Oftentimes it is advirsity that brings about growth. That is how we have come to use the methods of gardenings we use today.

In 2000 David developed a fairly agressive form of Rhumatoid Arthritis. Initially he followed traditional medical advice, using a combination of drugs to give him a degree of pain relief, but his condition continued to decline and the complications of the use of these powerful drugs raised other health issues. Never one to give up easily David continued to do research on his own. After years of working with farm animals he understood that food quality and supplements, in other words, good nutrition practices was how he maintained optimum health in his animals so it was only natural that he would research those avenues for his own developing health issues.

There are many avenues of studies being done all around the world but beginning with the Albright papers written in 1952 it is agreed that the mineral content of soils today has depleted. The 1992 Earth Summit agrees that a mineral depletion of 85% in the United States and Canada has occured in the last 100 years. A professor at the Center for Food Policy explained that our food has been so degraded that we woull have to eat 8 oranges to get the the same amount of Vitamin A as 1 orange our grandparents ate. Due to this mineral depletion of our soils, our foods no longer contain the level of nutrition to sustain healthy bodies.

The grains, the eggs, and even the milk and the meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010143albpap/pH.balanced%20nutrition/pH.bal.nut.htm

Is Chemical Farming Making Our Food Less Nutritious? An open letter by Cheryl Long (1999), the Senior Editor of Organic Gardening (Rodale Press), addressed to USDA Secretary Dan Glickman asked this very question. According to two studies mentioned in the letter, the vitamin and mineral content of American and British food appear to be declining. One study, titled “Nutrition Under Siege” (Jack, 1998), examined data published by the USDA ARS Nutrient Data Laboratory and concluded that a comparison of the data “show(s) a sharp decline in minerals, vitamins and other nutrients in many foods since the last comprehensive survey published over twenty years ago”, which was attributed to “a steady deterioration in soil, air, and water quality”. In a similar study (Mayer, 1997), Anne-Marie Mayer compared British data over a fifty year period and noted “significant reductions” in the levels of minerals in fruit and vegetables and questioned if modern agriculture could be responsible for the reduction. Long’s letter to the USDA expressed concern that these stated declines “may well be a result of the ‘mining’ of our nation’s soil fertility by intensive chemically based agriculture” See web site

Recent studies that compared the mineral content of soils today with soils 100 years
ago found that agricultural soils in the United States have been depleted of eight-five
percent of their minerals (Rio Earth Summit 1992.) This phenomenon was documented
worldwide. Researchers found that soils in Africa have seventy-four percent less miner-
als, soils in Asia have seventy-six percent less minerals, soils in Europe have seventy-two
percent less minerals, soils in South America have seventy-six percent less minerals and
in Canada soils have eight-five percent less minerals than 100 years ago. see web site

Studies have shown that nutrient dense food is generally superior to low nutrition
food in appearance, taste and texture. Nutrient dense food provides a higher level of
sweetness and natural flavors that makes it easily discernable, when tested, from food
with lower levels of nutrients. Nutrient dense food generally has a superior appear-
ance to lower nutrition food. Its texture and weight is superior, its shelf life and ability
to withstand shipping stress is superior, it is less susceptible to mold and fungus and
more resistant to insects.

http://www.mineralresourcesint.co.uk/pdf/mineral_deplet.pdf

http://www.zoeliving.com

http://www.nutritionsecurity.org/

http://www.nutritionsecurity.org/PDF/Brix.pdf

WORLD'S MOST IMPOVERISHED SOIL
1992 Earth Summit Statistics
Percentage of Mineral Depletion From Soil During The Past 100 Years, By Continent
U. S. and Canada 85% Reduction
South America 76% Reduction
All of Asia 76% Reduction
Europe 72% Reduction
Australia 55% Reduction