Recently, I read an article describing experiments involving mice being offered a choice of corn grown “naturally” and untreated, versus corn involving the GMO process. The animal experiment bothered me, so I contacted local authority and farmer Craig Floyd of the Coogan Farm for advice and local farm sources that might grow corn. Here’s what he had to say:

“First, on our farm, we don’t grow corn,” he said. “Growing corn ties up bed space that reduces the amount of what we can grow.”

He added that his farm’s mission is to grow as much nutrient-dense food as possible for the “food insecure.”

“We donate 100% to help the 23,000 food insecure in southeastern Conencticut,” he said. “That donation number is 65,000 pounds in five years given to the Gemma Moran Food Bank in New London, thanks to our team of 375 volunteers who put their love, sweat and money into our mission.”

Floyd said he needs to be able to “flip” from one crop to another quickly.

“Corn takes 79 days to mature so I grow something else in that space that gives me more production and feeds more people,” he said. “If you Google ‘Certified Organic Farms in New London County’ you’ll get a list. And just because a farm isn’t ‘Certified’ doesn’t mean that they don’t use organic growing techniques.”

Farms to check out, he said, include Hunts Brook Farm in Quaker Hill, Full Heart Farm in Ledyard, Sub Edge Farm, Copper Hill Farm, and Provider Farms, all whom use Coogan Welcome Center as a pickup spot for their CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).

“CSA programs are an option for purchasing local food,” he said. “Tobacco Road Farm in Lebanon is probably the leading regenerative farm in southeastern Connecticut.”

He said the Bionutrient Food Association is currently developing an app for smart phones that will empower people to be able to tell in an instant what the nutritional quality of different vegetables on food shelves is.

“This will change farming forever because conventionally grown food has nowhere near the nutritional levels that food grown using regenerative techniques will provide,” Floyd said. “This will force the conventional farms to change how they grow.”

A regenerative farm creates a re-mineralization of the soil.

“We know that native peoples lived near active volcanoes, despite the danger, because the fertility of the soil was caused by volcanic rock dust,” he said. “So when you are calling around, ask the farmer, ‘Do you re-mineralize the soil?’ ‘What do you use? BioChar, Carbonatite, Azomite, Basalt?’ ‘Are you a KNF farm?’”

(That stands for Korean Natural Farming, which uses indigenous microorganisms, which may have a digestion-resistant property.)

“So it is all about the soil, microbiology and natural materials. We use 2,000 pounds of worm casting each year, along with seaweed, leaves, wood chips, our own compost, etc.,” he said. “The produce we grow for the food insecure is far superior in nutrients than anyone can buy in the supermarket.”

Look also for farms that do not till or spray. Just because it’s labeled “Certified Organic” does not mean veggies have not been sprayed.

Finally, buy locally because our present commercially marketed food half as nutritious as what it was in 1940, according to some estimates, and loses another 30% within three days of harvest.

“To give you an example, we at Coogan Farm are involved in data collection for this app mentioned above, and we found that it takes 12 conventional carrots to equal the nutritional quality of one of ours. The polyphenols in the spinach of some regenerative farms is 800 times higher than those in conventional farms,” Floyd said. Antioxidants found in the best organic foods help treat digestion issues, weight management, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

“We must stop feeding our children chemically laden food with no nutritional quality,” he said. “Farm on.”

For more information, visit bionutrient.org.

Ed Johnson lives in Noank.