Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke about how soil health affects human health at a ranch near Bismarck on Thursday. Jack Dura from the North Dakota Monitor reports that Kennedy talked about how chemicals from farming destroy soil’s microbiome, and how links have been made between fertilizer and pesticide nitrates and increased cancer rates.
Kennedy acknowledged that cutting back on chemical intensive farming can be difficult for farmers that must be extremely calculated in their decisions to survive, but “off-ramps” are being pursued for farmers that want them.
Kennedy spoke at the Black Leg Ranch on the declining health of American children, and urged that food quality is imperative going forward. He pointed to Black Leg as an example for other farmers for its practices in regenerative agriculture. Another example of how these ideals are put into practice is Wozu, a tribal food and culture effort, that works to return buffalo to the land while connecting people with culture, wellness efforts, and local food. This organization exemplifies how Indigenous people have always had a deep connection with their land, and that land stewardship and regeneration is the founding principle of the program, according to founder Dave Archambault II.
Other health topics were brought up during the rural health roundtable, like the state of long-term care facilities and rural hospitals, outdated COVID-19 regulations, and concerns on general public health were brought up to Kennedy, who vowed to fix them.
Read Dura’s full reporting here.
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