[Homestead] Closed loops: homesteading, permaculture, biodynamics and more
Gene GeRue
genegerue at ruralize.com
Mon Mar 10 21:38:45 EDT 2008
On Mar 10, 2008, at 8:52 AM, Clansgian at wmconnect.com wrote:
> This post caught me in a (thankfully) rare flight of pessimism. I
> had just
> finished reading an article (http://www.theoildrum.com/node/
> 3702#more) that
> shows how the average yield of grains per hectare has gone from 1
> 1/4 tons
> (metric) when I was a child to more than 3 tons now of days and it
> has done this
> by genetic skulduggery and artificial nitrogen fertilizer.
The primary job of food is nutrition. You may recall that I have long
argued that modern production methods increase yield but decrease
nutrient quality and that organic--I just think natural--food
production produces a higher level of nutrients in fruits and
vegetables. I read the article you cite above. One of the reader
responses pointed the way to this:
_______________________
Scientist concerned at plummeting nutrient levels
By Lorraine Heller
15-Mar-2006 - Nutrient levels in fruits, vegetables and some food
crops have dramatically declined in the past 50 years, something that
could further push consumers to opting for more nutritious organic
goods.
The primary reason for the decline in nutrient content and quality of
several foods is the way the food is grown, processed and prepared,
according to Donald Davis, a biochemist at the University of Texas.
"High-yield crops grow bigger or faster, but are not necessarily able
to make or uptake sufficient nutrients to maintain their nutritional
value," said Davis at a recent meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in St Louis.
Full article at:
http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=66440-nutrient-content-minerals-antioxidant
____________________
Commercial fertilizers, think salts, make life very hard for soil
microorganisms, which do more than any scientist has ever found. The
most carefully designed commercial fertilizer does not supply all the
micronutrients and life forces that a healthy soil community pumps out
through its long-since perfectly evolved system of making nutrients
available to tiny plant root hairs. Additionally, if micronutrients,
all those minerals and more that are part of life, are not restored,
then any soil will gradually become depleted of same.
There ain't no free lunch.
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