Regenerative Ag Study Worth Your Time
A deep dive into the regenerative agriculture-human health nexus
In This Issue
• SOARing Off Toward 2022
• Important New Report on the Regenerative Agriculture-Human Health Nexus
SOARing Off Toward 2022
This past Tuesday (October 26) was the last of the season for the SOAR Market in downtown Chicago’s Streeterville community (SOAR stands for Streeterville Organization of Active Residents). This Tuesday market is very convenient to where we live in Lakeview, and it was one of my most frequent stops on my farmers market rounds during this first season of Local Food Forum.
SOAR Market could hardly be in more sophisticated surroundings. It takes place on the plaza right outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lurie Children’s Hospital is across the street, and the famed Water Tower and the skyscraper long known as the John Hancock Building are a couple of blocks away on Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile.
Nonetheless, SOAR has the charm of a small neighborhood or even country market. I’ll miss it and look forward to its return next spring.
New Report on Regenerative Ag-Health Nexus
Regenerative agriculture, and its potential far-reaching benefits, are among Local Food Forum’s most frequent topics. So I’m pleased to share the publication of an important new report titled The Regenerative Agriculture and Human Health Nexus: Insights from Field to Body.
The report was written by David LeZaks, senior fellow at Croatan Institute who is based in Madison, Wisconsin, and independent consultant Mandy Ellerton. It was commissioned by Basil’s Harvest, a nonprofit that focuses its work on the soil-food-health connection; the organization is run by founder Erin Meyer, with whom I have the pleasure of collaborating as a member of the ReGenerate Illinois’ Leadership Council.
According to the organization:
Basil's Harvest engages the power of local regenerative food systems to promote human and planetary wellbeing. Beginning research indicates these connections between agriculture, food, human health, and environmental health, but how does it improve the health of our communities?
In this new and compelling paper, The Regenerative Agriculture and Human Health Nexus: Insights from Field to Body explores the connections and discusses opportunities to take action. Basil's Harvest is at the cutting edge of these relationships working to reconnect our food to the earth and bring healthcare and agriculture systems together to create food and farming systems champions for all of these incredible reasons we are now just discovering.
Erin Meyer, MSFS, RD/Chef, Founder and President of Basil's Harvest, commissioned the Croatan Institute to explore the evidence.
I urge you to download the report by clicking below, and please share it with those in your community who also would benefit from reading it.