It’s food season, also known as the holidays! And what you choose to put on your plate actually has an impact on the world around you. Agriculture is not only big business across the Midwest, it is also a major source of water pollution in Wisconsin and a major and growing source greenhouse gas emissions.
But how do you make it better?
In this episode, Amy talks with Kathryn (Kata) Young, Natural Climate Solutions Manager with Clean Wisconsin, about the places where eating and our environment connect.
Host:
Amy Barrilleaux
Guest:
Kathryn (Kata) Young, Natural Climate Solutions Manager, Clean Wisconsin
Background Reading:
Federal Funds for Wisconsin – How the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are helping communities and homeowners across the state
Sustainable Crops Water, soil and climate-smart foods that grow in Wisconsin
Climate-Smart Agriculture in Wisconsin
Transforming Wisconsin’s Agriculture for the Future
Where to Listen:
Transcript:
Amy: Hi there and welcome to State of Change, where we talk about the most pressing environmental issues facing Wisconsin and how you can plug in to defend our air, water, land and climate. I’m Amy Barrilleaux. State of Change is powered by Clean Wisconsin, the state’s oldest environmental organization, your environmental voice since 1970. So it’s food season, also known as the holidays. And what you choose to put on your plate actually has an impact on the world around you. Agriculture is not only big business across the Midwest and especially here in Wisconsin, it’s also a major source of water pollution in Wisconsin and a major and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. But how do you make it better? In this episode, I’m talking with Kata Young, Natural Climate Solutions Manager with Clean Wisconsin, about the places where what we eat and our environment connect. That’s right now on State of Change. I’m joined by Kata Young, Natural Climate Solutions manager with Clean Wisconsin. Thank you so much for being here.
Kata Thanks so much for having me, Amy.
Amy And so I guess I’ll start with that kind of decision point, right? When we pick out what kind of food we’re going to put on our plates. I think we probably are, you know, thinking, okay, what’s healthy? What am I in the mood for? What tastes good? We might even think about, well, what foods have pesticides and which ones maybe don’t? What’s organic? But I don’t think we really are thinking about necessarily, okay, how is this decision going to impact my environment? So why is that a consideration? What is the connection between our food and our environment that you see here in Wisconsin?
Kata So in Wisconsin, agriculture is basically 30% of our land. It’s our number one economic engine for our state. But what Wisconsin farms used to be and how they used to be managed and their relationships with their communities and what people chose to eat has changed so significantly over the last several decades. For example, the small family farm that we all think of when we think of Wisconsin farms, that quintessential red barn, is really struggling to stay alive. We’ve seen an enormous loss of small and medium sized farms, particularly over the last 20 years, as farmers have started to consolidate as part of large farming operations to compete with the global agriculture market, which has increasingly become industrialized. And so, whereas it was not uncommon for people to, even in the cities, to know their milkman or have their eggs delivered directly to their house and know their farmers, now that’s become a very niche relationship where people have to actively go to a farmer’s market and invest in kind of higher quality, higher priced foods to maintain those kinds of relationships. But most people around our state and around the country don’t know their farmers. They don’t know where their food comes from. And they’re not even aware that here in Wisconsin, most of that corn that we’re seeing in fields is not even being produced for food that we eat. It’s not ending up on our kitchen tables. It’s ending up as ethanol for energy or it’s being used as animal feed. And we have all of this acreage being dedicated to non food grade agriculture and the impact that that method of agriculture to produce high volumes of the same thing requires an intense amount of nutrient input into the soil to feed the plants so they can grow and produce as much yield as possible. But what happens is when you plant this same thing year after year, the plants are all taking up the exact same nutrients and farmers double down and put more nitrogen down to get that growth. And when there’s a rain event and there’s soil exposed beneath the corn, that soil, the topsoil washes away into our rivers and with it runs the chemical nitrogen in fertilizers. What ends up happening is the crops aren’t getting the nutrients they need. So farmers are putting down more to compensate for that loss. And then all of that runoff from the fields ends up in our creeks, in our streams, in our rivers, and in our groundwater, which ultimately ends up in our tap water and in the glasses that our children drink. So our relationship with agriculture in this state has changed so significantly from being a source of primary food and sustenance to first feed Wisconsin families and then providing excess surplus to the rest of the nation. And instead agriculture globally has become so specialized that each area of the world focuses on one kind of production and at the at the detriment to the communities who live in that area.
Amy One thing you touched on was the corn, which we know that is a huge crop in Wisconsin. We see cornfields everywhere. So when I’m driving by a cornfield and I’m picturing, you know, that sweet corn that you get and you put your butter and your salt on it, what are the chances that the corn I’m driving by is going to be something that I can eat?
Kata Very low. The majority of corn in our state is for animal feed and ethanol, the sweet corn that we all think of at the end of summer and early fall. That’s now more than ever a kind of a specialty crop. Food grade, there are certainly organic producers who are producing organic corn, but most of the corn that we’re seeing is not human food grade.
Amy I think we know that there are problems. We know there’s a dead zone in the Gulf and it’s coming from fertilizers and other agriculture– agro chemicals used here and in other states in Midwest. We know nitrogen is getting into, or nitrates I should say, are getting into drinking water in Wisconsin, getting into our groundwater. So we we kind of know these things, but I don’t think we get exactly how it connects to our food and our farming. It just seems like the cost of doing business. So your job is to kind of look at there’s another way, right? There’s a better way. There’s a way to transition, maybe not back to the past ways of doing things, but kind of like take those past lessons and integrate them into a future farming system. So what are the things that, in your mind, kind of need to change first for us to get a handle on the environmental impacts of conventional agriculture in Wisconsin.
Kata No pressure! I think we are now coming into a time where we’re realizing the mistakes of the past. We’re seeing what our grandparents did with their farms and we’re now beginning to understand the impacts of those management decisions on the soil, on the water, on our bodies. And so where we are in history really is this integration stage where awareness is spreading and consumers now more than ever are far more educated about what choices they have in front of them and the implications of those choices. And there’s a lot of pressure that consumers feel for being responsible to put their money where their vote is. And at the same time, companies, food companies who are sourcing from Wisconsin growers and are providing all of the processing and packaging for retail for consumers also feel pressure to compete against prices that are set globally and to stay afloat. And farmers are struggling to continue to produce food at the rate and quantity that we need with the demand and still receive a profit of any any percent from their efforts. And so right now, we’re kind of in a zero sum game where nobody’s winning. And the only way that this can begin to change is, first, for awareness to build. In a lot of cases, because crops like in Wisconsin has have been produced using conventional industrialized methods, there is a real cost to the farmer in changing methods. There is a risk in changing what has been done for 4 or 5 generations to doing something new. And those changes can’t all happen all at once. And there needs to be some kind of protection mechanism for farmers that rewards them for increasingly applying better land management practices to their productive systems. So we’re all kind of shifting together and at the same time is this urgent need to address our climate emissions. How do we sync the needs of our climate, the needs of our communities to reduce the worst impacts of climate change and build resiliency in our agricultural practices so that we can protect our rural communities? We can protect our land, the source of our state’s economy. And how do we move all these pieces together in a globalized agricultural society? It’s very complex. We all have a responsibility to see what we can do to be part of the solution. If you’re a consumer, yes, you do. You do vote every time you purchase food at the grocery store. You vote for what kind of food system you want to see for your children, for your grandchildren.
Amy So we see that, you know, we’ve got soil loss, we’ve got water contamination issues, we’ve got soil health issues, all of these things happening at once. And I think everybody kind of knows it’s happening, but it is a really complicated puzzle to solve. You mentioned that we kind of vote with our purchasing power, but how? Like what are the foods that we should be like yep, this and nope, not that? If you could just kind of give somebody a guide in the grocery store because it is confusing to know how we can support moving in the right direction, because ultimately consumers are going to be the ones who help make this change happen.
Kata I think if I could guide consumers in any one way, I would say. To focus on the nutrient density of the food that you’re purchasing.
Amy Okay, so.. What?
Kata So you know how in grocery stores there’s on the very edges of the grocery stores where the produce is and, you know, the the meats and the frozen sections and in the very center are all the packaged, sweet, salty, highly processed foods. And there is a general recommendation to avoid those central aisles where you’re going to find the highest quantity of the most processed, the most nutrient lacking of foods. And what those foods, especially the high sugar and high salts do is they they want they make us want to eat more, but we’re not actually getting any more nutrients out of it. If you’re walking along the outer side to the grocery store, there’s a cornucopia of food that’s available now. And what I would recommend is first focus on what foods have the most nutrients possible and of those foods, what are the options that are being displayed that are grown locally? Because then you’ll know that the more nutrient dense a local food is, the more nutrients are going into the soil. There are so many different labels and certifications these days that it makes it very confusing to navigate. And, you know, first and foremost, I always look at the the year’s new listing of the Dirty Dozen. Those are the 12, the 12 fruits and vegetables that have the most herbicides, pesticides, the most contaminants that you could possibly get from a fresh fruit or vegetable. And those are the ones that I prioritize to only buy organic. If I’m looking at those then organic options, I look for one that’s grown locally because I know that it’s grown organic so the farmer is focused on building the soil, feeding the soil, making the product the most nutrient dense possible with the. The least amount of detriment to the environment. And I know that I’m supporting a local farmer and ensuring that that food traveled a very short distance rather than hundreds of thousands of miles across the country.
Amy What about some of these kind of more cutting edge foods that we’re starting to see in the grocery stores? You can get now frozen Aronia berries in the stores at Woodman’s and some other places. You can get Cascadian Farm cereal with Made with Kernza, which is a perennial wheat grass that is now kind of being turned into sort of a wheat like flower. You’re seeing some Wisconsin Midwest hazelnuts out there. I think Metcalfs has some of their products. So we’re starting to see these, you know, new foods. I would say although Aronia berries and hazelnuts have been around, Kernza is new, was developed as a as a food that can help the climate. So what our what are kind of what’s kind of the purpose of these new foods I guess in the the landscape of what we’re talking about.
Kata Well all these foods you mentioned are some of the most nutrient dense foods that you can find in the grocery store. Aronias, for example, have more antioxidants and anti-inflammatory markers than than even acid, which was really recently such a popular health food. And Aronia is native to Wisconsin and fact is probably growing in your or your neighbors backyard as an ornamental or as a privacy screen because it’s it’s so tolerant to a wider range of conditions and is one of the most important superfoods we have available right in our backyards. Hazelnuts and kernza. Both are high in protein. Kernza actually has a 19% protein, which is significantly more than any other grain and also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. That reduces sensitivity for folks who are typically sensitive to foods with gluten. For example, Kernza has low glycemic levels. So, you know, these are kind of what I’m talking about when I refer to these nutrient dense foods. And how do you know they’re nutrient dense? Well, chances are if if they’re kind of standing out, standing out and they’re not your typical yellow corn number two or, you know, enriched bleached wheat and there aren’t any labels that say now added with iron or B two or whatever, chances are you’re looking at a nutrient dense food. And if and you know and you know it when you eat it because you feel really good, your body feels satisfied, you feel stronger, your mind is clear. So that’s the that’s how you know kind of how what foods are good for you that you should be investing in for your own well-being. But also importantly, how your wellbeing connects with the environment is that all of these nutrient dense foods like kernza and aronia and hazelnuts, these are all perennial crops, which means that farmers plant them once in some cases, like with aronia or hazelnuts, and they focus on feeding the soil and the secret is in the soil. So they feed the little guys that do all the heavy lifting so that these crops get all the nutrients that they need and can produce the best possible yields and the the amount of inputs in the form of agrochemicals, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, you know, all these inputs that conventional annual crops use have to use to prevent all kinds of pests and disease that is significantly reduced in many of these perennial crops. The soil isn’t disturbed because it’s perennial, so those roots get to travel deep into the deeper regions of the soil. And all of that woody biomass above ground is pulling the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and turning it into the sugars in the food that feeds these crops and and holds that carbon for the long term above and below ground. And so they also have significant climate benefits as well. They’re perennial, so they aren’t disturbed and nearly as much as annual systems. And it results in a much more stable and low intensity agricultural food system that benefits the farmer, the land and local communities and the well-being of the local communities and consumers who purchase these high nutrient foods landscape.
Amy So I think kind of the moral of the story and what we’re all talking about or we’ve been talking about here is the better the crop for the environment, oftentimes the better the crop for you. The better the the system, the healthier the soil, the healthier the plants are raised or the animals are raised can translate into a better quality food and healthier person.
Kata Yeah, I would agree with that!
Amy That’s basically what we’re saying! Well, thank you for all this advice and the and the insight, I think, into how our agricultural systems connect with with us, with our our bodies, our health and the health of our environment. I really appreciate the conversation today.
Kata Thanks Amy.
Amy For more information on climate and water friendly foods taking root right now in Wisconsin, log on to our Web site, cleanwisconsin.org. I’m Amy Barrilleaux and thanks for listening to State of Change powered by Clean Wisconsin.
