Regenerative ag in the blood

FOOD FOR THOUGHT conference speaker profile: Stacey Curcio

Growing up where dinner table conversations centred around the principles of regenerative agriculture and a holistic view of farming built a strong foundation for Stacey Curcio’s fascination with nutrition and human health.

Her parents Pam and Dr Terry McCosker, OAM, a pioneer in the field of regenerative ag and carbon farming, gave her a systems-based view of agriculture which considered both profitability and ecological outcomes.

She also knew from an early age she wanted to pursue a career that helped others, although she didn’t exactly know what that would be until she started looking more deeply into human health.

“In my late teens I became really interested in things like omega-3 fatty acids and found myself wanting to understand what they were. I was quite intrigued about how the human body worked. With my family’s influence from such a young age, it was natural to link human nutrition to the health of the soil.”

A five-year Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) aligned with the principles she grew up with – to address causes not just symptoms and manage the whole rather than individual parts.

“The interconnectedness between our biochemistry and microbiome, and all the crossovers, were familiar to me in terms of the philosophy of holistic principles. The more I learnt, the more it became clear that nutrition has a big influence on our physiology, on so many levels.”

After finishing her Bachelor degree in 2011, Stacey completed a Masters of Human Nutrition. She works as a Naturopath in her business Cultivating Wellness and consults with people Australia wide. Her approach integrates principles of regenerative agriculture and holistic health solutions that address the biochemical, physical, mental, emotional, and environmental aspects of well-being.

Food quality focus

She’s excited to be involved in a farmer-led conference where food quality ‘from the ground up’ is the key focus. She believes many of our nutritional solutions lay in the paddocks of our best producers.

“It is really exciting that VicNoTill is bringing together food producers who understand the work they’re doing on-farm can improve soil biology and soil health, which ultimately results in healthy animals and healthy people.”

During her conference presentation Stacey will be covering topics such as the gut-brain axis and its similarities with the root-stem axis of the plant.

She will discuss the gut microbiome and how it responds to ‘intelligent’ food and phytochemicals in plants, as well as how phytochemicals work in the human body and the role they play in human health.

Stacey will delve deeper into human nutrition, and mineral and microbe interactions with Joel Williams during the Masterclass on September 5.

“When it comes to an individual’s nutrition there is no one-size-fits-all. I am more focused on embracing our uniqueness; and exploring the interaction between people, soils and plants and how people can maximise their health as a result of that interaction.

“Nutrition is still a young science and there is much to learn about nutrition’s role in human health outcomes; how the body processes, absorbs, metabolises, excretes and regulates all matter of nutrients and phytochemicals.”

Questions around food

She says she’s pleased to see consumers ask more questions about where their food comes from, how it’s produced and what the quality is like.

“There’s definitely a trend in urban areas and from those who are more removed from the farms where food is grown, to seek out more quality, eat more ‘real food’ and connect with farmers when possible. At the end of the day, regardless of postcode, we should all be interested in where and how food is grown.

“After the significant disruptions experienced in supply chains during COVID, I think consumers have a greater realisation that food security is an issue which concerns us all.”

She says the detrimental impacts from the consumption of ultra-processed foods, which have infiltrated every part of the globe, can no longer be ignored.

“With what we now know about nutrition and human physiology, it’s abundantly clear how important it is for our food to be ‘intelligent’ and nutrient dense. This is just the start of a much bigger wave towards producing more nutrient dense food.”

Flow-on effects

She says the flow-on effects to the entire community around how food is grown is enormous.

“This will be a fantastic opportunity for producers, agronomists, scientists, ag businesses and health professionals to learn from each other. It will give us all a clearer picture of what is happening right now in these broadacre and mixed farming systems. I’m really looking forward to learning about VicNoTill’s latest innovations and hearing about the positive results of the soil health work they are doing.”

Stacey says mainstream education in nutrition involves very little, if any, discussion of soil health – which is a surprise given that soil is the genesis of nutrition and the biggest contributor to food ‘quality’.

“My interest has always been about the entire continuum of nutrition, starting from the soil, but nutrition education is very much focused from the packet or plate up.”

Her childhood interactions with farmers taking a more regenerative and holistic approach, fuelled her curiosity about how what was happening in the paddock shaped people’s health.

“It has always made sense to me to work with nature, not against it. At the end of the day, how we farm shapes what we become.”