From memory, in the mid-80s Britain's Soil Association published
figures from the US showing a protein decline in wheat from 15% to 8%
(?) in the previous few decades. The SA would have seen that as a
matter of farming methods and soil practices as well as crop variety
changes.
I'm sorry, these references are in my library, but half my library is
5,000 miles south of here! (where it's in good use at least).
Sir Albert Howard's work might also be of interest. He's mostly known
as the man who developed Indore composting and founded the organics
movement, but most of his work in India was on improving varieties,
mainly of wheat. He and his wife formed a brilliant scientific team
during a long career in India. They achieved good results with the
wheat, but this was as a part of an overall strategy that also
included Indore composting and early work with mycorrhiza, and had a
strong focus on soil management, as well as on the real requirements
of Indian cultivators. A good reference is "Sir Albert Howard in
India", by L.E. Howard, Faber, London, 1953. It's more about his work
than a biography. It's online at Steve Solomon's Soil & Health
Library:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/index.html
In these three cases it might be possible to determine the influence
of crop variety:
On Oct 6 Steve Driver wrote (SANET):
>"The Healing Power of Minerals, Special Nutrients and Trace
>Elements" by Paul Bergner (1997, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA)
>includes USDA figures that show a decline in mineral and vitamin
>content of several fruits and vegetables between 1914, 1963, and
>1992. Table 1 is a summary of mineral decreases in fruits and
>vegetables over a 30-year period, adapted from Bergner's book.
On 16 Nov 1999 Chris Alenson posted a message "Food nutrition and
soil regeneration" (SANET) listing changes in nutritional content
with improved soil management in Australia.
Rodale's current "Letter to the USDA" campaign focuses on studies of
government reports in the US and UK which revealed significant
declines in mineral and vitamin content in a variety of raw fruits
and vegetables in recent decades.
http://www.organicgardening.com/articles/article2.html
I hope this helps.
Keith
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