A Great Article from Joel Salatin Regarding Regenerative Farming

     We first heard about Joel Salatin long before God blessed us with Joyful Acres farm and were very interested in his method of farming.  Mr. Salatin is a life long farmer who’s never farmed with the “ag orthodoxy,” was invited to speak at the People vs Poison rally April 27th. It was held outside the supreme court’s hearing on whether Bayer should be protected from lawsuits for deaths caused by glyphosate. As he was restricted to 3 minutes of time, you’ll find far more value in his thoughtful words in print than the various recordings out there now. He had to rush. You can read his words slowly and appreciate them more deeply here. This comes directly from Joel’s blog, Musings from the Lunatic Farmer:          

     Consistent with my unconventionality as the Lunatic Farmer, I’ve thought long and hard about what I could add to this momentous discussion today. So here’s my take: we’re distracted, as is often the case, by asking the wrong question. We’re asking specifically whether federal agencies should be able to shield their corporate cronies from the consequences of their dangerous products, specifically, and more generally, is glyphosate, or perhaps any chemical fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, or insecticide necessary in agriculture? The short answer to both of these questions is “no.” But these are the wrong questions. The real question is what protocols would return the North American landscape to its pre-European productivity and abundance? You see, 500 years ago this landscape produced more food than it does today, even with tractors, fertilizers, chemicals and new plant varieties. Of course, it wasn’t all eaten by people. Some 100-200 million bison roamed grasslands and savannahs. 200-400 million beavers ate more vegetable material than all the humans in North America today. Flocks of birds blocked the sun for an entire day. The Lewis and Clark expedition encountered a bear every single mile from St. Louis to the Pacific. Bears eat a lot. A million wolves each ate 20 pounds of meat a day. Between 1492 and 1600, the Native American population dropped by 90 percent as European diseases ravaged indigenous tribes. How did this pre-European landscape produce this abundance? First, symbiotic, diversified, mobile animals. Bison choreography included moving, mobbing, and strategic mowing. Second, hydrology. The beavers created 8-10 percent water across the landscape; today we’re less than 4 percent. The three primary principles of proper landscape hydration are to slow runoff water, spread it, and sink it. Bison augmented the beavers with millions of wallows, like backyard swimming pool-sized dust baths, which collected runoff into pools to then soak into aquifers. Third, both human and naturally-lit fire killed weak, sick, and small trees to favor big trees spaced apart, known as the cathedral forest. Modern American industrialized agriculture opposes every one of these principles. We segregate animals and plants into monocultures and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. We drain the water, speed up surface runoff, and deplete aquifers. In forests, we take the best trees, leave the worst, and don’t prune to encourage healthy growth. Because we’ve disrespected and assaulted the most basic protocols of ecology, beginning with European arrival but accelerating with modern machines, chemicals, and cheap transportation, nature is fighting back on many fronts: soil, human, and cultural dysfunction. Pathogenicity and toxicity scream a lexicon of abuse: E. coli, campylobacter, salmonella, super bugs, food allergies, chronic morbidity. As the glyphosate debate rages, let’s stay focused on the most important objective: restoring the abundance and ecological integrity that greeted those European immigrants. Glyphosate is not necessary for national security; it’s merely one among many modern inventions pushing us toward insecurity. Let’s use our God-given mechanical and mental ingenuity to restore, regenerate, and redeem. Thank you.

     "Thank you, God, for blessing us with Joyful Acres Farm and showing us the truth about taking care of your creation!"  

     "The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; 

the world, and they that dwell therein," Psalm 24:1.