Dr. Robert Verkerk and Alliance for Natural Health (http://www.anhinternational.org)
The last speaker at the organic farming workshop I attended in Delhi
was Dr.Robert Verkerk the Executive and Scientific Director of Alliance for Natural Health International.
It is hard to follow a talk by someone as amazing and exceptional as
Dr.Shiva but Dr. Robert Verkerk did just that and was just as amazing
and exceptional! His talk was quite complimentary as his main point was the link between current diseases in Western culture
and agriculture. More or less many of the modern day diseases we deal
with are directly related to our practices of agriculture. With direct correlation
to the inception and use of pesticides, hormones, chemicals, and genetically modified organisms.
Agriculture
and health; what is the link? Dr.Verkerk highlighted inflammation or
inflammatory diseases in Western culture. He suggests that our bodies
are not able to properly digest the foods we consume which, in turn causes an
inflammatory reaction. These foods are not recognized or able to be
broken down by the body because they are scientifically engineered,
a.k.a. genetically modified, are coated or contain pesticides,
chemicals, or fertilizers that are foreign to our bodies. Our bodies'
defense mechanism against these unnatural or inorganic substances is
to become inflamed. One of my girl friends, who is also a medical student,
explained this to me saying if our bodies take in a substance that is toxic, for
example pesticide, the substance will not be broken down but passed on
into the blood stream. From here the body will recognize the substance as a foreign or invading entity, and begin to attack it, much like it attacks a
disease or virus. The attack mode of the body is what causes the
inflammation. As someone who suffers from gluten intolerance, my body is
unable to
break down the protein part of wheat. So when ingested my body
understands wheat as a foreign entity and tries to attack
it.
In terms of GMO's, especially the most
popular ones of corn, soy, rice, and wheat, there are many questions to
ask. Such as 'what long term effects will these products have? On our
bodies? On the crop? On the land? On the industry?' Because GMO's are
relatively new to our diets, culture, and the industry we don't have
conclusive or definitive results on the long terms effects. This could
be a huge problem. Or more plainly this could be the reason as to why
there are so many inflammatory diseases and problems in our society and
culture right now!
Another highlighted topic of
Dr.Verkerk was the importance of community-based agriculture. In essence, a
low-input farming system. This system hosts a variety of different
species of the same crop as well as multi-crop growing system. Instead
of mono-cropping, low-input farming supports many different species
which all collectively contribute to each other "some plants attract
helpful insects while others repel
pests"(http://www.mhacbiointensive.org/growbiointensive.html). The same
is true for vital nutrients and minerals within the soil. "A focus on the production of calorie
farming for the gardener and carbon farming for the soil ensures that
both the gardener and the soil will be adequately fed and that the farm
will be sustainable" (http://www.mhacbiointensive.org/growbiointensive.html). In essence ""organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity,
and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs
with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation
and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair
relationships and a good quality of life for all involved"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming). Dr.Verkerks' crucial
point in advocating low-input farming is the stability of the system.
This stability leads to sustainability. As a counter example monoculture
farming is an unatrual way of farming. It takes many different inputs
because it is incredibly vulnerable. There are no natural means of
defense mechanisms, nutrition, or regeneration. All of these things have
to be contributed by an outside source, i.e. inputted into the farming
process.
An excellent example of this type of farming is Manor House Kitale (http://www.mhacbiointensive.org/welcome.html) in Kenya . The farm was established in the mid-80's as a response to several years of drought. The drought led to starvation in rural Kenya. This farming project MHAC, Manor House Agriculture Centre was a way of providing sustainable
farming practices to rural farmers. It has been met with great success
as over 200 000 farmers, from all over the world, have been trained in
MHAC's courses on low-input farming. AMAZING!
In linking the industry of agriculture and Western disease I began to
see the effects this has had on our bodies and our health. The list of
inflammatory diseases are endless. In terms of preventing or alleviating
the stress caused to our bodies from chemically contaminated foods
Dr.Verkerk posed a few different thoughts. For starters to stick to and
support organic, non GMO foods. He also made mention of Ayurvedic
medicine, which seems to understand how to deal with inflammation in the
body. He also made a direct correlation between the human gut and the
earths' soil. They both have a microflora content. If either are
out of balance, due to varying stresses, nutrients cannot be absorbed.
In essence if we are put the right things into our bodies we are not
going to need a lot of other inputs to correct the balance. The micro
flora content will be properly in check.
Dr.Verkerks'
talk was incredibly informative and enlightening. I felt inspired and
motivated by what he had to say. I felt very drawn to agriculture, the
farming industry, soil quality, food, health, and disease. I want to learn more, read more, dialogue more, and just gain an understanding of the whole cycle of food. I have been thinking
and questioning my own diet, food practices and their potential
correlation to my own health concerns and issues. All in all I am
incredibly thankful to Dr.Verkerk for his talk, his information and opinions, as well
opening my eyes to new possibilities of good health! Thank you !!!
