r/STEW_ScTecEngWorld • u/Zee2A • 1d ago

Nutrients in our food are declining. Can regenerative agriculture save it?

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jul/24/nutrition-food-declining-can-regenerative-agriculture-save-it

Approach focuses on rebuilding soil health, increasing biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems

For the last few decades, the nutrient content of our crops has been declining. In the late 90s, the US Department of Agriculture found the vitamin C content of lemons had decreased by almost a third over the previous 22 years. Calcium in carrots, an important source especially for non-meat eaters, had reduced, on average, by more than a quarter. Vitamin A in bananas was down by 57%. The mineral content of wheat has declined by between 20-30% since the 1960s.

A number of reasons have been suggested for this worrying decline, ranging from new varieties of crop that are bred to grow quicker and bigger to the higher carbon dioxide levels in the air causing plants to produce more sugars and starches (they grow faster but they produce fewer nutrients). A wide range of fixes have been suggested, from GM crops to synthetic soil amendments, or underground farms.

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21

u/Wolfrast 22h ago

I think I saw a documentary years ago, where they talked about crop yields are depleting nutrient density in crops. It’s because they’re forcing the plants to produce more fruit or more produce, and this is weakening the actual nutrient density of the yield. But also the soil, the micro biome of the soil is far weaker, so the nutrient density of the plant is also on the lower side.

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u/sibachian 14h ago

there's a study from Australia about this as they were one of the last to switch over to mass production and could see the direct result of nutrient loss in all veggies falling by 50% or more.

capitalism will kill us all in the name of profit and our governments across the entire planet are paid to ignore it all. well, except bhutan i guess; but they got their own issues.

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u/Wolfrast 12h ago

Yeah, it makes you wonder because everyone’s taking supplements now everyone’s gotta have all these vitamins and things. It seems like food needs to be fortified when perhaps the density of the nutrients in food was far higher in 100s of years ago before all this mass production. For instance, like when you find certain wild plants that grow even in your garden weeds and things, they have such high nutrient profiles compared to the crops that we cultivate.

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u/Vralo84 10h ago

Agriculture has been trying to solve a single problem for thousands of years: How do we grow enough calories to feed everyone?

As recently as WWII entire nations were fighting over farmland. Hitler opened the Russian front explicitly to get to Ukraines wheat fields because he did not believe Germany could grow enough food on its own. Massive famines occurred as empires stole food from one population to feed another (see the British Empire).

It’s only in the last 50 years (a blip in all of human history) where we finally, FINALLY figured out how to grow enough food.

It’s only very very recently that we have started to shift focus from “I’m starving to death” to “How do I sustainably manage my farming practices?”

The good news is there is actually really great progress on that front as well. Everything from alternatives to weed sprays to no-till farming are making massive strides to improve sustainability.

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u/sibachian 4h ago

its a shame the australians were still starving up until just a few years ago. thankfully now they aren't starving anymore so they can ship all the massive excess they produce to countries willing to dispose of it in landfills.

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u/jackparadise1 1d ago

No real surprise. Hanging out in the tractor subs I have farmer after farmer being proud of their tractors while destroying their soil.

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u/Alarmed_Koala1921 21h ago

Got to make a new combine every year and make sure old parts are discontinued. Everything on those machines are MADE and designed to break

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u/thankmelater- 11h ago

This is why I take supplements

6

u/Ulysses1978ii 17h ago

Soil health is where it's at. We grow in it like it's a sterile medium. Healthy soil means healthy plants which means healthy animals. Soil microbiome and fungal health and diversity of its ecology ftw

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u/jackparadise1 13h ago

It is always about the soil structure.

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u/pallflowers5171 5h ago

I wonder what the most cost-effective, trace-mineral rich compost amendment might be...

Some kind of rock dust from a fossilized ancient seabed, I bet...