MadSci Network: Agricultural Sciences |
Larry this is an outstanding question dealing with many philosophical and cultural interpretations that must be considered. I do not intend to give a complete answer but rather to shed some light on the 'problem' of vegetable nutrition. It is true that intensive farming removes nutrient elements faster than they are replenished naturally. To overcome this problem these nutrients must be added to the soil by the farmer to ensure the plant receives proper nutrition to make produce. Now here is where there is great disagreement, and you should be able to determine where I stand. On one side are the farmers who use inorganic fertilizers. These are man-made nutrients that are able to replace lost nutrients and you can purchase them anywhere. These do not, for the most part add any structure to the soil. Now the other side are the people who use organic fertilizers. These are produced from the breakdown of organic materials to make compost and such. When added to the soil nutrients are replaced, and structure is added. When compared to inorganic ferilizers large quantities must be added to achieve the same level of fertility. People will swear that vegetables grown with organic fertilizer taste better, are more nutritious, easier for the plant to assimilate, etc. But remember that for the plant to assimilate nutrients some basic chemistry must happen and whatever the elemental source, the chemistry is the same and the form of the nutrients that are assimilated are the same. There may be a couple of reasons why food products are losing their nutrtional values. First due to selective breeding, because we like our veggies to be perfect in appearance, color, and shape, some nutrient value has been lost in the process. Secondly, canning and processing certainly does remove nutrients from our food. In order to have the convenience of vegetables that last for years in our cupboards we have traded nutrition. I hope this has stimulated some thought on the subject. One thing to remember: If you grow vegetables in your garden, no matter what way you decide to fertilize, your harvest will contain more than enough nutrition for your family and yourself.
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