Are Depleted Soils Causing a Reduction in the Mineral Content Of Food Crops?
With sufficient quantities of food in an affluent society and raised public awareness of environmental quality, there is growing concern about the quality of food and demand for more accountability of how food is grown. Several studies of historical food composition tables show an apparent decline in food nutrient content over the past 70 years. This decline has been attributed to soil degradation and the mining of soil fertility by industrial agriculture. In this presentation, USDA food composition tables are reexamined and factors of food nutrient content will be related to soil quality. Plant nutritional needs are determined and links to soil fertility management and land use patterns are discussed. For major cations of selected fresh produce crops, ternary diagrams show no real loss in the balance of mineral nutrition in food crops. Although it may be hypothesized that a decline in soil quality has led to an apparent decline in food nutrition, more controlled studies are needed to
