Our nutrient density research revealed a vast amount of complexity in how plants respond to different environments
Most Acres U.S.A. readers are experienced farmers, gardeners, or other industry professionals who have been involved in growing plants for many years. But how many of us can honestly say we’ve taken a critical look at the nutritional value of the crops we’re growing or eating? That’s the uncomfortable reality I faced a few years ago after meeting Dan Kittredge from the Bionutrient Food Association.
After having been a professional farmer, college instructor and certified consultant for over 20 years — someone who was keenly interested in food quality — I realized that despite having done plenty of Brix testing over the years and having tested tens of thousands of soil, plant, fertilizer and irrigation water samples, I’d never really tested the crops themselves. It was one of those moments in life when you take a step back and realize that something you should have thought of years ago seems so obvious.
After a brief moment of humility, our team at Apical decided to put a plan together to test crop quality. We began digging into the concepts of food quality by analyzing the mineral and other metabolic contents of crops and comparing the results with those crops’ growing practices. This involved talking with nutritional labs around the country about analysis methods and current practices in lab sampling and processing, and wading through research journals to identify what work was being done on the topic. To our surprise, the answer was very little in terms of useful information for consumers — and even less for farmers eager to improve the nutritional value of their crops.
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