Delving into soil health is like peeling the layers of an onion back: new layers to soil health are brought to light every day. David Montgomery and Anne Bikle share what they learned and synthesized about soil health and food connections in writing their latest book: What Your Food Ate. As we learn about soil ecology and nutrient cycling, the urgency for caring for health from the soil up is increasingly apparent. David and Anne mention the importance of phytochemicals, micronutrients, fat balances, and microbial metabolites to plant and animal foods, and that new layers and directions for study continue to emerge. Overall, David and Anne encourage farmers and gardeners to do their own on-farm research, particularly in minimizing and eliminating tillage. Similarly, they encourage taking regional approaches to improve soil health and increase farm profitability so we can move forward in new ways.

Montgomery, D. R. & Biklé, A. (2022). What your food ate: How to heal our land and reclaim our health. W. W. Norton Company. Available for purchase online at https://www.dig2grow.com/books or from other independent bookstores.

Notes and resources for What Your Food Ate: https://www.dig2grow.com/_files/ugd/efeec1_9af7d03df12f447f90dee61521c08707.pdf

David and Anne's books were written in the following order: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations; The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health; Growing A Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life; and What Your Food Ate: How To Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health.

Learn more about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition at https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/ Please visit our new website with additional conversations and resources at https://www.4thesoil.org.

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.