Healthy soil means healthy people

Jason Maloney For Agri-View
May 12, 2023
May 12, 2023

1 of 6

Freshly transplanted plants reach for the spring sky in Bayfield County, Wisconsin. Soil provides essential nutrients for both plants and the humans who eat them.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

A country road leads to a dairy farm near Chequamegon Bay on Wisconsin's Lake Superior coast. Family farms still produce a major portion of the food consumed in the United States.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Hazelnuts grow on a test plot in the Bayfield Fruit Loop near Bayfield, Wisconsin. Some crops, like hazelnuts, help reduce erosion by locking soil in place and breaking through compacted subsoil.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Cattle stand in a paddock on a grass-fed-beef farm near Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Pastures that are used for rotational grazing can be examples of permaculture, which are agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. Permaculture practices can also improve soil health.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

A combine in rural Oconto County, Wisconsin, waits for a grain field to dry in early-morning sun. As we endeavor to feed a growing world population, how we treat the soil impacts directly and indirectly on human health.

Jason Maloney/For Agri-View

Jason Maloney and Red

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Jason Maloney For Agri-View

Modern life is fast-paced. People are busy; time slips away like vapor. Ten-thousand distractions keep us from noticing the common things that sustain life. Air, water and soil are taken for granted and yet we cannot live without them. Each is part of the equation from which life springs.

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Jason Maloney is an “elderly” farm boy from Marinette County, Wisconsin. He’s a retired educator, a retired soldier and a lifelong Wisconsin resident. He lives on the shore of Lake Superior with his wife, Cindy Dillenschneider, and Red, a sturdy loyal Australian Shepherd.