Children at risk unless growers stop ‘chemical warfare'

July 2007
Media release

Babies born today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents and are more
prone to illness because of a lack of nutrition in our soil.

So warns Dr Arden Andersen, a world authority on biological farming, who comes to
New Zealand this February.

Dr Andersen, who is renowned as both a GP and soil consultant, draws on research
from the US and UK that shows nutrient levels in fruit and vegetables are
deteriorating, a trend that he says is consistent throughout the developed world.

Such a nutritional imbalance, he argues, is responsible for increased health problems
for today's children.

"Nutrition is the building block of every body, organ, tissue and cell. It is the
foundation of the immune and repair system; the absolute core issue regarding
disease, birth defects, life expectance and quality of life," says Dr Andersen.

"Heart disease, stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, obesity and cancer are
more prevalent than ever and increasing every year. Children are the age group with
the fastest increase in cancer rate. There are literally thousands of scientific journal
articles linking all these diseases to nutrition."

Dr Andersen dismisses the conventional assertion that mass production of food and
fibre cannot be accomplished without the extensive use of synthetic chemicals. He
says growers can clean up their act without compromising margins.

He advocates biological farming methods that combine the best of chemistry,
physics, biology and microbiology with sound farm management practices. It
addresses and solves weed, disease and insect problems at their root causes, rather
than merely masking the symptoms with chemicals.

Biological agriculture is a "best of both worlds" regime, says Dr Andersen. It is a mix
of conventional and organic farming practices that involves careful monitoring of
crops and soils to ensure production is of high quality. It results in tasty, nutritionally
dense food that consumers clamour for.

"It is a way of thinking and doing that helps farmers to gradually step off the treadmill
of agricultural chemicals and onto a path of managing soils, crops and animals in a
profitable and sustainable way," says Dr Andersen.

"One mistake that people make, seemingly more often than anything else today, is
relying upon tests, equipment and technology to make decisions for them rather than
using their own deductive understanding, observation skills, and intuition.

"It is unwise and unscientific to stay stuck in a single school of thought while the
awareness and understanding of nature grows around us."

For example, Dr Andersen highlights cases where soil test reports have indicated
ideal growing conditions but crops have failed. "Keep in mind, plants don't read soil
tests," he says. Growers have to put more faith in their own ability to read the soil.

Dr Andersen says growers must also get back to the realisation that they are growing
food for people, and how they do that will impact on the health of the environment in
which all humankind, animals and plants live; they must take responsibility for the
consequences of their actions on the lives of future generations.

Dr Andersen's New Zealand seminars are designed to assist growers to produce
nutrient dense, tasty, safe, clean, bountiful food and drink, while increasing profit per
unit of input. He will discuss tackling weeds, diseases and insect pests appropriately
and safely, and ways of rehabilitating the environment including building carbon
stores in the soil as humus.