Nutrition Rules

313 Pages·2.184 MB·English

by  Graeme Sait

FIRST EDITION
NUTRITION
RULES!
GUIDELINES FROM THE MASTER
CONSULTANTS
ANIMAL
HEALTH
SOIL HUMAN
HEALTH HEALTH
22 Inspiring Interviews which
could change the way you farm -
and alter the way you eat!
Graeme Sait
Published By
Soil Therapy Pty Ltd
PO Box 338, Eumundi Qld 4562, Australia
Ph: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Website: www.nutri-tech.com.au
i
NUTRITION RULES!
Guidelines from the Master Consultants
22 Inspiring Interviews which
could change the way you farm -
and alter the way you eat!
Copyright 2003 by Graeme Sait
Published By:
Soil Therapy Pty Ltd
7 Harvest Street, Yandina Qld 4561, Australia
PO Box 338, Eumundi Qld 4562, Australia
Ph: [phone] - Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.nutri-tech.com.au
First Edition: Paperback
Published: March, 2003: ISBN 0-9750508-0-X
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical,
mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the author.
ii
Root Causes...
“The more fragmented, the more specialised we become in terms of
problem solving, the more problems we create and the less we solve. I
have a need to address my life-threatening illness with alternative
techniques, but the caveat there is that the treatment of symptoms can
pre-empt the search for the ultimate cause of this illness. If we see
ourselves as manifestations of this organism that’s called Earth, and
we, as a manifestation, are developing absolutely outrageous levels of
this illness called cancer, the only thing this can mean is that the
organism called Earth has cancer. If we don’t address this from
humanity’s perspective, we can never escape from the abyss of this
horrid disease. It’s not just bad luck, bad lifestyle or genetics. It’s a fact
that the whole planet is sick on multiple levels, including the
environment, including our disregard for the sacredness of food,
including the fact that we are so disconnected from nature.”
Jerry Brunetti, 2002
iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my heartful thanks to my wife Rosa,
without whom this book would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank my long-suffering children - Adam,
Laura, Rachael, Tania and Daniel, for accepting our absence
during the numerous international forays required to complete
this book.
Thank you, Bryan Sait, my brother and business partner, for
holding the fort so many times in our absence and for your
capacity to propose and realise creative solutions.
I’d like to express my gratitude to my Mum and Dad, Colin and
Eunice Sait, for implanting in me the passion and purpose needed
to push for change.
I am indebted to Charles and Fred Walters for bringing together
the leading movers and shakers in sustainable soil and health
management for their annual Acres USA Conference. Many of
the subjects have been speakers at these memorable events.
I recognise the efforts of the passionate and dedicated NTS team,
who have so ably handled the pressures of rapid growth during
the past eight years. Thank you for your initiative, which has
allowed me the freedom to work on my books.
Finally, I would like to thank the talented and committed interview
subjects who have so willingly donated their wisdom and
expertise for the enlightenment of us all.
iv
Introduction
I have always loved a good interview - not the ten-minute tabloid
specials where a handful of cues turn talking head celebrities onto
autopilot. I like the real thing - in-depth and inquiring, where you’re
almost there with the interviewer, working the coalface. My decision, in
1998, to begin conducting and collating my own interview series, was
based on several key factors.
First and foremost, I wanted to indulge my own passion - to gather up
some more pieces of the puzzle and satisfy my thirst. I was also intent,
from the outset, in sharing my quest with Australian farmers seeking a
new way to farm. In this context, I contacted Lindsay Bock from Acres
Australia, the newspaper of sustainable agriculture, and Lindsay
agreed to run with the interview series in his publication.
The ultimate goal of the exercise had always been to source, condense
and contrast the varying philosophies and techniques which are
changing the way we produce and utilise our food. I was always aware
that, when I had arrived at a point where the pieces were coming
together, a book could be produced, which might, in some way, help to
shape the new paradigm in agriculture.
This paradigm essentially involves working with nature rather than
working against her. Charles Walters calls it Eco-Farming, Gary
Zimmer refers to Biological Farming and Hugh Lovel tags his approach
Energy Farming or Quantum Agriculture. All of them are concerned
with providing viable frameworks to offer the right answer to the big
question - a semi-cosmic query that Malcolm Beck has identified as
“DOES NATURE APPROVE?”
In our work with thousands of Australian farmers, it has become
increasingly obvious that nature does not approve of a prevailing
system where we poison our soils, pollute our air, degrade our food and
water and then have the arrogance to tamper with the blueprint
because the original plan can’t deliver like it used to.
It has also become obvious that ‘we are what we eat' and the current
epidemic of chronic and degenerative diseases is testimony to what we
become when we ignore the critical link between soil health and human
health.
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We need to redefine our relationship with nature - to end the war of
attrition and to realise that at the core of everything good lies nutrition -
NUTRITION RULES!
Peak nutrition should be the ultimate goal for the soil, microbes, plants,
animals and humans. It could be argued that soil nutrition is currently
addressed with fertilisers and that animal / human nutrition is taken
care of with supplements, but there is a problem here.
The ability of a ‘fertiliser' to build soil fertility can be reliably measured
with two criteria - microbe counts in the soil and relative plant health.
Professor Elaine Ingham has confirmed that commercial salt ‘fertilisers'
are killing off the key players in the soil foodweb. Fungi, beneficial
nematodes and protozoa are all struggling under the load. Beneficial
microbes thrive in a fertile soil, but these so-called ‘fertilisers' can rarely
deliver fertility.
In the absence of key players, the inherent protective and
self-regulating capacity of the soil foodweb is compromised and the
pathogens make their presence felt. Out come the chemicals, and the
collateral damage includes at least as many good guys as bad.
Working against nature is a proven failure and yet the war continues.
Plant health is the second determinant of fertiliser efficacy. Healthy,
minerally balanced plants do not attract insects or disease. Professor
Phil Callahan has identified an infrared emission from plants to which
insects ‘tune in'. Healthy, mineralised plants produce a completely
different emission to sick, unbalanced plants. The insects target the
sick - these garbage disposers serve to remove unhealthy plants from
the genetic pool as a service to us all. The problem, of course, is that
most of what we grow now falls into the garbage category.
Dr Arden Andersen and Dr Phil Wheeler have widely promoted the use
of the refractometer to monitor plant health. The brix levels measured
by this instrument are a measure of how well the plant is
photosynthesising in response to mineral and biological stimulation. In
essence, a healthy plant will have a high brix level, which in turn relates
to a specific infrared emission that does not attract insects. Bruce
Tainio has discovered that the pH of plant sap is another indicator of
plant health and associated pest and disease pressure. An ideal sap
pH of 6.4 reflects the optimum vibratory frequency for that plant. If plant
sap is acidic, then the vibratory profile of that plant attracts disease.
Conversely, if plant sap is alkaline, insects are attracted. There is a
beautiful synergy in Bruce's concept, in that the measurable number
(the vibration that represents the state of balance, also reflected as a
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sap pH of 6.4) comprises the sum of the vibrations of all of the elements
that determine the sap pH. That is, each element vibrates in a unique
manner, and these vibrations can now be categorised numerically. If
there is a deficiency in a cation - calcium, potassium and magnesium
being the key players - then there will be more hydrogen in the plant
sap, the sap will be acidic and the plant will attract disease. At the other
end of the pH-spectrum, the anions are shaping the scenario. If the
acidic anions - nitrates, phosphates and sulfates - are deficient, then
the balance is blown. The sap pH becomes alkaline and it's ‘tucker time'
for the sap-suckers. There is no incongruity here. Callahan's infrared
emissions, Reams' Refractive Index and Tainio's sap pH concept are
all monitoring the same thing - the plant's response to the mineral,
biological and atmospheric environment into which it has germinated.
High sap pH often correlates to low brix levels, because phosphate, the
‘sugar slave', is lacking. When sugar production is compromised due to
the phosphate shortage, then the daily delivery of sugars from the roots
to the beneficial microbes living in the root zone, is similarly affected.
Mineral availability and uptake doesn't happen efficiently when
microbes are under-fed or lacking energy.
The point is that balance is everything, and unbalanced fertilisers
create health problems for plants. The level of chemical intervention in
the soil and on the leaf surface is a direct measure of the failure of a
fertiliser program. The total amount of chemicals applied to cropland
continues to grow each year and yet there has never ever been a
recorded reduction in pest problems. Chemicals are not solving the
problems because we are treating symptoms. The root cause of these
problems is poor nutrition and balance. It is the same root cause which
has filled the pharmacy shelves with vitamin and mineral supplements.
Plants were intended as the vehicles for the delivery of minerals from
the soil to animals and humans. Why else would plant-derived minerals
be 98% bioavailable? Our nutrition should come from our food, not from
a bottle. We desperately need access to chemical-free, nutrient-dense
food, which contains all of the vitamins, minerals, enzymes,
antioxidants, amino acids, fatty acids and the numerous plant
compounds now attributed to optimum health management.
The committed pioneers who have donated their wisdom for the
purposes of this book have the keys to the production of this precious
nutrient-dense food. I trust that you will enjoy their revelations and
become empowered with your new knowledge.
Graeme Sait
vii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements..........................................iv
Introduction ................................................v
Contents .................................................viii
SOIL HEALTH - MINERAL MANAGEMENT ...................1
Charles Walters..........................................2
Neal Kinsey ............................................12
Klaas & Mary-Howell Martens ..............................21
SOIL HEALTH - MICROBE MANAGEMENT ..................41
Prof Elaine Ingham.......................................42
Malcolm Beck...........................................55
Bob Shaffer ............................................71
Steve Diver.............................................89
PLANT HEALTH - ENERGY MANAGEMENT .................99
Bruce Tainio...........................................100
Hugh Lovel............................................120
Dr Dan Skow ..........................................131
Prof Phil Callahan.......................................142
Dr Phil Wheeler ........................................156
Dr Arden Andersen......................................163
ANIMAL & SOIL HEALTH................................179
Gary Zimmer ..........................................180
Jerry Brunetti ..........................................192
Joel Salatin............................................203
HUMAN HEALTH ......................................215
Dr Patrick Flanagan.....................................216
Jerry Brunetti ..........................................232
Dr Arden Andersen......................................252
Kenny Ausubel.........................................261
Phyllis Balch...........................................273
Dr Joel Wallach ........................................281
Index ...................................................299
viii
SOIL HEALTH - MINERAL MANAGEMENT
1