The Gbiota Club exists to help people improve health through food by rebuilding gut biology with living, nutrient-dense plants. It is built on practical growing methods (flood-and-drain compost tea), regenerative soil improvement, and fair returns for growers. This page explains the gut–brain axis logic behind the project, the club’s aims, who can join, and a simple code of conduct that protects the integrity of the system while keeping access open and affordable.
Colin Austin — 19 April 2019. Further information on the Gbiota growing system is freely available by joining the Gbiota Club, which means accepting the code of conduct below.
The Gut–Brain Axis
A healthy gut biota has trillions of cells that communicate with each other and with our head brain to create a master intelligent control system. This system has evolved over millions of years to manage and protect our bodies so we eat the right amount of the right foods. When this is working properly it happens automatically, so we do not have to spend vast amounts of time, money, or forced self-control to remain healthy. We simply feel full and satisfied.
We are surrounded by harmful cells that are continuously entering our bodies through the air, food, and drink. A healthy gut biota manages this by creating conditions where beneficial cells out-compete and out-breed the harmful ones. This is the ecological approach: a living balance between beneficial and harmful microbes. It is happening all the time, but the natural biological approach works so well that we are often not even aware it is happening.
Modern food, produced by chemical industrial agriculture, results in severe damage to our gut biota. When gut biology is compromised we lose this automatic control of diet and we develop food cravings.
The Gbiota Growing System
The Gbiota growing system learns from traditional biological growing systems and incorporates those lessons into a modern system that takes advantage of practical technology — modernised traditional agriculture. The basic principle is to create a mix of compost, organic waste, and minerals to produce a biologically active tea. This tea floods the root system, delivering biology and nutrients to plants, then drains back out for reuse on the next flood cycle. During the drain cycle, air is automatically drawn back into the soil, supporting a living root-zone ecology rather than a stagnant one.
Aims
The aims of the Gbiota Club are to enable all people to improve their health by supplementing their existing diet with plants that support gut biology and deliver better nutrition, while also enabling growers to use regenerative agriculture and receive a fair return for their efforts. In practical terms, the club focuses on plants that:
- enhance gut biology by providing biology, pre- and post-biotics, and fibre
- increase nutrient uptake by delivering high phytonutrients and minerals
- remain affordable for people, while supporting long-term soil improvement and a fair, reasonable return for growers and for the effort involved in running the Gbiota Club
It is now widely accepted that gut biology is a major factor in health. It affects many chronic diseases such as overweight, diabetes, strokes, dementia, and heart attacks, and it also appears to have a major impact on mental state — including hunger, depression, anxiety, and a person’s level of satisfaction with life.
Technical Basis
We live in an era dominated by chemical industrial agriculture, largely motivated by the profits of mega corporations. This system has certainly provided large quantities of low-cost energy food, but it is commonly high in sugar and fats and low in essential minerals and phytonutrients. It also uses toxic chemicals that damage gut bacteria and soil structure, and it depends on oil-based chemical inputs.
By contrast, traditional agriculture generally has lower productivity, but it often makes extensive use of recycling organic materials, leaving soils biologically active and richer in trace minerals. Tribes living a traditional life typically eat a more varied diet and have stronger and more varied gut biology than people living in modern society. It is true that without a proper medical system they suffer far more from infectious diseases and accidents, but otherwise they often live longer and remain far more active into old age than those in modern society, and they are largely free of the modern epidemic of chronic disease that we are currently experiencing.
It is clear we cannot simply go back to traditional agriculture. However, we can use modern technology to develop a new agricultural system motivated by the health of people rather than the profits of mega corporations.
The Gbiota system can be described as modernised traditional agriculture. It is based on flooding and draining the root zone with a biologically active, mineral-rich compost tea. It can be highly productive and readily automated. When growing crops such as microgreens, there is simply no need for toxic chemicals to control weeds and pests, which is a major practical advantage.
Using the power of the internet, the system also supports a better food economy: consumers can buy directly from growers, reducing costs and complexity, while still allowing a fair return for growers. In this sense, the Gbiota approach forms part of an alternative food system.
Who Can Join the Gbiota Club
The Gbiota Club is a community project for people who believe in the importance of food for health, who believe that all people involved in the food system should receive a fair reward for their efforts, and who believe in the principles of regenerative agriculture — continuous improvement of soil and the capture of carbon in soil.
Membership is open to all who share the objectives of the club and agree to abide by the code of conduct.
Code of Practice
Information on how to build Gbiota beds is readily available for free to Gbiota Club members who are growing for their own personal use. However, the needs of the large population who would benefit from eating high-nutrient, biologically active food cannot be met solely by home gardeners. Some form of commercial system is needed, even if it is supplied in the early stages by innovative small growers.
People will only buy this type of high nutrient, biologically active food if they have confidence that it is grown to standards. In the information age there is also a real issue with technical corruption: people think they understand a technology, pass information to others, who pass it on again, and at each step the message degrades until the original benefits are largely lost. For that reason a code of conduct is important. This is not about restricting access to the technology — far from it — as many people as possible should have access to the benefits. The code exists to protect the integrity of what is being claimed and what is being delivered.
Key Points of the Code of Conduct
All Gbiota members should be free to promote:
- the basic principles of the Gbiota system: flood-and-drain using a biologically active, nutrient-rich compost tea
- the health benefits of a healthy gut biota, and the importance of phytonutrients and trace minerals
- technical information exchange with other members of the Gbiota Club
- produce grown using the Gbiota system, including the use of the trade name Gbiota™
Restrictions Within the Club
There are some restrictions within the club, designed to keep access open while maintaining trust and consistency:
- Gbiota Club members should not disclose or publish technical details of the Gbiota system to non-members. Anyone is free to use the Gbiota system by simply joining the Gbiota Club and accepting its code of conduct.
- All home growers are free to use the technology for their own use as they see fit. There is no fee to join the club, so this is free. However, any produce that is sold should use the pickandeat.shop website, because ongoing continuation of the club depends on it.
- To sell produce grown using the Gbiota technology, members should use the pickandeat.shop website and, if it is grown using the Gbiota system, use the trade name and mark Gbiota™. Members are still free to use the Pickandeat.shop website to sell other produce, but they should not claim it is grown using the Gbiota technology if it is not.
A Personal Note on Continuity
On a personal note: I have devoted much of my life to growing food that contributes to people’s health. As I approach 80, I am still numerate and recognise my time is limited, but I want the club to continue after I have gone to the great compost bin in the sky. The pickandeat.shop website is a way to help ensure the ongoing continuation of the club, which is one of my ambitions.
