4/18: We’ve Been Published in Nature!

Written By Rachel Jackson

Nature – Scientific Reports, that is.

It happened a couple of months ago, but with everything else going on, we have not gotten around to mentioning it to you our community. All that notwithstanding, here is the link.

Obviously with all the years we have been working on the science around Nutrient Density, for this to be the first paper we have bothered to get published, you might be able to infer how important this step has been to us, but for those who are doubters and skeptics in the audience, this does provide more than a veneer of legitimacy.

Envisioned to be the first of three papers that validate the methods we developed and used from 2018-2023, this paper primarily shows how well our Bionutrient Meter works. In so doing, it goes into the methods that we used to inexpensively assess many thousands of samples of dozens of types of crops from hundreds of farms from multiple continents that show how dramatic the nutrient variation in crops in the food supply is. For those not formally trained in the language of science and conversant in statistics it will likely come across as gibberish, but those scientists I do know seem to be impressed.

Subsequent papers are envisioned to confirm the profound variation that we did find in both secondary metabolites and key elements, although we were able to slip some of the data showing the dramatic variation in polyphenols and antioxidants into this paper. As well, the primary connection between soil health and nutrient density would be confirmed in these future papers. At the moment, cash on hand is not prioritized to get the subsequent two papers published, so anyone who thinks this might something that they would like to support should feel more than free to reach out. Thanks to the anonymous donor who supported us with the capital to get this paper into the formal record. You know who you are.

Details on the Upcoming Soil and Nutrition Conference

In response to a number of questions from those primarily in Australia: Yes, all presentations at the conference will be recorded, and made available to registrants shortly after they occur. I understand that 3am is not an optimal time for you all and apologize again. The best continents to live in if you want to attend live are the Americas, Europe and Africa. It looks like I may be in New Zealand and Australia for a couple of weeks in July, and if that happens I’ll have the personal experience of being up at that hour, if that is any consolation.

Now on to a more detailed elaboration of a couple of the speakers and their topics that will be at this year’s conference:

KEN HAMILTON
Agronomist extraordinaire

Ken will be sharing with us the work that Jerry Brunetti brought my attention to not long before he passed, which is the most exciting that I have heard of for any animal producer in many years. I have long said that working in harmony with nature decreases the cost of crop production, and that farmers doing well should be able to succeed economically by competing on price, not needing premiums. I know that is a hard sell for grass fed beef producers, and certainly pastured poultry and pork producers, which is why I am so excited to bring Ken and his work to our community.

Not only does his system of fermenting and sprouting fodder decrease feed costs, it increases weight gain, improves animal health and welfare and correlates directly with much improved nutritional markers and market grading. Perhaps not so much for those already doing a good job with pastured beef, but dramatically so for poultry and pork. Did you know that poultry and pork fed grain (as most of us who produce them do) has omega 6:3 ratios of between 15:1-30:1? The American Heart Association tells us anything more than 4:1 is not heart healthy, and general consensus is that ideally we are looking for 2.5:1 or less. We will not have anywhere enough time in this presentation to get at everything that Ken has to offer, but at least you will get a good primer.

ERWIN WESTERS
Young farmer to watch, integrating brilliantly 

We always like to ensure that a significant quotient of presenters at our conference are growers, and Erwin is one I am looking forward to helping more people know about. Now having taken over management of his family’s 300 acre Biodynamic / organic seed farm at the edge of the sea in the Netherlands from his parents, Erwin is a beautiful example of the next generation of young growers implementing the wisdom that has been coming forth on scale and very successfully. From mineral balancing to living soil cover, farm made teas and ferments, polycultures and strategic disturbance he is really dialing in practiculture. Balancing multigenerational family with cutting edge production, and, very exciting to me, high quality seed production, his is a wonderful case study.

As well, he is working with those in the Germanic speaking world who have many powerful insights not yet translated into English that many of those reading this are therefore not aware of. It continues amaze to me how many people whose first language is not English there are out there doing brilliant work that the anglophone world is not yet aware of. Think Pierre Wiell and Olivier Husson from our 2021 conference for example. Let this be a further dive into that cultural bridging.

As before, the link to the conference website is here

Or, just register now. This is a conversation you are not going to want to miss! People are already registered from 14 US states and 5 countries from 3 continents.

Sponsorship Opportunities

And finally, for those who have companies that want to sponsor the conference please reach out for our sponsor packet. Prices are reasonable, and those who sponsored our last conference have had over 150,000 views of their logo associated with our organization! For details contact us at info@bionutrient.org.


THANK YOU to Simple Soil Solutions for being our first sponsor of this conference, and for being a long-term ally and friend of the Bionutrient Food Association!

Upcoming Events

Dan has a busy schedule coming up over the next several months, with travels all over the world! Take a look to see when he might be in your neck of the woods:

Join Us!

Our work depends on the support of people who are passionate about the health of our soil, food, community, and planet. People like YOU!

As a BFA member, you support our ongoing work, and we ensure that you stay informed of all our findings about nutrient density, what it is, and what causes it, via our:

  • Periodic newsletters 

  • Webinar series: Let’s Talk Bionutrient! 

  • Access to purchase valuable tools. We offer our members access to toolkits at a discounted cost for testing, evaluating, and improving the quality of their crops, produce, and soil.

  • Discounts to innovative events, programming, workshops.

Click the button below to learn more and sign up to become part of a community of citizen scientists, farmers, and businesses, all focused on increasing quality in the food supply. We look forward to having you on board! 

Rachel Jackson http://www.thewildwherever.com
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