Back to the Roots
Ancestral farming for healthy mind, body and soil
By Melissa Zetouna
If you grew up in Telkaif, Alqosh, Batnaya, Karamles, Qaraqosh, Tesqopa, Duhok, or other villages near the Nineveh Plain, you were familiar with many families maintaining their own agriculture and livestock. And if you were American-born like me, you heard stories from your loved ones about the happy, church-centered, simple life back home, back then.
My mother grew up in Telkaif with a garden, chickens, sheep, and a cow. Besides her usual farmhouse chores, she also made Geymar (Iraqi clotted cream) in bulk for the townsfolk. Our land—the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization and agriculture for millennia—produced dates, grapes, grapevines, wheat, barley, figs, olive trees, and other vegetable crops effortlessly through a self-sufficient process of regenerative farming. For health and environmental reasons in the United States, it’s making a comeback.
Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming approach that requires minimal human intervention for crops and livestock. This year-round process:
Restores soil health, temperature and moisture using leaves as natural mulch.
Protects soil microbes, worms and fungi, which release enriching byproducts into the soil.
Shields soil from erosion, including damage caused by snowmelt that can disrupt natural balance.
Maintains crop root systems year-round, supporting soil microbe diversity.
Uses crop rotation to balance nutrients and build microbial resistance to pests and disease.
Integrates livestock — such as cows, horses, goats, sheep and chickens — for ecological balance, with manure serving as a rich fertilizer.
Encourages compatible crop diversity to enhance resilience.
Minimizes soil disturbance by reducing tilling and emissions.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon incorporated many principles that foreshadowed regenerative agriculture, including advanced irrigation, water conservation, crop and animal diversity, integrated fish farming and the use of water runoff for soil enrichment.
Regenerative farming is gaining momentum as conventional agriculture continues to degrade soil in many parts of the world. Synthetic fertilizers strip nutrients and contribute to erosion. As soil deteriorates, it loses the microbes and fungi that feed plant life, the minerals that support root systems year-round, and its resilience against drought.
In the United States and many other countries, water restrictions are enacted every summer to prepare for droughts or wildfires. Regenerative farming practices help retain soil and plant moisture, making them part of a broader climate solution.
Crops grown regeneratively contain higher levels of vitamins—such as B2, E and K—along with more minerals like calcium, zinc and phosphorus, and greater concentrations of antioxidant phytochemicals, including beta-carotene. Eating a diverse range of nutrient-dense foods can improve digestion and metabolism while reducing inflammation linked to impurities in the diet. The functional medicine community refers to this as “leaky gut syndrome,” a term later adopted in conventional medicine as “gut permeability.”
The Green the Capitol sustainability program, launched in 2007 by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ensures that, whenever possible, cafeteria food in the U.S. Capitol is organic, free of trans fats and locally sourced. Among its suppliers is Polyface Farms, a regenerative farm in Virginia whose slogan, “Healing the land one bite at a time,” speaks to its mission. Politicians, functional medicine experts and everyday Americans alike are recognizing the benefits of clean eating.
Amid growing health and environmental concerns, more people are seeking alternatives to conventionally grown foods. This shift is visible everywhere—from shoppers at farmers markets to home gardeners cultivating crops, to poultry enthusiasts raising backyard chickens. The regenerative agriculture market was valued at $162 million in 2020 and is projected to quadruple by 2030.
One of the key pillars of the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative is advancing regenerative agriculture to reduce chemical dependency. Under the plan, the Department of Health and Human Services will work with the Department of Agriculture to:
• Support policies that incentivize sustainable farming practices, improve soil health, reduce chemical use and increase biodiversity.
• Ban synthetic pesticides, including glyphosates, from farming practices.
• Redirect crop subsidies to support healthy, nutrient-dense crops.
The Health and Human Services secretary says America is facing a health crisis, driven in large part by exposure to known toxic chemicals. Reports say ADHD medication use doubled from 2006 to 2016, with nearly one in four boys diagnosed by age 17. Antidepressant prescriptions for adolescents rose 1,400% from 1987 to 2014. Antipsychotic use among children increased 800% between 1995 and 2009. Asthma prescriptions climbed 30% from 1999 to 2008.
Many see a correlation between chemical exposure and chronic illness. Today, 70% of children’s calories come from ultra-processed foods high in added sugar, preservatives and unhealthy fats—a stark contrast from 100 years ago, when such products were virtually nonexistent. More than 40,000 synthetic chemicals are approved for use in U.S. consumables, far exceeding the number allowed in other nations with significantly lower rates of chronic illness. Pesticides, microplastics and other toxins have been detected in U.S. adults, pregnant women and children.
HHS is laying the groundwork to shift health care away from the current “sick care” model toward one that prioritizes prevention. Plans call for devoting half of the National Institutes of Health budget to research alternative health care approaches that support disease prevention.
As primary care physicians emphasize prevention, privately run health insurance companies—the “middlemen” of the system—may be slow to embrace the change. To give patients more control over their care, expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) is also under consideration, allowing more personalized, prevention-focused spending.
Looking ahead, the future of American health may depend heavily on habits from the past: eating nutrient-dense, organic, unprocessed foods. For U.S. farmers, that means practicing regenerative methods to produce nutritious crops responsibly. For Chaldean Americans, it serves as a reminder to reinforce our cultural identity, reconnect with food-growing traditions, uphold the stewardship of our land and strengthen the sense of community we have long valued.
Melissa Zetouna is a practicing Physician Assistant of 20+ years, founder of iMed, a health and wellness tele-platform at www.iMedoncall.com, and active in Make America Healthy Again (MAHA).