If we imagine the world as a 'nutrient economy', we can begin to see how different segments of society can be connected through a value chain of nutrient flows (natural environment, soil/agriculture, food production, human health/vitality). Through that thread of bioavailable nutrients, this framework weaves through the sectors back to the environment, the ecological base of the pyramid.
To find out how this framework functions, especially at the base level, Marzena Zukowska, Media Manager and Strategist at Ashoka Changemakers, sat down with David Strelneck, the Senior Advisor to Ashokas Rural Innovations, Farming and Ecosystems program and Florence Reed, the President and Founder of Sustainable Harvest International.
What is a nutrient value-chain, and how does play out in practice?
David Strelneck: The nutrient value chain creates demand for what the environment provides. When you adopt a focus on how the body absorbs nutrients people get both healthier and begin focusing not on whether nutrients were put into food, but on whether the body was able to absorb them. This occurs when food is grown in a natural state, linking overall health to the natural environment.
Florence Reed: We have worked with 1200 farming families in Central America. By treating farms as an ecosystem using agro-ecological practices, we get the best results possible for the environment and for the families working with us. We see over and over again how the health of the families, their farms and the surrounding forest and natural ecosystems are improving. We encourage diversity on farms which leads to greater biodiversity in the surrounding environment a ripple effect. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants a healthy balance is then created.
What is the urgency and why is this a strategic time to do this?
Florence Reed: What is most pressing is the loss of the worlds tropical forests that contain so much of the biodiversity that we rely on to maintain our standard of living around the world. And the importance that forests and soil play for a stable climate. Preservation of forests and trees are at the forefront. People are starting to see the value of these trees in new and different ways traditional farmers are now the driving the movement to protect trees. For example, 3.2 million trees were planted with us over the past 15 years. The farmers are doing it because it is improving their lives in direct and concrete ways. In Latin America many are spending most of their income on food that they could be growing themselves.
How can we turn these ideas into actionable steps?
David Strelneck: If every one of us wants to be healthy, live long, and have fun in life, then we need to pay attention to what we are eating, and if what we are eating is actually going to add nutrients to our bodies. By choosing to consume nutrient-rich foods, we can create a powerful value-chain that will ripple back all the way through the food system and into the expansion of natural ecosystems. Innovators are made of people like us all.
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