Can healthier soil restore nutrients in our food?
By Hugh Thomas, The Guardian
An article in The Guardian reports that the nutrient content of many crops has declined over recent decades, potentially because modern varieties prioritize size and growth, rising carbon dioxide levels dilute nutrients, and intensive farming damages the soil organisms that help plants absorb minerals.
Researchers studying regenerative practices — including cover cropping, livestock grazing, reduced tillage and limited pesticide use — have found strikingly higher levels of iron, selenium and folate in some crops compared with conventionally grown samples. Other studies, however, have found only small or inconsistent nutritional differences.
Advocates argue that rebuilding soil biology could improve both food quality and biodiversity, while critics caution that regenerative agriculture lacks a certifiable definition, can be vulnerable to greenwashing and has not yet proved it can reliably feed a growing global population.
