Food is not what it used to be. The limitations of language prevent us from collectively recognizing it as anything else, but a processed TV dinner does not and cannot replace living whole foods. Think about it, all food was completely intact and untouched by industrialization as little as 100 years ago. Instead of being used as a tool to work within nature, modern “science” has been used as a means to outmaneuver her, and what an astonishing job we have done.

We may think we are being healthy when we eat our broccoli, but the calcium content of broccoli has dropped from 12.9 milligrams dry weight in 1950 to only 4.4 milligrams in 2003.

For instance, a study of 45 corn varieties developed from 1920 to 2001 found that concentrations of proteins, oil and three important amino acids have all declined in the newer varieties. Similarly, six minerals have declined by 22-39 per cent in 14 widely grown wheat varieties developed over the past 100 years. We may think we are being healthy when we eat our broccoli, but USDA nutrient data shows that the calcium content of broccoli has dropped from 12.9 milligrams dry weight in 1950 to only 4.4 milligrams in 2003. (Full Study: “Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition,” HortScience, 2009; 44:15)

The two forces at work on crops are what are called the “environmental dilution effect” and the “genetic dilution effect.” Researchers have known since the 1940s that an emphasis on empty fertilizers results in cheaper food that is devoid of minerals, but our economic system is driven by volume and shelf life, not nutritional value. We cannot see nutrient density in food, so a bushel of corn fortified with more minerals than the next bushel sells for the same or less as the empty corn right next to it and further down the spiral we go. The economic incentive associated with the volume of food produced trumps the reason we are actually growing the food in the first place.

The genetic dilution effect is a result of the environmental dilution effect. Farmers and plant breeders caught up in a system that pays them for the amount of physical food they produce develop high-yielding varieties without a primary focus on nutrient density. In most modern fruits and vegetables around 80-90 per cent of the dry weight are carbohydrates, much higher than it should be relative to the amount of protein. Dr. William Albrecht provides evidence for the importance of this in his book Soil Fertility & Animal Health.

The human coercion of food has occurred on so many different levels that it leaves no smoking gun. However, there are examples that serve to illustrate our misguided ways. One reason our food is empty is an overemphasis of elements such as nitrogen (N) or potassium (K), which both give a strong growth and yield response, at the expense of elements such as calcium (Ca) or phosphorous (P). In order to grow strong bones and teeth we need high levels of Ca and P, not high levels of N and K. In his landmark book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Weston Price proved that traditional diets had five times the Ca and P as a modern diet of industrially-grown processed foods, resulting in significant reductions in dental decay and developmental abnormalities.

Consider this: a plant has a limited reservoir of potential to take up nutrition. In the same way that the negatively charged soil has a finite ability to hold onto cations (or + charged elements, see ‘cation exchange capacity’) a plant is also restricted in its ability to take up only a certain volume of positively charged elements. You can’t fit five gallons of water in a one gallon bucket can you? Ca is taken up far slower than K by plants. In an experiment with alfalfa it was found that the Ca:K ratio of 32:1 in the soil resulted in only a 3:1 ratio in the plant and it turns out that plants can take up more K than they need for optimum yields and nutrient density. When this happens it doesn’t leave room for the other cations (Ca+, Mg+, Na+, Cu+, Zn+, Fe+, trace+, etc.). Similarly, the major anions (- charged elements) appear to have the same sum-total limits on anion saturation, so P uptake is equally manipulated by the overuse of nitrate (NO3-) based fertilizers common in gardening and farming. The result is empty food.

We’ve established that it is necessary to provide plants a broader range of mineral elements in order for them to attain a higher nutrient density and be the vitamin they are designed to be, but it turns out the picture is much larger. Complete nutrition is not only important in regards to the plant itself, it involves an ecosystem. In fact, by focusing on the plant at the expense of the ecosystem, we sell short all of the varying means of symbiotic assistance plants have available to them, namely the help of micro-organisms.

Micro-organisms are vital to our existence, not only in building soil and helping to produce our food, but in helping us digest our food and protecting us from disease from enemy microbes, same as they do for plants. A teaspoon of good compost will easily have over a billion organisms and, similarly, a human not taking antibiotics has more foreign cells from micro-organisms in and on our bodies than we do human cells. It has been determined that plants actually use upwards of 40 elements, much more than the 16 or so we have defined “essential,” but the idea of “essential nutrients” does not apply at all to microbes; they utilize literally all of them.

For instance, it has been established that over half of the energy a plant creates for itself is exuded though its roots to attract specific microbes via what are called exudates. This means that when there are specific mineral deficiencies or pathogenic organisms present in and around plants they have the ability to attract the specific microbes necessary to aid them in the deficiency or disease. All of this intelligence is lost when we are not considering microbiology in regards to plant growth. Even if we are actively encouraging the biology in our plant growing situations, we are limiting the potential of this biological response by not allowing the microbes all of the physical elements to work with. A plant may only use 40 elements, but the microbes that protect and help it eat use every single element to manifest the amino acids, hormones, enzymes and various metabolic compounds that allow it to perform its duty.

“Traditional diets had five times the calcium and phosphorous as a modern diet of industrially-grown processed foods.”

This concept can be proven by doing a simple experiment brewing compost tea. Conduct a side-by-side experiment using a biologically balanced compost with a food source such as fish emulsion, kelp or molasses. Expose these ingredients to oxygen by using an air stone in each bucket using similar amounts of water. After setting up the experiment and ensuring that the exact same ingredients are used in both variables, include one tablespoon per five gallons of water of a biodynamically enhanced micronutrient in one container and not in the other. After only a couple of hours you will be able to see the enhanced biomass in the micronutrient-treated solution with the naked eye. The organisms can simply do more of what they want to do given all of the means to do it. Consider that micro-organisms use each element as a primer to carry out the communication delivered from its genetic code and to build the compounds necessary for them to do their work (and to benefit your plants). In all reality, no organism can carry out their true genetic expression without all the tools necessary to carry out the communication. What if you hired someone to build your house and only gave them half the tools? If they could build the house at all, it will take them a heck of a long time!

Big picture, any living organism, including humans, cannot operate at maximum efficiency without access to all of the physical elements. Cells are the bottom line in life. When we operate on the level of mere “essential nutrients” we are feeding them fast food. This doesn’t kill them, as it doesn’t kill us, but we are selling ourselves short. Trace elements govern the potential of health for living organisms and all of them are needed for health. In short, gardening without all possible elements at our disposal is degeneration and the result of pest infestations, weeds in our landscapes and disease.

Everyone knows that health is derived from what you eat, not how much of it. The hydroponics community is awash in stimulants and amendments designed to make plants grow bigger/stronger/faster, but it’s time we take a look at plant growth from a plants perspective. An obese plant may give us a higher yield, but in the end is it working in our favor?

Thanks To Maximum Yield for the great read – Original Page here – by Evan Folds