Dan Kittredge is trying to change the way the world eats, and he’s starting right here in New England. The North Brookfield resident is the executive director of the Bionutrient Food Association, a 501(c)3 whose mission is “Increasing Quality in the Food Supply.”
Kittredge grew up on an organic farm in Barre and has been a professional organic farmer his whole life.
“When I got married, I realized I needed to do a better job or I’d be working all the time because my plants were not as healthy as they could be,” he said.
So he accessed the best information he could find by taking courses, reading books, doing research and taking advantage of his relationships with different nonprofits. He began to understand the biological systems and how to make his crops as healthy as possible. And he began sharing that knowledge with other farmers. “There are a series of best practices that are drawn from an understanding of what makes the soil/plant ecosystem work,” he said. “Basically what are the series of factors that are keeping plants from realizing their full potential?”
He called these methods a “pretty basic primer” in how to grow crops. However Kittredge said many farmers just aren’t aware of these methods.
“As someone who grew up on an organic farm and had close relationships with leaders in the organic movement, ignorance is the biggest issue,” he said. “It’s just sheer not knowing.”
Part of that ignorance, he said, is the way farming is taught in agricultural school.
“The analysis they present is pretty much chemistry model,” he said. “That’s just not how plants work in nature. The comprehensive perspective and understanding of living systems is where people need more support and information, with technical practices as well.”
For Kittredge it’s not just organic farming that’s important: It’s farming in general.
“Farming is important, and growing food is important, because we are what we eat,” he said. “Food quality has a lot to do with quality of health.”
Kittredge pointed out studies show that for many systemic diseases we’re experiencing as a culture, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases, there are very good correlations between mineral and nutrient deficiencies and these diseases.
“As a culture we are becoming fat and stupid because the food we are eating is not giving our bodies what we need to function,” he said. “If you don’t have the minerals in your brain it needs to work, it won’t work as well; if you don’t have the minerals in your DNA it needs to replicate, won’t replicate as well. I am trying to draw those connections to people in a practical way.”
But oftentimes, people choose unhealthy foods over fresh fruits and vegetables because the taste in mass produced produce is oftentimes lacking. What else is lacking is nutrients: According to information based on the USDA National Nutrient Database, broccoli has 54 percent less calcium and 75 percent less Vitamin A today than it did in 1975; apples have 60 percent less iron and 40 percent less Vitamin A today than they did in 1975.
“Farmers are growing pounds and bushels, but not flavor, aroma and nutrient levels,” he said. “Farmers have gone off track and are focusing on quantity and not quality. It’s not just about organic; it’s about food in general. It’s about flavor, nutrition, health and vitality.”
Kittredge’s main goal is to increase the quality of the food supply. But he realizes the economics involved and says his methods of farming actually support the farming industry.
“When plants become healthier they yield better results, so it is easier to make a living farming,” he said. “Money talks, so if we can make you a more viable grower, that’s how we can get results. You don’t need chemicals, herbicides or fungicides, when you have healthy plants. This is making significant waves across the northeast.”
Kittredge has been giving lectures on these best practices of farming around New England for three years. He said about a third of the attendance are homesteaders, a third are professional farmers and a third are backyard gardeners.
“It is a pretty mixed crowd that attends,” he said. “I’m just conveying basic principles, so this is applicable in backyard garden and farm scale. But it blows [backyard gardeners’] minds.”
But for Kittredge, this is not just about the backyard farmer.
“For me why this matters is I think we can systemically revitalize the planet,” he said. “If you look at the deserts, in Central Asia, Africa, there is a lot of land that is wearing out. Even in the Midwest, the soil is wearing out. We’ve been abusing it long enough it just doesn’t have what it needs to maintain vitality. I think that is something everyone should be worried about and I think we can systemically change that.”
But it’s not just about the land: It’s about the people who live on the land. Kittredge said he has traveled around the world and has seen people that are really suffering because the land is wearing out and they can’t make a life living off the land anymore.
“If we replenish the aquifer and build up the soil, we make the land usable for people so there is an opportunity for people to live a more simple, close-to-the-land lifestyle and be able to sustain themselves,” he said.
“For me, it is a fairly radical, political act to work with soil. There are a lot of problems in the world and people get tired of it all and want to do something. This is something we can do. Take responsibility for your food and your family.”
Through his lectures, Kittredge is already seeing incredible results.
“I am feeling extremely heartened and like it’s all coming together beautifully, rapidly and on a large scale,” he said. “The pitch here is you can get ahead by doing the right thing; not just for your family or farm, but economically. What we’re seeing is people are starting to get results and to understand they can make a better living by doing the right thing.”
In fact, some of the world’s largest farmers are beginning to apply some of these principles.
“I feel like the reality of the fact is, we are going to be outcompeting conventional modalities on the marketplace,” he said. “We can actually produce more for less. We have to set up conditions where what we want to occur will occur and have to be realistic about what are the drivers to make that happen. It’s very exciting. This was fairly fringe five years ago and it’s getting much more commonplace. It’s more of the cutting edge of the food movement; these are concepts people are discussing and applying. It’s really happening on a real level.”
Kittredge’s next free local lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the New England Small Farm Institute, 275 Jackson St., Belchertown, MA 01007.
Find out more about the Bionutrient Food Association at www.bionutrient.org; the complete schedule for the Bionutrient Rich Crop Production Workshop series can be found at www.bionutrient.org/events. Videos on the Bionutrient Food Association and Dan Kittredge can be found on YouTube.