Thursday, December 19, 2013

Life and Energy In Agriculture - A Divine Blueprint

Life & Energy in Agriculture, by Arden B. Anderson

A Summary

This is a book report of sorts. I quote Dr. Anderson frequently but condense and summarize significantly from the original text. This book a gem on the role of energy on soil health and produce quality. The original is a quick read and very engaging if you want to learn about the path less taken in agriculture.

Divine Blueprint

The environment we live in has a purpose and place for everything. It is only when man disrupts this balance and circumvents natural laws is chaos created. The natural system will triumph in the end whether man cooperates with or plunders nature. Man does have the ability to help the environment regenerate and the environment God has established will more than take care of man if we just allow it to do so.

There are distinct markers in the environment corresponding to levels of fertility, health and vitality, of the soil. Let's explore these starting with insects.


Insects have a very strong and vital task: they are there to eliminate the weak. Each species of insect has in its genetic structure a specific food source for it to devour, and that food is determine by frequency. Insect antennae are actually like small semiconductors and are coated with wax to make them paramagnetic structures. They are sensitive to various wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. Healthy plants do not attract insects, but if there are severe mineral deficiencies the plant will give of an infrared spectrum that the insect sees as food and an infestation results. If a crop surpasses a high level of quality there will not, no there cannot be an insect problem, because the crop will not be seen as food by the insects.

Diseases are a self-destruct mechanism with the same purpose, to signal a mineral deficiency or imbalance. Correct the deficiency and the disease disappears. High quality produce will not rot it will only dehydrate.

Weeds like insects have a distinct purpose in creation, these plants are there to replenish the soil and are the best soil test you can use. Each species is genetically wired replace a specific nutrient deficiency. Generally broad-leaf weeds correct the imbalance between phosphate and potash and detoxify chemicals in the soil. Grasses such as foxtail and quack-grass correct calcium deficiency. Succulents replenish the carbonate ions and increase water holding capacity. They are also a ground cover to protect fragile soil from erosion. The use of fertilizer will determine what plants are healthiest, if you fertilize for weeds then weeds will be the healthiest plants growing. Once the balance of fertility is restored, the soil improves yearly with fewer weeds and higher quality crops. True farming is being a caretaker of the soil.

Quality Produce


Have you ever purchased what looked like good quality fresh vegetables and brought them home only to discover several days later that they had spoiled or vegetables at the farmers market and several week later that they had dehydrated a little but were perfectly good to eat. The refractometer is the most practical tool that most consumers can use to evaluate produce quality. Very few farmers have adopted these simple tools for improving crop quality. Even fewer have correlated refractometer readings with insect and disease infestation, mineral content, shelf life, crop vigor, palatability, and chemical contamination. As experience with a refractometer grows you can learn to discern true signs of natural quality. Parents will notice that vegetables shunned by fussy eaters are suddenly popular when brix reading fall into the very good to excellent range. If the produce does not contain the proper nutrients then the eater will not get those nutrients no matter how much he eats.

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