Will Heirloom Seeds Become A Thing Of The Past?

Knowltons Rangers...I was reading an article a few years back, and it stated that the nutrients in our top soil is so depleted because it has been over farmed and drained. It also said that the vitamins in one bowl of spinach in 1945 would take 20 bowls to gain the same amount now.

Since much of the funded study is designed to serve the industrial marketing goals of agribusiness, the "good news" data about yields is far easier to find than any cost we pay for lowering wholesomeness or affecting resources like soil and water.

There was a study done by the USDA that is probably the source of that extrapolated data about nutrient loss. It is common sense in some regard to think that the more we take from the soil, the more that soil yields the less each plant will be able to draw from it.

Average Yields of Major Crops in the United States, 1950-92

At the end of the Twentieth Century, food security is no longer an issue for an affluent society. The production of food is now in excess of the United States populations' needs and the diversity of food choices at the supermarket has greatly increased as well as the year round availability of once seasonal produce.

With the development of plant breeding, machinery, fertilizers and other farm chemicals, the United States has seen an increase in yield per acre (Table 1) that provides enough food to maintain food security. The past 30 years has seen a raised public awareness of the environment, with air and water quality being the main issues. But now, ironically, as soils are producing a surplus of food, conventional farming and soil quality have now come into contention.

There's a little more about the studies posted in a forum, but generally anything that challenges an industrial model is difficult to locate and narrowly circulated. Hope this helps to add to what your first hand experience has shown you and that together we can all inspire change!

Copied below is a letter to the editor submitted to the Delaware State News.

A July 2009 review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that 55 studies conducted since 1958 fail to show a significant difference in the amounts of 8 of 11 nutrients in organic versus conventional food.

The news media reversed the meaning of this finding to leap to the conclusion that industrially produced food is as nutritious as organic. Even putting aside the toxins that adulterate industrial food (pesticides, genetically modified organisms, growth hormones, antibiotics, and fertilizers made from chemicals or sewage, to name just a few), the conclusion that organic is not more nutritious belies common sense.

Nutrition comes from the soil. Industrial agriculture depletes soil. Organic agriculture makes the soil richer. Soil degraded through industrial farming produces less nutritious food. Soil enriched through organic farming produces more nutritious food.

In North America, industrial farming practices have depleted 85% of the mineral content of the farmland. Every 28 years, 1 inch of topsoil is lost to industrial farming. Of 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1950 to 1999, six showed noticeable declines.

In contrast, organic farming can produce 6 inches of topsoil in as little as 50 years. The Organic Center found that 97 studies conducted since 1980 show that organic food contains, on average, a 25 percent higher concentration of 11 nutrients than conventional food. (New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods, (http://www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/5367_Nutrient_Content_SSR_FINAL_V2.pdf)

As organic farming becomes more established, it will become increasingly clear that there is no more efficient and sustainable way to restore and improve the nutrition of farm products than to enrich the health of the soil through organic farming.

Kevin Richardson

Where are the human health studies Publius? Is it so hard to defend Monsanto with facts?

Publius, my appetite for you opinion is fully satisfied. Feel free to add any evidence that supports your position using any source you deem worthy to offer "scientific" data or information, or nothing.

Feel free to add any evidence that supports your position using any source you deem worthy to offer "scientific" data or information, or add nothing. If you have factual errors to document, cite them with contrary data. Very simple and quite fair, stick to facts or stick it.

Publius...Deletion number 6 - Yeee Hawwww...bring it! Scored a full 10 second ride on number 5, by gawd!!

By gawd indeed Publius. You wonder why you can't be invited to sit at the grown up table when you can't grasp the most basic instructions one would credit an eight year old with mastering.

It's hard to know what delight you find in playing the fool, but knock yourself out. It does nothing but make it increasingly clear to even the dullest observer, that you have no substance at all to add.

To repeat for the umpteenth time

Feel free to add any evidence that supports your position using any source you deem worthy to offer "scientific" data or information, or add nothing. If you have factual errors to document, cite them with contrary data.

Very simple and quite fair, stick to facts or stick it.