Paul Otten is the Farm Manager at Natura Farms in Scandia, MN. The basis of Otten’s philosophy is healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people. He believes that a change in diet could solve America’s current health care crises. “Health care reform today really comes down to who gets the money,” he says. “The reform has to happen with us, with people’s food and lifestyle. If we ate real food and not junk, I bet in a year or two we could cut health care costs in half.” He supports this theory with statistics: In 1950, Americans spent 4.5 percent of their income on health care and 19 percent on food. Today, according to Otten, we spend 18 percent of our income on health care and only 8 percent on food. “And if you look at that, since the very definition of food has changed, probably only 3 percent of that is real food and the rest is the industrial look-a-like imitation.” The antidote, of course, is to eat a wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables — Natura’s specialty. “I just love the taste,” says Otten, “As a teenager in Brazil, I gathered brambles from the wild and planted them in our yard. It’s simply enjoyable. In the middle of winter, to brush up against the black currant cane — ah, to me, it smells good.”