Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

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.