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Frances Moore Lappe:                      "If you eat, you're involved in agriculture."

Senator William Proxmire:                "At best, the RDAs are only a recommended allowance at
                                                              antediluvian levels designed to prevent some terrible disease.
                                                              At worst, they are based on conflicts of interest and self-
                                                              serving views of certain positions of the food industry. 
                                                              Almost never are they provided at levels for optimum health
                                                              and nutrition."

                                                                      The BIG Picture

Micronutrient and trace minerals are still one of the least appreciated materials in soil fertility management.  In the recent past, most attention has been paid to the so-called "primary" nutrients
(nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium), and only briefly to the "secondary" nutrients (calcium, sulfur, magnesium).  Excessive dependence on the "big three" for the sake of huge bushels and tons of          production volume on the one hand, and quick fixes in the urban landscaping markets on the other, has in many areas resulted in mineral and organic material depletion.

Why should anyone care about soil depletion?  Here's why.  Mineral and organic material deficiencies
cause low soil microbial populations and poor plant health, and hence, poor human health.  If the soil
that feeds the plant that grew the carrot is lacking in the proper proportions of minerals and organic materials, the carrot won't be able to reach its normally high levels of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and
so forth.  Anyone who buys this carrot will not be getting his money's worth.  It may look like a
healthy carrot, but such produce can be very depressed in terms of nutrition, and the flavor is often not
nearly what it should be.  Also, plants grown on such poor soils often require more pesticides to
protect them from insects and diseases that otherwise might never had occurred had a total fertility
program been in place.

(Please note:  Micronutrient Technologies is not opposed to the use of certain registered pesticides
where there exists an actual emergency to save the crop.  Our purpose is to provide products and
information to help gardeners and crop producers to grow nutrition-packed, insect & disease resistant
produce without heavy and consistent dependence upon toxic rescue chemistry.)

              Mining of the Soil by Plants, Animals and People

Mining is a process whereby various minerals are extracted from the earth.  Some minerals are
removed by the ton and some by the troy ounce.  Once they are pulled out of the earth, they are
shipped elsewhere and never returned to their origin.  That's natural.  No one would expect a mining
company to return the ore to the ground. 

Farming, gardening and ranching have some close similarities to mining.  For example, when a radish
is grown on a farm or garden, it absorbs some of the minerals and trace elements from that soil.  It will
remove nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, iron, manganese,
sodium, zinc and many others.  When it is removed from the soil at harvest, the minerals it had
absorbed during growth naturally go with it.  In normal farming and gardening practices, these
elements which are so important to animal and human life are seldom returned, as in the case of
mining.

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