Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Feeding the Earth
    Feeding the Earth
    Feeding the Earth
    Ebook91 pages1 hour

    Feeding the Earth

    By Daniel BAERTSCHI

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    How can we produce and consume food without harming our planet? What needs to be done to ensure that people have affordable and healthy food? With examples from his own experience and written in straightforward language, the author demonstrates how agriculture and the food industry must change if we're t

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherÉditions La Butineuse
    Release dateDec 20, 2021
    ISBN9782493291059
    Feeding the Earth

    Related to Feeding the Earth

    Related ebooks

    Social Science For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Farming For The Future

      Jun 14, 2023

      Farming For The Future
      8 min read

    • Article

      Regenerative Soil Solutions

      Apr 26, 2020

      Regenerative Soil Solutions
      1 min read

    • Article

      Certified Sustainable

      Jul 13, 2018

      Certified Sustainable
      7 min read

    • Article

      Cotton: The Ideal Crop For Reducing Carbon Emissions And Poverty

      Feb 4, 2022

      What impact is climate change having on South Africa’s cotton farmers? Hennie Bruwer (HB): Ironically, we’re currently seeing, and will continue to see, an increase in the number of cotton farmers in South Africa as a result of climate change. This i

      6 min read

    • Article

      VIDEO: 4 Ways That Wild Edibles, Including Insects, Will Wow You

      Dec 20, 2018

      California-based chef and forager Pascal Baudar is a master of wildcrafted cuisine, creating visually stunning, palate-pleasing recipes from foraged ingredients — including insects.

      1 min read

    • Article

      INTRODUCTION TO Biodynamics

      Oct 23, 2022

      INTRODUCTION TO Biodynamics
      3 min read

    • Article

      Grow Green Manure

      Apr 10, 2020

      Grow Green Manure
      8 min read

    • Article

      Growing Nutrientdense Vegetables Using Regenerative Farming

      Oct 1, 2021

      Gert Janse van Rensburg, a successful commercial vegetable producer, follows regenerative farming principles. He emphasises that farmers should aim to build up the soil rather than break it down. Regenerative agriculture can takes years to refine, bu

      4 min read

    • Article

      Soils Ain’t Soils – The Argument For Regenerative Viticulture

      Aug 26, 2022

      REGENERATIVE viticulture is becoming something of a buzz phrase in winey circles. Last year saw the founding of two businesses focused on this theme, one in Spain, and one in the UK. One states sustainability and biodiversity as key purposes. The oth

      4 min read

    • Article

      Building VIBRANT SOILS

      Oct 20, 2019

      Building VIBRANT SOILS
      6 min read

    • Article

      Make Peace With Weeds

      Dec 2, 2021

      Make Peace With Weeds
      4 min read

    • Article

      Feeding the Future

      Jan 8, 2018

      Feeding the Future
      6 min read

    • Article

      May-august

      May 5, 2022

      May-august
      2 min read

    • Article

      Jane's Delicious Garden

      Aug 3, 2020

      When I began growing organic vegetables and herbs in my Johannesburg garden, I knew nothing about gardening. It all started in 1995 after I'd spent a year in the USA and fallen in love with the wide variety of chillies available there. At that time i

      3 min read

    • Article

      On The Trail

      Mar 7, 2024

      On The Trail
      6 min read

    • Article

      Saving Seeds, Saving Cultures

      Mar 1, 2019

      Saving Seeds, Saving Cultures
      5 min read

    • Article

      Together We Grow

      Dec 16, 2021

      Together We Grow
      7 min read

    • Article

      Behind biodynamic

      Jul 29, 2022

      Behind biodynamic
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Feeding the Earth

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Feeding the Earth - Daniel BAERTSCHI

      Foreword

      The fact that you are reading this book shows one thing: food means something to you. Of course, we all eat to live, but few of us consider the effort required to put food on our plates. The subject is too complex, the processes too opaque. The sheer number of brands, the often-confusing labeling and the seemingly infinite number of products on shop shelves is overwhelming.

      Eating is much more than just calories and nutrients. It is about pleasure, a deep connection to our culture, sharing and meeting people. Eating is part of our identity and thus an important part of our lives.

      For many of us, an abundance of food means we have never experienced real hunger. We are faced with the challenge of choosing what is best for us from an overflowing range of products and of consuming them in moderation. This is anything but obvious. Only by working carefully with nature will we be able to eat in harmony with our planet.

      Despite technical progress, soil remains the source of our food. The earth produces enough food for everyone if it is used properly and if we consume a balanced diet favoring plant-based foods, and in reasonable quantities. Healthy soil is the basis for healthy plants, animals – and people.

      All over the world, there is an alarming decrease in available agricultural land. Erosion and desertification are increasing dramatically. Every year, droughts and floods destroy fields and consequently millions of tonnes of food crops. In many countries, farmers have abandoned their lands because of war and conflict.

      How – and why – did we get here? Is regenerative agriculture a solution? As you read this book, you will see that change is needed, and that everyone can contribute to it. After closing this book, you will be able to make better choices about what you eat. Our health depends on our personal choices, as well as the health of our planet.

      Let’s heal our earth by eating healthy!

      Introduction

      For decades, I have wondered what agriculture would look like if it wisely used the natural resources and conditions of each place, and produced food in harmony with nature. Growing up on a pioneering organic farm in the Emmental region of Switzerland, I had direct and immediate experience, from childhood, of the complexity and demands of farming to answer this question. Following a traumatic personal experience, my parents converted the family farm to organic farming in the early 1970s at a time when agriculture was expanding rapidly in the country. A neighbour farmer used a licensed chemical pesticide against house longhorn beetle infesting his barn. The product was sprayed on the beams – directly above the hay. Some of the product got into the hay, which was consumed by the cows. This farmer supplied milk to the village dairy, which produced Emmental cheese, and some of the cheese was exported to the United States, where health authorities discovered residues of the chemical agent. The cheese was confiscated and the entire shipment destroyed. The farmer concerned had to dump his milk into a slurry pit and to wait a year before he was allowed to deliver to the cheese factory again. This incident prompted my parents to take a critical look at the benefits of technical and chemical progress. They turned to organic farming.

      The experience changed my parents’ outlook, and consequently my own. I became concerned at an early age about what a healthy agriculture and food system could look like. Over the years, working in the fields and stables, I tried to find practical solutions to this question. I had benefited from quality food produced on our farm, and I consider it a privilege to have grown up eating organic food. Freshly picked salad on the table, meat and milk from our own animals, vegetables in all their varieties, preserves and sweet cider from the cellar – it was all natural, normal and obvious to me.

      All the discussions about organic farming around the family table, in the fields and in the barn are unforgettable memories. As a child and teenager, you want to follow your own path and make your own opinion, which is what I did. Like my parents, I became a farmer. I also studied agricultural economics. I worked as a consultant and manager in Switzerland and elsewhere, becoming involved in a variety of fields, from development cooperation, occupational safety, and the management of a nature museum, to setting up my own consulting company. I was concerned with healthy food and its link to climate protection. For eight years I was Managing Director of Bio Suisse, the parent organisation of Swiss organic farming. My wish was, and still is, that people appreciate nature and use it responsibly. We are not the owners of the land, the soil, the nature; we are only the custodians.

      My interest in regenerative agriculture gained momentum a few years ago when I left Bio Suisse with the intention of expanding beyond organic. I was inspired in particular by the American author, farmer and philosopher Wendell Berry and visionary regenerative farmers such as Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown, Allan Savory, Charles Massy, David Montgomery, Tony Rinaudo and Allen Williams among others. Films have also been a source of inspiration, especially The Biggest Little Farm, Polyfaces, Kiss the Ground, and Sacred Cow.

      In the course of my working life, I have become interested in conventional agriculture, which continues to go about its business with

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1