Good for the Land, Good for Us: How Farming Can Improve Human Health

Are you really only what you eat? David R. Montgomery, a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington, and biologist and environmental planner Anne Biklé view human health as dependent on the health of the soil on farms, which ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and ultimately us.

The long-running partnerships through which crops and soil life nourish one another suffuse plant and animal foods in the human diet with an array of compounds and nutrients our bodies need to protect us from pathogens and chronic ailments. Unfortunately, say Montgomery and Biklé, conventional agricultural practices unravel these vital partnerships. Can farmers and ranchers produce enough nutrient-dense food to feed us all? Can we have quality and quantity?

Drawing on their new book What Your Food Ate, Montgomery and Biklé examine why what’s good for the land is good for us, too. They reveal why regenerative farming practices, which strengthen the health and vitality of soil, can also offer untapped potential for improving human health.

What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health (W. W. Norton), is available for purchase.

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• Purchase your copy of What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé here.
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