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phenomenon. There is very little direction coming from the various State Ag Departments. It is usually growers themselves DR. ARDEN ANDERSEN
deciding that it is time for a change, and I wondered if this initiative was present in your country.
Arden: There is no doubt that it is a grass-roots movement.
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of grower demand. However, from my experience in Australia, I would have to say that there is a difference in intensity here. It seems like Australian fanners are more aggressively searching Graeme Sait
Graeme: I've recently interviewed Neal Kinsey, and there's
Founder and CEO of Nutri-Tech Solutions
no doubt that Neal takes the middle ground. He is obviously concerned not to shake the boat. In contrast, you speak your Dr. Arden Andersen
mind. You have had more of a confrontationalist approach than anyone has in the eco-agriculture field. Have you had any juggles a variety of professions problems from governments or multinationals? Arden: I must say that I have had no problems. I really believe
contrasting roles include those of that the conspiracy theory issue simply relates to the way business is structured. Most of the big businesses are public surgeon, agricultural consultant, companies with one expectation—maximum profit. These companies have a mandate to achieve this goal at all costs. Any threat to all-important profits will provoke a serious attempt to intimate association with three of circumvent that threat. I just don't see any evidence that there is a conspiracy at the top that is intelligently planning stopping this. I'm not sure I want to give them that much credit. I think it's more the tail wagging the dog, so to speak. From my own he was a research assistant with personal perspective, I have to live with what I talk about. I have Dr. Dan Skow and he was a student and field researcher with to speak the truth. I don't try to be a confrontationalist, but the Dr. Philip Callahan. The growing interest in energy agriculture people I deal with accept my honest opinion.
in Australia can be partially attributed to his regular visits and seminars. Originally heralding from a dairy farm, he has Graeme: You are closely involved with the medical
retained a capacity to communicate with farmers and he has establishment. Are there problems associated with talking about influenced many conventional growers to venture forth into the brave, new world of biological agriculture. In his new Arden: There are far more problems in the medical field than
profession of 'medical agronomy', Arden Andersen is perfectly in the agricultural field. There is a tremendous amount of fear in positioned to become the pre-eminent specialist in the all- medicine. Disease is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and there's a important soil health-human health nexus in the decades to lot of fear about the gravy train drying up. Realistically this fear may be quite justified. If a cancer cure were discovered Graeme: There is a tremendous interest in sustainable
tomorrow, you would have many, many unhappy people. There agriculture in Australia at present. Is this growing interest would be many hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. It then becomes an economic issue of survival. It has nothing to do with Arden:
conspiracy theories. It has everything to do with day-to-day There are definitely more and more farmers looking paying your bills, supporting your family and meeting your for alternatives, looking at sustainable agriculture, biological mortgage. The answer is not that simple. There is an overriding agriculture or whatever you want to call it, but, at the same time, motivation to maintain the status quo. There is really no There are far more problems in the medical field There is a tremendous amount of fear in medicine. Disease is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and there's a lot of fear about the gravy train drying up. rediscovery has been met with staunch opposition from the insecticide-resistant insects but today they are finally admitting to these problems. Farmers are hearing these admissions and assassinations rather than physical assassinations of pioneers, realising that they must look at other options. The better but it is made very difficult for them to survive. managers have often realized these problems in advance of However, the exciting thing that is happening now relates to everyone else, and I guess that is why they are better a 'people-push', a grass-roots drive for change, and we are not managers—they are always looking at ways to improve their looking at a peasant uprising. Recent research shows that interest in alternative medicine is coming from well-educated, successful Graeme: Here it has become very much a farmer-driven
people. They are not people swaying with the tide. They are Carbon-Negative Climate Strategy
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investigating for themselves and taking the personal than that. The Reams test is unique in its capacity to reflect and responsibility. It is the same breed of farmer who is looking at describe actual conditions in the field. It is possible to have all the numbers right on the Albrecht test, but still suffer a range of Graeme: I agree. Our company's growth has been built upon
problems. This is where our test comes into its own. The Reams the written word. We have no salesmen cold-calling on farmers. test involves the LaMotte test format, using Morgan extraction When we began with our 3000-word infomercials, we were told solution. The extraction solution contains weak organic acids, we were wasting our time and money as farmers would never which closely mimic the ac Ids plants release through their roots bother with this much information. Well, we proved that there is to dissolve nutrients and increase their availability. The Albrecht a great thirst for information about alternatives out there, and the test is like a mining assay providing information about the foresight and intelligence of many of our clients confirm the amount of each element in the soil. The Reams test measures the biological availability of these elements.
Arden:
Graeme:
Yes, we find it is usually the well-educated, well-read, I can certainly see the validity of this sort of test. successful farmer who is looking for ways to improve things. Nutri-Tech uses the Albrecht-based Brookside tests. We balance These people are in the position they are because they have they the soil using the numbers game, but we also include a variety of have always been forward-thinkers. It is a continuation of their biological stimulants and microbial products in all programs to open-minded approach, which has created their success. But, ensure this biological activity. We don't specifically test for it, returning to the conspiracy theory, I think it is dangerous if we but we always work to achieve this anyway.
get too paranoid about possible consequences rather than Arden: Well, it's true that we can't have a good biological
working at the grass-roots level and simply doing our job in system without considering minerals. Microorganisms have to helping other people. I think that what goes around comes have the mineral balance in order to survive. At the same time, we often find that, just because we have achieved the percent Graeme: When talking to Neal Kinsey, I asked him about the
base saturations required by the Brookside test, it does not mean differences between the Reams and Albrecht approaches, about that we have that system activated. So we take the next step. We the similarities and differences between the two major measure biological availability with a Reams test, and then we philosophers in eco-agriculture. What is your opinion about the make decisions about how to achieve biological availability. I a chemical catalyst, a biological catalyst or a combination of the two Arden:
as what nature can put in a foodstuff. We need it in that biologically active form One—because of the biochemistry, and two—because of the biophysics —the energetics that we derive from that system. We simply can never get that energy from a pill. problem. Northern was a gastroenterologist who showed that appropriate than the other. Anyway, I agree that it is best to use digestive diseases are directly related to the food that the person a combination of the Albrecht and Reams tests to get the full ate, which was directly related to the health of the soil. He actually made the first medical/agricultural connection. Albrecht Graeme:
took the animal model and showed that many animal diseases My other reservation about the Reams test relates to were related to the trace mineral content in the soil and the fact that, if it is used alone, there is no cross-reference subsequently to the stock food. This approach is essentially possible. Good growers monitor their test results over the years. identical to the Reams approach, where disease at the animal and It is possible to correlate Brookside tests with previous test data, human level is traced back to soil health, particularly nutritional but the Reams test is a whole new ballgame. It's like casting the balance. Achieving that essential balance is where the grower adrift in an ocean of uncertainty. It's too much of a total differences come in, but these differences are not a problem. change, even for the best forward-thinkers.
There are many roads that lead to Rome, and the ultimate goal is Arden: It is indeed a different ballpark. There is no correlation
between the Reams test and any other test, because you are Graeme: A major difference between these approaches lies in
dealing with different extraction methods, but if you have all the the diagnostic tools used to determine nutritional requirements. ideal Brookside ratios and you don't have a good crop out there, The soil tests, for example, are very different. The Albrecht then how do you explain that? The Reams test will explain these approach utilizes the Brookside-type base saturation test, while problems. Carey Reams spent years correlating various ratios in the Reams school uses the LaMotte test. How do these soil tests the test data with actual conditions in the field. The Reams test will reflect what kind of weed you will see in the field, what kind of soil compaction and tilth you will see, and what kind of Arden: Well, the Albrecht system is looking for arbitrary
brix readings you will see in the crop. It is possible to have numbers in the soil. There is a given list of percentages of varying brix readings, even with perfect ratios based on the various different nutrients required for soil balance. This is an Albrecht system. The Reams test will explain that variation. As I excellent system which can provide valuable information, and said, the combination of both tests gives the clearer picture. We Albrecht and Kinsey have been undeniably successful using need to know and adjust the nutrient bases before activating the these techniques. However, I feel that we take it a bit broader Confronting Climate Change
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Graeme: We support a lot of the Reams concepts, and we
materials or some of the unapproved chemical materials. have very much fused the two approaches, but there are some Nutrition remains the key. The chemical residue question is features of your approach that we have avoided. Our most obviously relevant here, but even this can be a dubious important concern relates to the use of electronic scanners to guarantee. There was a study done by the US Geological Survey monitor compatibility and energy levels of fertilizers. This in 1984. It was in 'The Land' magazine in Minnesota, and they equipment appears to have huge potential, but the big question found that the rainwater falling in New York State contained mark is the human error component. What is your opinion? pesticides and herbicides that were applied in Nebraska and the Arden: That is a very good question, and I'm often asked
Dakotas—1500 miles from the original spray site the rain is about this. Well, I do a lot of lab stuff in medicine, and it must dropping those same toxic chemicals. How can anything be truly be said that even the clinical tests, supposedly involving no organic? The critical requirement for low-toxic food is not human involvement, do involve human involvement. Because, necessarily rigidly enforced exclusions. The higher the who programmed the computer, who sets and calibrates the nutritional values, the healthier the soil and the plant, the less the computer that runs the test, etc? You can take blood and send it residue, regardless of the initial application of pesticide, because to two different laboratories and come back with two different the biological system is able to detoxify it, and the plants do not results. The key to scanner effectiveness is the common sense of pick it up. This fact really throws a monkey wrench in this the operator, and the operator must also have a basic whole procedural system. The bottom line is—why do we eat understanding of the basic principles of soil science. The better food? We eat food for the sustenance it contains. Our body this understanding and common sense the operator has, the more doesn't care what procedure that food went through to get to us. effective they are with a scanner, and the information provided The body needs good nutrient value to ensure it can derive is no less reliable than that those other testing techniques.
sufficient energy from that food. Whatever works to achieve improved food value is valid and should be adopted. My finding Graeme: This scanner technology has been promoted by
is exactly the same as yours, Graeme. The growers who are yourself, Dan Skow and others for ten to fifteen years. Nicola already very good growers, very good managers and do a good Tesla came up with the original concept a century ago. Has the job of fertilization are the farmers who are moving in the concept gained more popular acceptance in recent years, or does biological direction, and they do an excellent job of producing high-quality, biological products. This may be a bitter pill to Arden: In my personal realm, interest continues to increase
swallow for the organic people, but it is a fact.
Graeme: Our motivation for
Growers who are already very good growers, very good managers and do a good job of fertilization, are farmers moving in the biological direction, and they do an excellent job of producing high-quality, biological products. This may be a bitter pill to swallow for organic people, but it’s a fact. " Most problems can be solved using existing technology, but a a huge use of these nutritional supplements in Australia and scanner with a good operator can solve the really difficult elsewhere. In your experience, is it possible to substitute good problems. A scanner is not a substitute for good education, good human nutrition with bottles of multi-vitamins, minerals and planning or common sense—it is simply another tool. When high-tech antioxidants? Can you counteract the junk food with used properly, it can increase your problem-solving arsenal.
Graeme: I'd like to ask your opinion about the quality of
Arden: I think you're dreaming. Supplements are just that.
organic produce and the fertility management skills of organic They need to be added on top of a good diet. The space program vs. conventional growers. Nutri-Tech has several thousand revealed the shortfalls of this idea. It was found that the clients with only a small percentage of organic growers, but in astronauts couldn't survive on pills. They came back to earth all honesty I would have to say that the best growers producing with muscle loss and bone loss. We simply can't do well without the best produce are not organic. The best of them are those who natural food. We see it with patients in my clinic. We can come are increasing organic inputs to improve quality and increase up with an excellent nutritional supplement program including sustainability. Organic produce is often inferior—the spotty, IV nutrition, herbs, vitamins and various mineral supplements, second-rate produce is obviously nutritionally deficient, and it is but supplements are never as good as what nature can put in clear that there is a lot more to being a good grower than animal there in a foodstuff. We need it in that biologically active form for two reasons: One—because of the biochemistry, and two— Arden: Graeme, I fully agree with you. I've found exactly the
because of the biophysics—the energetics that we are deriving same sort of thing. It is a fact that some of the best and from that system. We simply can never get that energy package unfortunately some of the worst produce on the market today from a pill. Unfortunately, because of our food chain no longer have an organic label on it. There are some organic growers who containing the nutrition that it should, we need to augment that understand nutritional requirements, but unfortunately most of shortfall. Supplements are not a panacea, and they should not them are strictly following a philosophical procedure, and this substitute good food. There is another problem looming, which procedure says you can't use this list of materials, you may only is related to supplements. Because of the increased demand and Use this specified list, and, by doing so, you automatically have public awareness of herbs and other supplements, our native a better crop. Well, that's not true. Nutrition is the key to quality supplies of many of these supplements have run out, and so we produce, and it doesn't matter whether you use approved organic Carbon-Negative Climate Strategy
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agriculture. These herbs are now deficient in basic nutrition like Arden: As a rule it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.
the majority of our food, and consequently their value is greatly It makes more of a difference, in some cases, whether you are decreased. Using chemical principles to grow Ginseng or using sugar or molasses. If you have a high iron content, you Echinacea is not a good idea. These medicines no longer work should be careful of molasses because of its iron content. There the way they are supposed to. Homeopathic physicians and are some biological products that shouldn't be mixed with herbalists have major problems, because of this increasing molasses because of the risk of unwanted fermentation. There nutritional deficiency in the materials with which they work.
are others that thrive in the presence of molasses. Sucrose is the Graeme: We have had tremendous results with humates and
primary carbohydrate in both sugar and molasses, but the humic acid, and I'm aware that it is possible to use too much of a difference is that there are other minerals present in molasses.
good thing with these materials. What are the negatives Graeme: I guess this whole issue of use and overuse of good
materials is also relevant in relation to the use of crusher dust. Arden: There are two problems here. I agree that humates can
You are no doubt familiar with the use of this rock dust material provide an invaluable boost to fertility, but, if overused, they are for remineralization and paramagnetic benefits. We have capable of tying up valuable nutrients. Humates have the growers who apply several tons per acre every year—Is this a capacity of binding pesticides and toxic chemicals in the soil. It's a bit like the use of activated carbon for human health. If you Arden: There are really only two negatives about putting on
were to drink a poison, the initial therapy would be to give you large amounts of crusher dust. One relates to the possibility of activated carbon, and humates perform a similar function in the unbalanced mineral content in the crusher dust. Iron can be a soil. However, it is possible to over-apply this material and 'lock problem, and there is even the potential for heavy-metal up' nutrition as a result. It's like anything that is over-applied. contamination in some of these materials. The second negative Calcium is very valuable, but what happens when you apply too relates simply to the cost of large applications. However, from a much? A little is good, sometimes more is good, but a lot can be biological perspective, the more fertile the soil is, the higher the magnetic susceptibility. It must be made clear that this doesn't Graeme: Well, what are the appropriate applications of these
guarantee that the higher the magnetic susceptibility, the more fertile the soil, because it depends totally on what makes up that Arden: Well, there is obviously
You have to provide nutritional balance for a The question that should be asked is: "How come these beneficial organisms are not active in the soil now?" The reason is because the environment Graeme:
When you take these microbial products and add them to soil—it's like taking a human and placing them on the moon without a spacesuit. acids, on the other hand, are much more available. We find that the material contains 7% iron, how do you differentiate we can achieve great results with up to 10 to 15 liters per hectare paramagnetism from ferromagnetism and analyze likely per season. However, if we go beyond 25 liters per hectare per season, then we start seeing decreased yields. We start seeing Arden: Yes, the differentiation is difficult, and of course you
nutrients going out of solution. They begin to become tied up. don't want iron toxicity in the soil. Paramagnetism is lower on We also start to see a decrease in our biology in the soil, because the scale as far as magnetic susceptibility goes. It's a range—you a little is good, but a lot can be disastrous. It's like using sugar or start at zero—below zero is diamagnetic and above zero is molasses in the soil. It can be a very productive additive, but it initially paramagnetic—and then, once you get over a threshold, you are now ferromagnetic. It's simply a degree of magnetic Graeme: How much is too much molasses? We use molasses
susceptibility—paramagnetic being the lower degree, and it is in many of our programs at around 10 liters per acre.
this low-level paramagnetic energy which is so closely related to soil fertility.
Arden: We also use about 10 liters of molasses per acre, but,
Graeme:
if we start using 20 to 30 liters per acre [approx 50 to 70 liters Is there a one-on-one relationship—the more per hectare], we are in the danger zone. 80 liters per acre, for crusher dust you apply, the higher you will lift your soil example, can be disastrous. We start getting decreased biology and even fermentation, and the associated production of Arden: Yes, there is a direct relationship here. The more you
alcohols, which are not good. We start precipitating calcium put on, the higher your overall score is going to be. There is an when we get alcohol and we can start the process of sterilization. obvious dilution effect related to whether you spread it on top or As far as sugars go, we are looking at 9 kg per season per acre. work it into the whole six inches of aerobic zone. If you can When we cross this threshold, we start seeing a reversal in our influence that zone, the benefits will be greatest. If we can increase soil CGS (units of measurement on the Callahan meter) Graeme: Is there any difference between white sugar and raw
by 100, we get direct benefits—both with microbes and crop production, particularly root growth.
Graeme: Is there a relationship between overall mineral
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after these improvements. We simply have to work with Arden: Whatever soil you have—if you increase the magnetic
whatever parameter we are given. It is undeniably better to susceptibility, you get better efficiency of whatever you have broadcast, but what happens when we can't afford the luxury? there. There are benefits for poorly balanced soils, but Graeme: The Reams approach has a strong emphasis on the
obviously, if you couple magnetic susceptibility improvements importance of phosphate, particularly in relation to its with nutritional balance in the soil, you maximize the best of importance in plant sugar production. Carey Reams was a strong advocate of the use of soft rock phosphate to build phosphate Graeme: Paramagnetism can be a difficult concept to grasp
levels to increase brix levels. Has this emphasis changed at all for growers. Could you provide a simple explanation of this Arden: The fact is that, if we have problems with insecticides,
Arden: Well, when you increase paramagnetism, you are
diseases and weeds, then we have an imbalance in that soil, essentially setting up an antenna to receive magnetic energy. It is regardless of what the conventional soil test figures might be energy that grows living things. Magnetic susceptibility is telling us. Carey Reams showed that insect and disease problems basically the ability of a substance to collect electromagnetic are related to the brix level of plants. He also showed that weeds energy, particularly radio waves in the atmosphere. Radio waves are evidence of nutritional imbalance—often involving calcium are very important for driving plant growth and microbial and phosphate deficits or potassium excesses. Soft rock growth. When you increase a soil's magnetic susceptibility, you phosphate, because of its colloidal nature, is a very available increase its capacity to harness these radio waves.
source of both calcium and phosphate. When we look at the importance of phosphate in plant sugar production, we must go Graeme: Thanks. That should help clarify the concept. One
back to basic photosynthesis, the Krebs cycle and the citric acid of the major differences between your approach and the cycle, which is in all living microorganisms. Phosphate is a key Albrecht approach, as represented by Neal Kinsey, relates to the component of that, particularly in the form of ADP and ATP. If size and cost of treatment programs required to correct you don't have an adequate amount of Phosphate available, you problems. At a recent Kinsey seminar, it was hard not to miss will not have sugar production, and consequently you won't have the despair of some of the broadacre growers present, as Neal sugar combustion for energy and plant growth. Yes, phosphate talked about 700 kg of ammonium sulfate per hectare and remains a primary emphasis in this system, and soft rock expensive trace element applications required to reach minimum phosphate is undeniably the best source of this element. Farmers have an incredibly important role to play as food producers. I often hear farmers tell me they don't eat what they commercially produce. They keep a separate plot, which doesn't get all the poisons, that they feed their families. To me this idea embodies an Graeme:
unforgivable lack of respect for your fellow man. is a tendency for unscrupulous operators to oversell these Arden: We believe that it is possible to increase the efficiency
of whatever you have. I agree with Neil regarding the Arden:
importance of having sufficient calcium in the soil to ensure a I agree with you, Graeme. You have to provide good foliar response, but if the calcium correction is not feasible, nutritional balance for a biological system to operate. The then we look at other options like the concept of providing a question that should be asked is: "How come these beneficial localized supply. We might dribble pelletized lime down beside organisms are not active in the soil now?" The reason is because the seed with a little carbon attached to set up a local, available the environment is not conducive for them. When you take these calcium source. We might hit it a little later with a calcium microbial products and add them to the soil—it's like taking a foliar, and we now are starting to achieve that all-important human being and placing them on the moon without a spacesuit. calcium base. This base alone will give you a higher magnetic The reason we are not there now is because the environment is susceptibility, and you will benefit accordingly. I've seen many not suitable and the soil is no different. We have to provide good soils completely out of balance, which have significantly nutrition in the soil for microbes to function well. Simply adding increased yield simply by adding some paramagnetic rock down a microbial product guarantees us nothing. It is possible to build a good biological system without a microbial inoculation, simply by the use of fish, seaweed, humic acid, composts and sugar. Graeme: There is another conflict here between the two
However, inoculants tend to speed up the process. They can give approaches. Neal Kinsey is adamant that broadcasting is the most effective fertilizing' approach as opposed to banding beside Graeme:
the seed. He believes that broadcasting encourages better root The likelihood of good biological response is growth and ensures a better ultimate response.
conditional on pre-existing organic humus levels in the soil. We design all programs with a view to building these humus levels. Arden: Well, he's absolutely correct, long-term, but the
Can you offer any new insights into this carbon-building bottom line with many of the farmers we work with is that if you set that demand upon them, we don't get anything done. If we Arden:
can at least get a foot in the door with inexpensive banding, then Yes, I think there is one aspect that is often overlooked farmers see the results, and they begin to see the potential for here. It should always be remembered that the quality of your improvement. Maybe they will be able to afford to broadcast nutrition determines the quality of the fodder that you have to reincorporate into the soil and turn into organic carbon. In many Carbon-Negative Climate Strategy
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of our conventional soil systems the crop residues comprise an Yang (male) or alkaline energy. Do you want to set fruit or do extremely high lignin fiber and very low carbohydrate or free you want to get growth? If we want fruit and we have sugar. Lignin takes a lot of energy to break down, and the humus established a good calcium base, either locally or regionally, production is limited by this problem.
then I can apply an acid-based foliar and I can set fruit with that. Graeme: Yes, it's much the same with compost production.
There is a common problem with orchards and grapes, where we Your compost will only be as good as the ingredients it contains. have one good year followed by a poor year. This is a nutritional The home gardener's lawn clipping compost is a prime example. If they were to add rock phosphate, humic acid, animal manure Graeme: The season can play a big role. We work with a lot
and molasses to the clippings, their end compost would be far of tropical fruit in North Queensland, and this past season there has virtually been no winter. Some growers have had mixed Arden: Yes you tend to reap what you sow. The microbes
results in manipulating fruiting response in these conditions. Can work more effectively with good nutrition, and you end up with a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
Arden: In an extreme situation like this it means that you need
Graeme: I'd like to take the opportunity to ask a series of
a little more power. A single foliar is simply not powerful questions that may be of help with some of the problem soils we enough to get that system to switch. It is also important that, if deal with regularly. Firstly, high-calcium soils—soils with 80%+ you use hormones, you run the risk of causing an energy switch base saturation of calcium and the associated lockups. Is the without the nutrition to support it. A good base saturation of foliar option the only way to ensure adequate trace element calcium is the critical factor here. If you have this prerequisite, then you do both a foliar application and a ground application. You come in with something like superphosphate on the ground, Arden: Foliars are an effective way to get the system to go,
which creates a powerful acidic reaction. I might even use but I often like to try to get things in the soil, in can, to get it ammonium sulfate or a combination of these. Then I come back balanced. I might look at humic acids, carbohydrates like sugar with a foliar spray of vinegar, phosphoric acid, some household and maybe Vitamin Bl2 to get things available. That's when the You must always take environmental factors into consideration when using a refractometer. For a start, the 12-brix reading must come from the weakest part of the plant. You also have to consider the dehydration issue. Dehydrated plants concentrate sugar in the leaf, and you will always get a higher reading. Always correlate brix readings with field observation. If I have a brix reading of 20 and pest problems, then that is obviously an aberrant brix reading. When we have factored in all conditions, a true 12 does not have insect problems. effectively when we have a high base saturation in order to get had produced so badly that the farmer was going to rip them out. some calcium available and to generate some microbial activity. It was a species that became notoriously unproductive after There are many factors determining a plan of action. What is the fifteen years—these were eighteen-year-old trees. I said, "Well, CEC? Do we have 80% calcium in a sand or clay soil? Are we in just give us a year, and we will see what we can do.” We had to an arid or tropical environment? The reason I ask this is because, hit that with three heavy foliars in order to kick it over to if we don't have water control in a high-calcium soil, then fruiting. He had been yielding only a quarter of a ton per acre. dehydration is going to be an issue. If you try to do too much at The first year he had between ½ and ¾ of a ton, the second year once in this situation, it may produce too much crop for what my he got over a ton, and the third year he had 2 tons—so much for late season water supply can handle. So, now I have too much the waxing and waning of years. And not only did he eventually water demand and dehydrate my whole crop, my biological increase yield by 800%, but he got a premium, because the nuts system falls in the sink and nothing works for me. Each situation were of superior quality. We had already prepared the nutritional base, but we still had to hit with a foliar once a week for three Graeme: What is your opinion of the use of natural hormones
weeks in order to get the system to switch.
Graeme: What is the reason for your use of household
Arden: Yes. I did a research project on gibberellic acid and
ammonia in your foliar recipes? Why not use ammonium sulfate growth hormones in general at the University of Arizona. I find that, if I understand the energetics of nutrition, I can get the Arden: You have to be very careful with ammonia when you
same out of nutrition as I can from hormones. A good example, are putting it out on the crop. If you put too much out there on a colleague of mine, Jep Gates, works in the cotton industry, the crop, and your brix reading isn't high enough, Phil Callahan where they use a hormone called Pix, in order to slow down the has shown that ammonia is the most effective radiation pump to growth of cotton and to get it to set bolls. We can get the exact call in the insects. You just need a little ammonia, so you are just same thing happening with the use of nutrition. In plant growth kind of teasing it out there. We always prefer to use ammonium there is the Yin (female) or acid energy, and there is also the sulfate in the soil to encourage microbes and to get the calcium Confronting Climate Change
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working, and we use a very diluted ammonia in the foliar field evidence contradicts the test results, then more evaluation recipes. This usually seems to work best. Remember that you is needed before taking action. For all deficiencies you must also need to include a carbon with ammonia, so you don't lose it. always evaluate whether it is a quantitative or qualitative We use sugar rather than molasses, and it also buffers against Graeme: I was wondering about your experience with weeds.
Graeme: Is that one of the reasons that seaweed works so
Weeds are often called a signpost to nutritional deficiencies. Do well in broadacre foliars, where four liters of product in forty you have concrete evidence of this nutritional link? liters of water is a dangerous dilution rate, but if you add Arden: Absolutely and without question. Three to five years
seaweed, you don't get burning? Is it the complex sugars in the into a program weed problems begin to significantly diminish. Sour grass weeds are indicative of a functional or qualitative Arden: I think so, yes. Plus you are providing hormones and
calcium problem. It may be quantitative, too, but it is a other broad-spectrum nutrition, so that the plant is better functional calcium problem. Broad-leaf weeds are a functional phosphate and potash issue, and succulent weeds (the viney Graeme: I'd like to ask you for your evaluation of the
things on the ground) are a carbohydrate issue. Another reliability of monitoring brix levels and associated plant health interesting thing is that, when balance improves and brix using refractometers. How solid is the high brix / pest resistance readings go up, then the brix in the weeds goes down. The connection? Does a good brix of 12+ automatically confer pest insects go from eating the crop to eating the weeds. Again, if you're not out in the field looking at these things, you won't see them.
Arden: You must always take environmental factors into
Graeme:
consideration when using a refractometer. For a start, the 12-brix Are you familiar with a balancing philosophy reading must come from the weakest part of the plant. You also popularized by a New Zealand consultant, Peter Lester, which have to consider the dehydration issue. Dehydrated plants have has an emphasis on the importance of manganese? His clients concentrated sugar in the leaf, and you will always get a higher put on high manganese applications, and many claim results.
reading. You must always correlate brix readings with field Arden: Yes, I am familiar with this approach, Graeme, but I
observation. If I have a brix reading of 20 and I have pest suspect that they are misreading their results. It goes back to problems, then that is obviously an aberrant brix reading. When energy. Anytime we are using a metal we must remember that a we have factored in all conditions, a true 12 does not have insect metal is a very strong conductor. You can apply metals when problems. Let's take sweet com as an example. You may take a you may not necessarily need them, and they are a tremendous The fact is, if we have problems, with insecticides, diseases and weeds, then we have an imbalance in that soil, regardless of what manganese on and I got this great the conventional soil test figures might tell us. reading of 4 or 5. What's happening is that nature is moving all metal conductor gave energy release, which in turn gave the of the carbohydrates into the ear in an attempt to reproduce the species, so it's a fictitious level in the cob. The other influence at Graeme: Energy release and nutrient release are obviously
work here can be genetic manipulation and breeding, where free two sides of the same coin, but there are some questions I'd like sugars are forced into the fruit without the plant having the to ask about the phenomenon of nutrient release in general. We opportunity to utilize these sugars to keep the whole plant have had good results releasing tied up nutrients by biologically healthy. So, again you look at the weakest point of the plant— activating the system, but the hardest element to release has been you don't measure the fruit. Another source of false brix is what potash. Even though there can be huge amounts of this element we call vascular plugging, where there is no sugar transport out locked up in heavy soils, we rarely see good nutrient release of the leaves. It just sits there, but it's not healthy. It's just like gains reflected in subsequent soil tests. Can you throw any light constipation in humans. You could say you're full, but you haven't had a bowel movement in a week. If we take these things Arden:
into consideration, then the refractometer is a very valuable tool You must remember that the crop will consume a lot to monitor plant health. Remember though that all tests should of potash, compared to phosphate, where some is consumed, but be used within a context as to what you are going to do about it. a lot of it is cycled. Crops use large amounts of potash and You may need to correct a deficit or you may need to catalyze calcium. You may be successfully releasing potash, but it is availability with a biological, but you make that decision based being used to produce the crop. With the Reams test we find that on a variety of observations, and refractometer readings are one potash availability is directly related to our calcium availability. of those. Even conventional analysis should be considered This is a functional and qualitative issue. It has nothing to do within a context like this. It is common, for example, using with conventional soil test numbers—it has to do with conventional leaf analysis, that you will be told that your nitrate bioavailability. When we make calcium biologically available, is low. However, your crop may be doing fine—it's putting on then it seems to be easier to get our potash functionally fruit, the fruit is growing and you don't have an insect problem. One sure way to get insect problems in this system is to add Graeme: While we are talking potash, what are your feelings
nitrate nitrogen when it is not needed, because then you lower about the use of muriate of potash vs. sulfate of potash? your brix reading, you get more water in the plant and the Arden: The only time we would consider muriate is if the soil
insects move in. No test data should be used in isolation. If the needed chlorine. Chlorine is actually required at about 10 ppm, Carbon-Negative Climate Strategy
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but you will appreciate the fact that very few soils today have a subscribe to. The basis of all religions is that you take your chlorine shortage. In conjunction with Dan Skow, Phil Wheeler fellow man into account and you treat your fellow man how you and several other organizations, we are farming several million would like to be treated yourself. We are not an island unto acres with this eco-agriculture, biological approach, and we are ourselves. Whatever we do affects our fellow human beings, doing this successfully without using muriate of potash. Muriate and, if we understand that, our decision making process is is destructive to beneficial organisms, and it also affects active different. We should still make profit—we were meant to be carbons (basically all salts tend to do this). It is really a poor profitable—and it is a lot more rewarding, however, achieving inadvertently replaced calcium with potash, and quality suffers Graeme: Finally, I'd like to ask you about your reasons for
as a result. Muriate is a strong salt that increases conductivity, becoming a Doctor of Medicine after years as a leading and it can produce growth, but it is not sustainable. It sterilizes agricultural consultant. Why did you decide to move in this the soil, and sulfate of potash is a far better material in this regard. We really have to get our calcium base moving, and then Arden:
remove muriate of potash from the program immediately, or, in Well, for many years I had been interested in going to some situations, we may need to take it a little more slowly.
medical school. Carey Reams encouraged the idea, and Phil Graeme:
Callahan also encouraged me to do that. Most of the earlier I would like to know your opinion regarding the researchers I really respected, like Charles Northern, for relative benefits of conventional vs. organic systems. Do you example, had combined agriculture and medicine. They made prefer either, or would you rather have a combination of both? In that direct connection between soil health and human health. I my opinion, a functional hybrid works better.
also noticed how many farmers were ill from pesticide use Arden: I think you're absolutely right. Our concept of
whether it be more and more birth defects, lung diseases like biological farming is the best of both worlds. The conventional asthma, environmental sensitivities, chronic fatigue, etc, etc, and system has learned to manage business on the farm very well. they had nowhere to go. There was no one really pushing the They are very efficient managers. The organic system connection between their fanning practices and their health. So I acknowledges the need for biological balance with non-toxic decided to take the plunge and go to medical school. Now, when inputs. Unfortunately they may not be doing a very good job achieving this balance, but at least they understand the I can make the connection between what you, the fanner, is imperative. We combine these two systems. We use good applying to your soil and what you, the patient, comes to me commercial fertilizers—if used correctly in a biological system, with symptom-wise. I can now offer a wider understanding of they do the job very well, and the ultimate goal of course is the importance of biological farming. Not only do you need to producing nutritionally rich food. However you achieve this goal be profitable, but you also need to be healthy to enjoy that profit. is valid. Biological fanning should be both economically and Many of my patients are fanners, and I relate very closely to ecologically sustainable—we have to have both. Farming may these people. The laws of nature apply to all living things. The be a great way of life, but only if you are profitable enough to human body and the soil are closely linked. The digestive system is the closest parallel. My increasing understanding of Graeme: There seems to be a genuine spiritual component to
each system adds to my ability to make these analogies to your work. Carey Reams was a profoundly religious man. Dan fanners. I now feel better equipped to help make a real Skow appears to be of a similar ilk, and one of the chapters in difference through my medical practice and through my teaching your book is titled “The Divine Blueprint.” How important are
of the principles of biological agriculture.
Graeme: Thanks for time. I really enjoyed talking with you.
Arden: Well, I think it's a legitimate question. I think it has to
Arden: I really enjoyed Australia, I look forward to returning.
do with the question "What are you doing your work for?" As a physician, my concern is the link between human health and soil health. Farmers have an incredibly important role to play as food Nutrition Rules!
producers. I have often heard farmers tell me that they don't eat what they commercially produce. They keep a separate plot, Guidelines from the Master Consultants
which doesn't get all the poisons, and that is what they feed their families. To me this idea embodies an unforgivable lack of with Graeme Sait
respect for your fellow man. The ludicrous thing is that even this selfish attempt to protect your own family from poison is often pointless, because your children will eventually marry outside of the family and that polluted food you produced and sold may Soil Therapy Pty Ltd
well have fed your future daughter or son-in-law. As a farmer, anything I do affects my neighbors and future generations. I see, as "a physician, that the food that people eat determines their health. The integrity of the farmer determines the integrity of that food chain. Those farmers who acknowledge that connection seem to find the answers to their problems. They are motivated by a compassion for their fellow man and a compassion for the soil, because they want their children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to farm. These are the big success stories in eco-agriculture. They are the ones producing the best quality food. It doesn't matter what religion you Confronting Climate Change
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Source: http://www.nutrient-dense.info/docs/AAndersen_interview.pdf