The Real Key to Feeding the World
Science for the Public: Contemporary Science Issues & Innovations
September 20, 2021 Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA (zoom connecting w/Univ of Washington)
David Montgomery, Ph.D., Professor of Earth & Space Sciences, University of Washington; Participating Faculty, UW Quaternary Research Center; Adjunct Professor, UW Civil & Environmental Engineering; Participating Faculty, UW Astrobiology Program Dig to Grow website
Industrial agriculture --"Big Ag"-- destroys soil on a massive scale and is a major source of atmospheric CO2. And, contrary to corporate claims, it is not the way to feed the world. David Montgomery discusses the numerous myths of industrial agriculture and explains how farmers around the world are restoring soil and harvesting much healthier food.
Dr. Montgomery's discussion is particularly welcome at this time when the public is becoming more aware of the severe impact of industrial farming on our planet, climate change and health. Advertised for decades as the only way to feed the world's population, Big Ag is now understood as a major contributor to global warming, environmental destruction, and poor food quality.
Dr. Montgomery's 2017 article in The ConversationHealthy Soil Is the Real Key to Feeding the World
Guardian article about the famous garden of David Montgomery & wife, Anne Biklé The Scientists Whose Garden Unlocked the Secret to Good Health
Review of David Montgomery's 2007 book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
In an earlier book for the general public, The Hidden Half of Nature, David Montgomery and Ann Biklé explained the relationship between healthy soil, healthy ecosystems, and healthy people. This book is based on the authors' own experiment in regenerating soil --in their own garden. It's an amazing account of how their project resulted in unusually rapid soil regeneration, the establishment of an ecosystem, a healthy diet based on their garden, and ultimately, great improvement of their own health. The authors discussed this book on Science for the Public's program, Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations in February, 2017, entitled: Microbes Matter: From Healthy Soil to Your Healthy Gut