power to better our environment, provide stability to farmers and rural communities, and improve your health!

Earth Day has come and gone… But don’t we owe it to ourselves to think about this more than one day a year? What if every day we look at the way we use resources, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the waste we produce that goes into landfills... a little bit can make a HUGE difference!