The term Anthropocene has been defined as the geological era spanning roughly the last five decades, and focuses on the acceleration of human activities to a point where humanity became the dominant force on the planet, shaping the earth’s biophysical conditions in unseen ways. Within this period of time, the capitalist economic model became a dominant one and brought many improvements to human conditions, from poverty alleviation to the general increase in standard of living around the world.

The period known as the great acceleration did not come without any downsides though. Excluding greenhouse gas emissions and climate crisis, there are other less obvious downsides, for example the rise of inequalities, human displacement and social unrest.

Encouraged by powerful multinational corporations, industrial agriculture and food production technologies have more far-reaching implications on human physical and mental health than most people are aware.

It all began with agriculture

The food system on which humans depend in order to survive has greatly evolve from hunter gathering to modern industrial agriculture and food technologies, all of that in the span of 12,000 years, which is only a fraction in the history of homo sapiens. Everything started with the domestication of wild plants and animals in small settlements, agriculture grew alongside the rise of human civilization.

Over the past three centuries, agriculture turned into a titan of the global industry with gigantic plantations of coffee, sugar and cotton developed within colonies for export to more developed countries, where the raising of animals also grew quickly to meet the increasing demand of meat and clothing within the ever growing society. The British agricultural revolution and the green revolution saw the introduction of the mechanization of agriculture and synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and selective breeding.

The rapid increase of large-scale industrial agriculture and the extensive use of chemicals, combined with the ever-growing population, has had deep social, political, economic and environmental implications. Ironically, agriculture, which is an activity, deemed eco-friendly and close to nature, has become one of the human activities that has exceeded the safe planetary boundaries. This is due to the excessive flow of biochemical like phosphorus and nitrogen compounds to biosphere and oceans, which led to the destruction of ambient conditions that are critical to the regeneration cycles of plants and aquatic life.

The soil-gut connection or how eating the right food can save the planet

This may indeed sound like a strange connection: how can eating the right food save the planet? In parallel with soil microbiology, several recent research has shown that the gut microbiome has a lot to do with the wellbeing of humans, and this is the same type of bacteria as the one in the soil.

The intensive use of chemicals, such as fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, is sadly causing many damages in this symbiotic relationship that has lasted for millions of years. Not only are these chemicals responsible for the destruction of soil biology, the extinction of birds, trees and other useful predators, but the ripple of the use of chemicals lead to desertification, erratic rainfall and erosion because of the loss of organic matter and deep roots to hold soil in place. These chemicals are most known to be responsible for diseases, which have been shown in many studies to cause plants and foods consumed by humans to have a lack of nutrients.

An example of one of these chemicals is glyphosate. It is commercialized as Roundup, which is an herbicide used so much that it ends up in 95% of human tissues, breast milk and even the umbilical cords. In soil where Roundup is present, certain minerals like zinc and magnesium are unable to be absorbed by plants. The bacteria present in the soil is usually the one making these minerals soluble and they are also killed by those herbicides and fertilizers, preventing the production amino-acids and alkaloids which are important for the plants defenses. In addition, these chemicals have a tendency to lead to diseases like Alzheimer, osteoporosis, depression, anxiety and other neurological diseases.

Organic to regenerative agriculture

The term regenerative agriculture was first introduced in 2014 in the during a United Nations Climate Change meeting in New York. The meeting aimed to set up a global network of like-minded agricultural, environmental and social organizations. Nowadays, it has evolved into the umbrella designation for most organic farming systems like agro-ecology, permaculture, syntrophic farming or holistic grazing. Their common link is the care of the soil and the organic matter it contains.

Degenerative agriculture or industrial farming is also seen as a major contributor to environmental and existential threats, it is said to be responsible for up to 50% of the climate crisis, destruction of forests, soil degradation and extinction of species.

In order to counter the consequences, four main principles were brought up as objectives of regenerative agriculture. These are defined by Regeneration International:

• Health – Organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible.
• Ecology – Organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.
• Care – Organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.

There is a recognition in regenerative agriculture that human health and wealth come from the soil and that the proper management of the Soil Organic Matter (SOM) can increase the fertility, water holding capacity, pest and disease resilience and thus the productivity of agricultural systems. In addition, SOM comes from carbon dioxide fixed through photosynthesis, its increase can have a significant impact when it comes to reversing climate change.

On the verge of a new era

Eating the right thing can help save the planet and our health, and this food can only come from healthy soil produced by regenerative forms of agriculture. While doing this we can reverse the negative impacts of industrial agriculture on the environment.