Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People: Farming Is America’s First Line Of Defense

PolicyHealthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People: Farming Is America’s First Line Of DefenseByBill Frist, Contributor

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights

I cover global and domestic health care and conservation

The Administration’s new Make American Healthy Again report highlights how surrounding environmental factors, including chemical exposure, can impact our health

Regardless of what side of the aisle we sit on, the health of our fellow citizens, both adults and children, is a concern we all

Tractor cultivating field at spring

Getty This new report opens the opportunity to address the issue head on by advancing nature’s first defense against disease: our food

Or more specifically, how our food is grown

When duced in harmony with nature, our food has the potential to benefit human health, while imving the lands, waters and wildlife we all depend on

American farmers—the men, women and families who grow our food, contribute to our economy and steward our agricultural lands—have a crucial role to play in making America healthy

But for our farmers to adopt new practices, we have to vide them with the incentives and the support to make these changes affordable and accessible

At the Nature Conservancy, this is something we’ve put into action

When farmers have the opportunity and resources needed to use practices precision fertilizer management, cover crops and buffer strips at the edges of their fields, they can keep fertilizers and other agricultural inputs on the fields and out of the air and water we all

MORE FOR YOU Data show certain farming practices can have serious unint health consequences

Scientists have documented that unintentional exposure to excess fertilizers and animal waste byducts is a public health blem impacting both rural and urban communities, with evidence pointing to increased risk of cancer, thyroid disease, respiratory illness and prenatal conditions in children

As a doctor, I know how devastating these illnesses can be for patients and their families

Farmers take these risks seriously, but, unfortunately, current policies and grams are not creating enough demand for farming practices that could support better health outcomes, and too many farmers lack the necessary funding and resources to adopt management practices that can help

Heavy rains in the Midwest causing fields to flood and delaying farmers from planting corn and

Flooding can also lead to soil erosion and chemical runoff

Getty Re also recognizes that well-managed farm fields can reduce the runoff of nitrogen, phosphorus and other chemicals into our waterways

Cover crops, reduced tillage, effective manure management, and optimizing when, where and how much fertilizer is applied to the fields all reduce excess chemicals in water and air

At the edges of fields, practices vegetated buffers, constructed wetlands and prairie strips can capture fertilizer and crop treatment byducts from leaving fields and keep them from entering waterways

Capturing excess nutrient runoff from crop fields is good for both public health and the environment

Riparian buffers are something my wife Tracy and I have put in place on our own farm in Sinking Creek, Virginia, which has notably impacted the water quality in the surrounding creeks and s

Water and air quality are not the only ways farmers contribute to imving health

Food safety is an important issue for all Americans

Some of the pathogens that harm consumers come from the farm

Some food safety regulations have encouraged farmers to remove vegetation around fields and to kill wildlife that could be potential pathogen vectors

Yet science shows the opposite: native vegetation and diverse wildlife can be tective against pathogen transmission, while also supporting native pollinators that benefit crop yields and native pest control measures that can reduce need for pesticide use

While stock and wildlife need careful management around farm fields, farming practices can benefit both food safety and the environment

Fresh harvested vegetables

Getty Farmers are increasingly adopting conservation farming practices due to their health benefits, positive environmental impact, imved soil fertility, and lower costs

In my state of Tennessee, for example, the Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund vides cost for management practices that help recover our impaired waters

Federal grams play a vital role as well—during my time in the U

Senate, we were able to expand access to on-farm conservation practices nationwide through new grams that reduced costs for ducers and helped farmers and ranchers establish sustainable grazing operations

Despite the impact of these federal and state grams, we still need greater adoption to see gress in human and environmental health

Many farmers still need better access to funding, nical assistance, equipment and other resources to implement these practices on their farms

Voluntary, incentive-based conservation grams authorized by the U

Farm Bill are among American farmers

Unfortunately, applications for these grams still far exceed available funding

How can we turn the tide and accelerate and expand the use of these practices on the nation’s working lands

The Make America Healthy Again Commission has an opportunity to embrace several effective tactics in its upcoming strategy document due out this summer

One example they could undertake is to expand state grams and federal cost-sharing grams that encourage adoption in ways that are flexible to farmers’ needs

Farmers would also benefit from new policies that incentivize adoption of conservation management strategies, while safeguarding against financial risk

These policies could include reducing crop insurance premiums for farmers who implement nutrient management plans, buffer strips, and other important practices

Another example would be to offer tailored lending rates to ducers who are interested in purchasing precision agriculture equipment that would optimize their fertilizer use

Additionally, the Commission could suggest introducing a government curement preference for crops grown using conservation farming practices

All these policies would make it easier and more economical for farmers to adopt these apaches

Nature-based agriculture practices are ven, science-based strategies that benefit both human health and the health of the land, water and air

But there is still much to do

We, as a nation at both the federal and state levels, need to support farmers as they strive to keep America’s farms and people healthy, now and far into the future

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