Standing in an organic farm field covered in old crop stalks and cow manure, biological farming expert Gary Zimmer stuck a spade about 3 inches into the ground and pulled up some agricultural dessert.

“That’s what healthy soil looks like — chocolate cake,” said Zimmer as the moist, crumbly dirt fell off the spade last week at his Iowa County farm just a few miles south of the Wisconsin River.

Creating healthy, mineralized soil is anything but a piece of cake, Zimmer said. But the payoff, he said, is worth it: The quality of soil determines the quality of the food we eat. And Zimmer’s biological farming system leads to large yields of mineral-rich, nutritious crops without the use of any chemicals that alert regulators and scare consumers. It’s also environmentally friendly because nutrients build up the quality of the soil and the crops, and don’t leak into nearby waterways or create greenhouse gases that escape into the atmosphere. Read the full story here.