For Chi/Today's fruits & vegies lack yesterday's nutrition

[Guest guest]

Chi-

I do not live remotely near any of the farmers who grow my organic veggies. Do

you think a good indicator of soil fertility is bright color and good, strong

aromas? I've noticed that many " perfect " looking conventionally grown fruits

and veggies lack any smell at all...the taste is even worse! I guess I'm

looking for something practical in order to determine nutritional value in

produce.

Hi Mike:

Nope. Nutrition is a product of soil fertility.

Chi

[Guest guest]

> I do not live remotely near any of the farmers who grow my

> organic veggies. Do you think a good indicator of soil

> fertility is bright color and good, strong aromas?

> I've noticed that many " perfect " looking conventionally

> grown fruits and veggies lack any smell at all...the taste

> is even worse! I guess I'm looking for something practical

> in order to determine nutritional value in produce.

Hi :

Yes, I think bright color and good, strong aromas are indicators of

better nutrition from better soil fertility. You can add taste to

that list too. To better determine the nutritional value of the food

you buy, one thing to ask your farmer is whether the varieties he

grows are open pollinated or hybrid. Good looking and good tasting

hybrids can be grown in poorer soil than open pollinated varieties.

If the farmer is growing hybrids, it may not indicate he is not

interested in nutrition, it may just indicate he doesn't know about

how hybrids were designed for yield at the expense of nutrition. When

he learns about hybrids, if he is concerned about nutrition, you

would expect him to stop growing hybrids as soon as possible.

Chi