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Quotes about Crops from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

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"One reason is that farmers tend to select produce breeds that are faster growing, bigger, and more pest resistant—meaning crops have inadequate time to make or absorb nutrients during their shortened growing season. Likewise, the soil in which crops are grown is contaminated with far more mercury, PCBs, and other noxious industrial fallout than it was half a century ago. Acid rain has taken its toll as well: American soil has lost as much as 75 percent of its calcium during the past century, which also compromises a crop's nutrient intake and growth. Processed foods are just as troubling." - Donna Jackson Nakazawa, The Autoimmune Epidemic (Get the book.)

"The passage of time hasn't made the fact any less true; indeed, since then, the quality of crops has grown worse. According to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the period 1963 to 1992, the vitamin and mineral content of fruits and vegetables declined dramatically: for example, calcium declined by 30 percent, iron by 32 percent, and magnesium by 21 percent in selected crops. America is a fast-food nation. If we aren't picking it up at a drive-through window, we're nuking it in a microwave." - Steven V. Joyal, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease (Get the book.)

"On the last pages, I read something I'd highlighted earlier: The commercial revolution is coming to Nicoya, and the growing availability and prestige of commercial products are creating a new demand for money which can be obtained only by producing crops or manufactured goods for sale. The small subsistence farmer, fully occupied with the task of securing a bare livelihood, possesses neither the land necessary for growing commercial crops, the time to tend them, nor the capital to finance the technological improvements essential for successful commercial production . . ." - Dan Buettner, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest (Get the book.)

"This is an important issue for soy foods in particular, as genetically modified soy crops have increasingly dominated in the agriculture business. Fortunately, there are farmers and manufacturers who are committed to raising and producing organic soy products. The optimal use of soy would be to start early in life and eat a diverse array of soy foods with a total dietary intake of 50 to 150 mg of soy isoflavones per day. If you don't like soy foods, take a high-quality soy protein powder or capsule. Flaxseed. Another significant dietary source of phytoestrogens to consider is flaxseed." - Tori Hudson, N.D., Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness (Get the book.)

"At the Greek harvest ceremony called Thargelia, men and women used to beat their genitalia with wild fig branches thinking that would help fertilize fig trees. When crops were meager, humans wearing garlands of figs would be burned alive on fig-wood pyres to ensure abundant harvests. If only they knew they needed wasps. Unbeknownst to most of us today, some of the figs that we eat, such as the Calimyrna or the Smyrna, may contain wasp remains, although these insect husks are usually broken down by an enzyme called ficin." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.) "Perhaps 70,000 to 80,000 of these species are edible; most of our food comes from only twenty crops. Pomology is about the fruits we eat; carpology studies the fruits that all flowering plants bear, whether eaten or not. Botanical fruits are stored in a place called a "carpotheque" (which sounds like the place taxonomists go to let loose). A number of foods that we call spices actually consist of, or derive from, dried fruits: pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, paprika, anise, caraway, allspice, cumin, fenugreek, cayenne, currants and juniper. Mace is the lacy arillus of the nutmeg fruit." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"Catechin The Asian native Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed) has displaced native weeds and crops throughout the western United States. Contributing to the invasiveness of this exotic is the secretion of the phytotoxic /ran.v-flavan-i-ol (-)-catechin from its roots (Bais et al., 2002) (Figure 1.1). Both enantiomers of catechin are present in root exudates of C. maculosa; however, only (-)-catechin had allelopathic (phytotoxic) activity." - Erich Grotewold, The Science of Flavonoids (Get the book.) "Along with PA, they contribute to the seed quality of many important crops. To date, more than 20 loci involved in PA metabolism have been identified and according to the abnormal pigmentation of mature mutant seeds named TRANSPARENT TESTA1 (TT1) to TT19, TTG1, TTG2, and BANYULS (BAN). Sixteen mutants already have led to the cloning of the respective genes, among which 12 could be placed to the flavonoid pathway (Debeaujon et al., 2003; Dixon et al., 2005). In addition, six complementation groups defective in tannins biosynthesis (tdsl-6) have been described (Abrahams et al., 2002)." - Erich Grotewold, The Science of Flavonoids (Get the book.)

"Although in cold regions with short growing seasons yields could increase, they will decrease in tropical and subtropical areas where crops are already growing near the limit of their heat tolerance. The negative effects outweigh the few positive consequences. Climate experts estimate that as the Gulf Stream deflects, the North Atlantic/Northern Europe region will become generally cooler, with storms and rain concentrated over Siberia. Most of the Southern Hemisphere will become warmer and dryer; even the monsoon may discharge its torrential rains over the sea rather than over land." - Ervin Laszlo, Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and Our World (Get the book.)

"The next step may be a rediscovery of lost tropical crops, many of which could reduce global hunger. In his bookBiophilia, Wilson suggests three "star species," all fruits, that represent this hope: the winged bean, the wax gourd and the Babussa palm. We have much to look forward to. For now, the fruits most likely to be found in fruit bowls the world over, based on the United Nations' statistics, are bananas (and plantains), apples, citrus fruits, grapes, mangoes, melons, coconuts and pears. Peaches, plums, dates and pineapples occupy a smaller dish off to the side." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"Just as the diversity of nature is threatened by cultivating only one or a few varieties of crops and husbanding only a handful of species of animals, so the diversity of today's world is endangered by the domination of one, or at the most a few, varieties of cultures and civilizations. 8. The world of the twenty-first century will be viable only if it maintains essential elements of the diversity that has always hallmarked cultures, creeds, and economic, social, and political orders as well as ways of life." - Ervin Laszlo, Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and Our World (Get the book.)

"In addition to these higher levels of minerals, organically grown crops have also been found to contain more phyto-chemicals—the various secondary compounds (including ca-rotenoids and polyphenols) that plants produce in order to defend themselves from pests and diseases, many of which turn out to have important antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and other beneficial effects in humans." - Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Get the book.)

"Residue levels tend to decline during transport, storage, mixing with untreated crops, processing, and cooking. The EPA also restricts the times pesticides may be applied during the growing season, along with the amounts and the crops on which they may be used. These measures are designed to control the residues. The EPA may revoke a pesticide's tolerance and cancel its registration for particular crops or all crops if new scientific data reveal health hazards. The EPA has reduced pesticide risks through negotiated agreements with suppliers." - Ruth Winter, Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives: A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients Vitamin E (Get the book.)

"And on what land is left for agricultural production, farmers are switching to more expensive crops like apples, which are exported and generate higher profits than cheap crops like wheat, which are sold internally. In the 1980s, the United States was the world's largest producer of apples. China now grows four times as many as the United States, while its grain production is down 10 percent over the past decade. That is why the world's low-cost producers tend to be in areas where labor costs are low, but also where land and water are abundant, like Latin America." - William Bonner, Lila Rajiva, Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics (Agora Series) (Get the book.)

"The EPA also restricts the times pesticides may be applied during the growing season, along with the amounts and the crops on which they may be used. These measures are designed to control the residues. The EPA may revoke a pesticide's tolerance and cancel its registration for particular crops or all crops if new scientific data reveal health hazards. The EPA has reduced pesticide risks through negotiated agreements with suppliers. In 1996 suppliers agreed to eliminate the use of the mite killer, propargite on ten fruit and vegetable crops." - Ruth Winter, Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives: A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients Vitamin E (Get the book.)

"Agriculture is restored to a place of primary importance in the world economy, both for producing staple foods and for growing energy crops and raw materials for communities and industry. • Business leaders the world over join forces in creating a voluntarily self-regulating eco-social market economy that ensures fair access to natural resources as well as industrial goods and economic activity to all countries and populations." - Ervin Laszlo, Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and Our World (Get the book.)

"Agriculture brought us other liberties, enabling us to raise our own animals, grow our own crops, and store our harvests for later use. As we settled in communities, individuals took on differing responsibilities. Some caught the food; others prepared it. Some made the clothes; some collected water; others built new shelters. This increasing specialization brought greater efficiency, and with it yet greater emancipation from the constraints of the physical world." - Peter Russell, Waking Up In Time: Finding Inner Peace In Times of Accelerating Change (Get the book.)

"A terrible fungus destroyed the potato crops in Ireland in 1856, devastating the economy in what has now become known as "The Great Irish Potato Famine." Where Are Potatoes Grown? Potatoes are mainly grown in Poland, India, the Russian Federation, China, and the United States. Why Should I Eat Potatoes? A medium-sized potato contains nearly half of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C, and with the skin on, potatoes supply twenty-one percent of the daily value of potassium. By comparison, the potato has as much vitamin C as a medium tomato and twice as much potassium as a banana." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.) "Sesame seeds were one of the earliest condiments and processed crops for oil. In the seventeenth century, they made their way from Africa to the United States. Where Are Sesame Seeds Grown? The largest commercial producers of sesame seeds are China, India, and Mexico. Why Should I Eat Sesame Seeds? Sesame seeds are a rich source of lignans that may fight many hormon-ally driven cancers, particularly breast and prostate. Sesame seed and wheat germ are ranked highest in phytosterols." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.) "Millet is a small yellow grain with a mild, sweet flavor and actually describes a group of grasses that are thought to be some of the oldest cultivated crops in the world. The five most popular millet varieties are proso, foxtail, barnyard, browntop, and pearl. Most people are familiar with millet because of its prominence in birdseed. A Serving of Food Lore... Millet is native to Africa and Asia and there is evidence of its being grown since the fifth century b.c. Millet slowly spread westward toward Europe, leading to proso's introduction into the United States in the eighteenth century." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.)

"Indeed, this fear of the "evil eye" and its ability to harm children, adults, livestock, and even crops is one of the most ancient and universal superstitions. References to the evil eye can be seen scattered throughout the Talmud, the Bible, and the Koran. Belief in the evil eye, called mal occhio by the Italians, mal de ojo by the Spanish, and ayin ha'ra in Hebrew, persists today in many Mediterranean, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries. But ancient Egyptians and other cultures also believed in the positive, protective, and healing power of the eyes." - Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan, Body Signs: From Warning Signs to False Alarms...How to Be Your Own Diagnostic Detective (Get the book.)

"Plant an interim, nonfood crop like annual rye grass, clover, or alfalfa. Such crops, with their dense, fibrous root systems, will take up some of the lingering pesticide residues. Then discard the crops—don't work them back into the soil—and continue to alternate food crops with cover crops in the off season. During sunny periods, turn over the soil as often as every 2 to 3 days for a week or two. The sunlight will break down, or photodegrade, some of the pesticide residues." - Linda Mason Hunter, The Healthy Home: An Attic-to-Basement Guide to Toxin-Free Living (Get the book.)

"As the city's orchards are being turned into subdivisions, big-box stores or land for other crops, local agriculture commissions are starting to promote the fact that they now yield more potatoes per acre than Idaho. (Even though Idaho still produces the most potatoes.) The Wenatchee World newspaper's slogan is equally convoluted: "Published in the Apple Capital of the World and the Buckle of the Powerbelt of the Great Northwest." North of C&O's office, orchards hug the Columbia River all the way to the Canadian border. Fewer and fewer belong to small growers." - Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession (Get the book.)

"Among them are: Pesticides Nearly all meat has been contaminated with toxic chemicals that are applied to livestock and ingested from animal feed. crops grown to be fed to life stock have no limit to the quantity of pesticides that may be applied to the crops. These chemicals accumulate in cattle so the quantity of pesticide from eating meat is greater than from eating plant foods. Dioxin Dioxin is a term applied to hundreds of chemicals that all have the quality of persisting in the environment. These substances are considered to be among the most toxic of all known poisons." - James A. Howenstine, A Physician's Guide to Natural Health Products That Work (Get the book.)

"Crops grown in warm areas do not need protection against cold and, therefore, have little unsaturated fatty acids. Temperate crops, such as wheat, oats, and flax, require more; unsaturated fatty acids have lower melting points. Flax and its oil, linseed oil, were used as staples many years ago. They have been replaced by corn, coconut, canola, and other warmer-crop oils. As a result, we now consume only 20% of the EFAs that we did before 1950. High-Additive Diet We are just becoming aware of the impact food additives and trace elements have on health." - Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH, Naturopathic Nutrition: A Guide to Nutrient-rich Food & Nutritional Supplements for Optimum Health (Get the book.)

"Many of the human settlements of the time would have been in low-lying areas —because it is warmer lower down, it is easier to grow crops in river valleys than on the sides of mountains, and early trade would have led to settlement around river mouths and along coastlines. When the ice age ended, these early settlements would have been buried beneath rising sea levels, and their occupants forced to move to much higher ground. Could this be the source of the myth of the Great Flood, which is found in so many cultures? Could this be what happened to the fabled Atlantis and Lemuria?" - Peter Russell, Waking Up In Time: Finding Inner Peace In Times of Accelerating Change (Get the book.) "This is how we get the energy we require to walk, talk, and plant the crops that catch the sunlight. By burning wood, we created another means of liberating the energy stored up by plants. We could warm ourselves when the sun was down; we could survive cooler winters; we could move into new territories. Cooking food expanded our diets. Smelting metals allowed us to make more sturdy tools. Several thousand years later came the wheel, creating both a revolution in transport and a wealth of new technology." - Peter Russell, Waking Up In Time: Finding Inner Peace In Times of Accelerating Change (Get the book.)

"Early on, it became apparent that a program was needed to verify that only approved natural processes were used to grow crops and to make sure these processes were monitored. To that end, organic programs such as the USDA's were created. Their function is to decide if the organic processors and growers have held true to the intent of organic philosophy as well as to organic regulations. The system is a fairly good one when it comes to food." - Samuel S. Epstein, Randall Fitzgerald, Toxic Beauty: How Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Endanger Your Health . . . And What You Can Do about It (Get the book.)

"Today these four crops account for two thirds of the calories we eat. When you consider diat humankind has historically consumed some eighty thousand edible species, and that three thousand of these have been in widespread use, this represents a radical simplification of the human diet. Why should this concern us? Because humans are omnivores, requiring somewhere between fifty and a hundred different chemical compounds and elements in order to be healthy. It's hard to believe we're getting everything we need from a diet consisting largely of processed corn, soybeans, rice, and wheat." - Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Get the book.)

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