FEATURES Part 1: Grassroots agricultural theory
Nutrient Dense Crop Production
As the name implies, nutrient dense crop (NDC) production is a system of principles and techniques for maximizing nutrition in crops by creating and maintaining health in the plants and in the soil. Although it seems like an extension of organic farming, Dan Kittredge, a second-generation farmer and leader of the Real Food Campaign, says the two methods can work in harmony, but there is no correlation. He describes organic as a process standard that is all about what farmers do not put into their fields or feed their animals. Practitioners of NDC production understand the ideal environment for their crop(s) and work to create that. According to Kittredge, the benefits of NDC production extend beyond simple nutritional value for consumers, it also makes business easier and more profitable for store owners and farmers.
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Today’s growers often find themselves moving from infestation to blight, and crisis management seems to be the order of business. In contrast, the standard in NDC production is holistic preventative medicine and proactive nutrition. When the soil is functioning well, plants remain healthy regardless of what threats are present.
While training programs and workshops are available throughout the U.S., there is no formal educational program. At this time, universities in the U.S. are not teaching about nutrient density, and few universities are even researching the theories behind the methods. However, decades of scientific research have proved that NDC is a highly effective method of production.
Scientific research
In the late 1800s, German chemist A.F.W. Brix created a method of measuring sugar content in grape juice. In the 1960s, Carey A. Reams, an American soil scientist who understood there was a correlation between brix and both taste and nutrient density, began using a refractometer to monitor crop quality. He had trained in mathematics, biophysics and biochemistry, and made many discoveries in the fields of human health, plant growth, energy, animal health and soil restoration. He later codified his findings into an overall view of life and energy known as Reams Biological Theory of Ionization (RBTI). This theory formed the basis for soil remineralization. The concept continues to expand.
In the 1970s, French researcher Francis Chaboussou developed the theory of trophobiosis, which asserts that a plant’s immune system is a function of the nutritional state of the plant. When protein synthesis occurs, the plant is strong and can resist diseases and pests; when proteins are broken down, the plant is at risk. Elements that particularly affect protein synthesis:
1. Soil deficiency in trace elements and nitrogen excess, due to an imbalanced fertilization.
2. Use of pesticides that can act either directly by a protein synthesis inhibition on the plant or indirectly through an alteration of soil balance.
Dr. Arden Andersen, a current leader in the field inspired by Chabousoou, says that as the brix of the sap increases, insects and diseases leave the crop alone. Scientists know brix correlates to nutrient density because increased photosynthetic activity is a result of comprehensive nutrition. Without nutrient density, photosynthesis will not work. Several experiments conducted by Chaboussou and other researchers further confirmed this concept.
In 2006, Dr. Joseph Heckman, professor of soil science in the department of plant biology and pathology at Rutgers University, met Dr. Andersen at a conference and was inspired to experiment with NDC. Working with no budget, he chose a basic and inexpensive procedure: using a refractometer to measure the brix on tomatoes and cabbages grown with and without various soil fertility inputs.
Heckman purchased a calcium product, believing the product would raise brix. “After testing it out and trying it, according to the protocol [the salesman] gave to me it made no difference,” he says. Following that trial, Heckman experimented with tomatoes and a salt-based input, to evaluate the effect of amending soil with natural sea salt on the flavor of tomatoes. Heckman describes the trial in an article titled “Soil, Salt and Tomato Taste.”
“SEA90, derived from a marine deposit, is a rich source of sodium, chloride and smaller concentrations of a wide spectrum of naturally occurring minerals. We applied the SEA90 (5.25 grams per square foot) under the plastic mulch to two varieties of tomato (Ramapo and Florida-47) grown at the Rutgers Snyder Research and Extension Farm. [We conducted] a similar study at the Rutgers Vegetable Research Farm in East Brunswick, but without plastic mulch and somewhat different cultural practices. When the tomato fruit were vine ripe, tomato flavor was evaluated by a taste test panel … They were asked to rate several fruit quality and taste parameters from the treated and control plants …”
Ultimately, the taste testers at one farm preferred the tomatoes treated with SEA-90, while the taste testers at the other farm preferred the untreated tomatoes. “The reason for the different results for the salt treatment is not clear, but the use of different cultural practices may have been a factor,” writes Dr. Heckman. “We did not observe any obvious negative effects of the salt treatment on tomato plant size or fruit production.”
Single-factor research is the paradigm of current scientific research, a process that Kittredge describes as limiting. “NDC practitioners consider the whole biological system,” he explains. “You can change individual factors, but only when each factor gets in line with the others do you begin to see the complete response.”
Although Heckman’s research did not prove the efficacy of NDC production, he is unwilling to dismiss the idea. “Some of it makes sense to me,” Heckman says. “I don’t have a lot of training in it, but I’ve talked to people that do it. What strikes me is they can’t tell me exactly how.”
Via the Real Food Campaign, Kittredge is working to help NDC practitioners communicate the “how-to” to newcomers. “A tomato plant looks like a tomato plant until you know what you’re looking at, and you can watch how it’s growing. Then there are tools you can use in the field that tell you a lot more about pH in the soil, and how much electricity’s being conducted in the soil and in the plant. This can help you make intelligent management decisions.”
Read about the methods and practical applications and standards of NDC production in next month’s issue of Farming.
The author is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts and a frequent contributor to Farmng. Comment or question? Visit www.farmingforumsite.com and join in the discussions.