Over the past seven decades, there’s been a significant drop in the nutritional value of our food, with calcium, iron, vitamin C, magnesium, trace minerals, and protein levels all decreasing. This is largely due to industrial agriculture practices like monocultures, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides. Soil degradation is a major issue, with over half of agricultural land degraded and nutrient stores depleted. Regenerative farming could be the solution, but industrial agriculture continues to harm the soil, threatening future food production. The health of the Earth and our health are closely linked, highlighting the need for regenerative farmers to reverse this trend. We can help by supporting local regenerative farmers, raising awareness about soil degradation, and advocating for sustainable farming practices.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Transcript
Did you know that the nutritional value of our food has declined significantly over the last 70 years? So what’s causing this and what nutrients are missing? Let’s dig deeper.
According to a study from 2004, calcium, iron, and vitamin C were found to be significantly lower in 1999 compared to levels recorded in 1950. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in our bodies, and the study found a decline of up to 25% in magnesium content in vegetables and wheat. Trace minerals like manganese, zinc, copper, and nickel have also seen a sharp decline over the last few years.
Strangely enough, toxic minerals like aluminum, lead, and cadmium have seen a big increase, and recent studies are further backing these findings. A 2020 issue of the Scientific Report revealed a 23% decrease in protein content in wheat from 1955 to 2016 in addition to drops of manganese, iron, zinc, and magnesium levels.
So why is our food not as nutritious as it once was? Well, it comes down to the way it’s grown. Industrial agriculture practices really incentivize quantity over quality or health. The use of practices like monocultures, which means the continuous growing of one variety of fruit or vegetable, really depletes and destroys the soil. Along with synthetic fertilizers, tilling, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides, as well as all the other industrialized farming methods, it’s creating a big problem for our health.
Over half of the land used for agriculture is considered to have some level of degradation now, so it’s getting really bad, and the proof is in the numbers. Nitrogen stores in the soil have decreased by 42%, phosphorus by 27%, and sulfur by 33%. These are key components to growing healthy crops.
Why is this such a big concern? Because soil is vital not just for our food, but for our very lives. We have nothing without healthy, fertile soil. In the name of trying to grow all this extra food through industrialized methods, we’re destroying our ability to grow food in the future, depleting nutrients, depleting our health, and repeating the history of the Dust Bowl era where millions of acres of land became infertile, causing massive issues for food production. This was all due to damaging agricultural practices.
So what can you do? Studies prove that regenerative farming increases nutrient levels in our food significantly, so look for local regenerative farmers. They’re all about taking care of the soil and increasing soil carbon matter, which really increases the ability of the soil to hold onto more water and increases the nutrients that end up benefiting us.
Food is the best way for us to make sure that we’re healthy and getting all the nutrients that we need. To make up for the nutrients that we’re not getting in our food, many people take supplements like magnesium to compensate for what the soil is currently lacking.
Ultimately, we just have to remember that our life is owed to the soil. Modern farming is destroying the source of life, and currently, industrial agriculture is destroying the soil at 100 to 1,000 times the rate at which it can be replenished. The United Nations is now estimating that we have about 60 years left of harvest in many farming regions. So it’s getting to a scary level, and that’s why it’s time to realize how deeply interconnected our earth and our health are.
More than ever, we need regenerative farmers who are working to reverse this issue.