That's Fit

I strongly considered signing up for a share or half a share of an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) last spring. I couldn't find a friend to split a share with me and wasn't up for driving to pick up my weekly box of fresh vegetables organically grown 30 minutes away on a CSA farm selling shares to the public. While I plant a small, organic vegetable garden which yields terrific tomatoes, broccoli, spring lettuce, cucumbers, pumpkins and herbs, it's not big enough to provide a wider variety of the veggies we also love -- carrots, beans, potatoes, peppers, and the like.

But after reading Julie's Health Blog this morning on the declining nutrient values in food, I picked up the phone and bought half of a CSA share from a farm much closer, only 15 minutes away. Julie reported on Brian Halweil's analysis of a British study that measured the nutrient value of foods between 1940 to 1991 -- Halweil is a senior researcher at The Worldwatch Institute. In the quest for a higher yielding food supply, nutrients in the U.S. and U.K. food supply are eroding. Here are a few facts Halweil cited from the British study:

• It took three apples in 1991 to equal the iron content of an apple from 1940.
• Potassium in spinach dropped 53 percent, phosphorus by 70 percent, iron by 60 percent and copper by 96 percent.
• Iron content in meat dropped an average of 53 percent. Less nutrient-dense feed grains/forages are part of the problem.
• The higher the yield of corn/wheat/soybeans, the lower the protein/oil, same goes for vitamin C, lycopene and betacarotene in tomatoes.
• Farming strategies to increase yields are good at fostering bigger, faster growing plants, but they do not absorb as many nutrients from the soil.

However Julie raises the big question -- aside from fewer pesticides and nitrates, does organic food have higher nutrient values? According to a scientific review by The Institute of Food Technologists, it's too soon to say.

Other than organic milk, our family does not purchase organic fruits and vegetables at the grocery store -- the main obstacle is price. But I'm excited about our half CSA share. The farm is just up the road and costs $200 for an every-other-week box of just-picked veggies June-November. No genetically modified veggies, no pesticides, no major fossil fuels burned to transport the food thousands of miles either. My CSA requests half-shareholders invest ten hours of work on the farm during the season, and I can bring the kids -- we love digging in the dirt! And as a novice vegetable gardener, I'm looking forward to hanging out with local organic gardening experts. If you'd like to check out a CSA near you, search here.