A second thing that stimulated my reentry into active involvement with soils and agriculture was the claim of declining nutritional values in our foodstuffs.
I know that such claims can be readily dismissed as cheap scare-mongering. However, the facts seem to be there, staring us in the face if only we are prepared to look for them. There are apparently thousands of articles in medically related journals linking current disease incidence to nutritional causes. Dr. Arden Andersen, a medical doctor and agricultural consultant, cites figures from the FAO and British health organisations showing that average nutrient levels in many of our fruits and vegetables have declined by as much as 40% in the last 50 years.
Related to this is the invasion of "diseases of the elderly" on increasingly younger people. "The generation being born today," writes Dr. Andersen, "for the first time in American history, is predicted to have a shorter live expectancy than their parents." (http://www.biognz.com/articles/?a=5) He goes on to say, "The current generation's problem is not genetic. It is the lack of nutrition. Nutrition is the building block of every body, organ, tissue and cell. It is the foundation of the immune and repair system. It is the essence of our physical life."
If that's the case, and if the burgeoning occurrence of heart disease, stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's diabetes, obesity and cancer are all related to the delcining nutritional value of our foodstuffs, then it makes sense to be concerned about our soils, the primary source of these foods and cause of their nutritional defectiveness.
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