2022 Delmarva soil summit connected healthy soil with healthy humans

SALISBURY, Md. – Agriculture, and health a concept that many don’t always associate with the other. However, after Delmarva’s Soil Summit, participants tell us, they’re starting to see the connection.

Steve Darcy, a Soil health Champion in Maryland through the National Association of Conservation District Soil Health Network and farmer says, the population is ever-growing, and if we stay in this direction with current farming practices, we may run into some serious issues. “How do we feed all of these people? Well one way to do that is to increase the soil health so it’s more productive,” says Darcy. He adds, “If you have healthy soils, you have healthy plants, you have healthy people. So it’s all interconnected and we just learn more and more every year as we go.”

“There are human health experts that are trying to help us link human health and plant health and soil health all together to help us understand how we can help make a better next generation,” says Sussex County farmer, Jay Baxter. That’s why a Gerontologist, Erin Martin tells 47 ABC, healthy soils produce healthy fruits and vegetables which could be life-changing in those with chronic illnesses. She says when sourced locally, it has the greatest outcome. “So if it’s not local, it’s not nutrient-dense, and if it’s not regenerative, it probably doesn’t have as many nutrients and it’s got chemicals in it and we don’t want to give sick people more chemicals,” says Martin. She adds, “It’s through building this bridge through agricultural practices to health care that we can come together and create regeneration of not only the soil but ourselves.”

At this year’s summit, the focus on human health and soil is addressing mistakes made over the years and the plan of action to move forward. Baxter says, “Agriculture is here to stay on Delmarva, it is a cornerstone of the economy. So we have to figure out something we have to find a way to be viable.” He tells us, making ag sustainable for years to come, starts with soil health. “How can we make ourselves regenerative moving forward into the future that it continues to build upon itself.,” says Baxter.

Meanwhile, a rancher from Oklahoma, and regenerative farmer and rancher, Jimmy Emmons says soil health is the key to almost everything, that’s why conferences like the soil summit are so important in reiterating that message. Emmons tells us, it’s the years of bad farming practices that have brought us to today. “What we’ve learned now is maybe we were doing it the wrong way with excessive tilling, excessive chemicals, nutrients, synthetic fertilizers,” says Emmons. He adds, “How do we fix the soil, how do we keep the land covered to lower the temperature, the climate, get everything to functioning back the way it was before we messed it up.”

Keynote speaker and a rancher, Ray Archuleta tell us, soil health us, the real goal of farming is to emulate nature. He says, “It’s architecture, followed by its principles, following its patterns, emulate nature.” Archuleta adds, “We have to mimic life, and the better we do that, the better our farming is.”

Archuleta tells us, farming has always been a part of his life, and he’s learned just how important it is to care for the land. “If farmers do not understand that the soil is alive, they will never change the way they look at it, the way they manage it, it is alive,” says Archuleta. He adds, “Everything in the natural system is connected ‘the web of life.'”

The summit gave farmers, scientists, ag professionals, and environmentalists a chance to connect and learn how to better treat the soil to lay the groundwork for future generations. “We all need to co-exist together and one way to do that is by improving our soil health for everybody, for this generation, and the next generation,” says Darcy. Archuleta adds, “Community, and don’t give up, and there is hope. We can heal this planet much quicker than we think.”

The second and final day of the summit starts Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. If you want to access the summit virtually or learn more, just click here