DIVERSITY

The Microbial Economy and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

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Wheat farm and surrounding wind farm highlight the macroscopic green economy as a reminder that, like wind energy, microbially rich farmland can help mitigate greenhouse gasses.

Microbial economies trade greenhouse gasses for food and energy.   By tapping into this system, we can increase agricultural profits.  This is because microbially driven agricultural systems require fewer costly chemicals to support. As carbon credit systems become more universal, it is reasonable to assume that farmers who operate to maintain healthy soil microbial communities will … Read more

Healthy Food Systems and Economic Growth

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This image illustrates the ideal relationship between food systems, free trade, and government. A small government sits on top of a large free trade system that sits above an even larger food system.

Podcast Transcript: Hello, Last week I promised to elaborate on my cornerstones model and to explain how healthy food systems fuel growth throughout the economy. A Clean Environment Comes First Whenever I introduce the cornerstones, I always start with the environment. The reason I do this is because the environment came first. The natural resource … Read more

The Cornerstones of Healthy Food Systems are Hidden Behind Society’s Magic Eye

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(podcast transcript) The Cornerstones (that Build Healthy Food Systems) are Hard to See Thank you for tuning in to episode one, where I’m going to explain why gaining access to safe. healthy food is really a simple process,  0nce you focus on setting the cornerstones in place. The problem keeping so many of us from … Read more

Food Webs and Free Trade

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Image shows people buying food at a market.

Like Economies, Food Webs Function to Exchange Resources Did you ever wonder how a food web resembles an economy? Both are always changing.  Both are living systems.  Both function best when diversity is present… Some argue that food webs are nature’s economy, or even the first economy.  This is because food webs are defined by … Read more

Food Webs on Farms and Gardens

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Image shows cattle and chickens foraging in a mixed species pasture. Orchard saplings grow in the same cover crop mix nearby. A closeup image of the cover crop is also shown.

Farms and gardens that maintain active food webs produce healthier food.  When soil contains sufficiently diverse and abundant live microorganisms, food webs develop.  These food webs release nutrients from deep within the soil profile, and deliver them to plants in eco-friendly, bioavailable forms.  The result includes well-nourished plants that are better able to protect themselves … Read more

Understanding Food Webs

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Image compares and contrasts food chains and food webs.

What exactly is a food web? Nearly a century ago, the ecologist Charles Elton introduced us to the concept of food chains –linear series of links that shows how food, which provides the environmental currency of nutrients and energy, moves through an ecosystem. No doubt you’ve seen illustrations of food chains.  These often begin with … Read more