Overview

Micronutrients are essential for the normal growth and health of plants, animals and humans. When soil or dietary supplies are inadequate, defects in development arise and this can lead to poor growth and premature death. The World Health Organization, (WHO) in its 2000 World Health Report, identified the lack of dietary iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) as serious global health risks. Micronutrient constraints in agriculture continue to be reported from around the world. 

Micronutrients are of growing importance in crop and tree nutrition because of: 
 

•  increased demand from higher yielding crops and intensive cropping;

•  continued expansion of cropping and industrial plantations onto marginal land with low inherent levels of micronutrients;

•  increased use of high-analysis fertilizers containing low levels of micronutrients;

•  decreased use of manures, composts and crop residues in some parts of the world;

•  mining for micronutrient reserves in soils and;

•  nutrient imbalances.

 Topsoil depletion occurs when the nutrient rich topsoil that takes hundreds to thousands of years to build up under natural conditions is eroded or depleted of its original organic material.  Historically, many past civilizations collapses can be attributed to the depletion of the topsoil. Since the beginning of agricultural production in the Great Plains of North America in the 1880s, about one half of its topsoil has disappeared.

One of the most widespread occurrences of soil depletion is in tropical zones where nutrient content of soils is extremely low. The combined effects of growing population densities, large-scale industrial logging, slash-and-burn agriculture and ranching, and other factors, have in some places depleted soils through rapid and almost total nutrient removal.

The 1992 Earth Summit Report indicates that the mineral content of the world's farm and range land soil has decreased dramatically. The chart below shows the Percentage of Mineral Depletion from Soil during the Past 100 Years, by Continent.

 
* Some US farms are 100% depleted while some are 60% depleted, the average is 85% depletion as compared to 100 years ago. This is worse than in any other country in the world because of the extended use of fertilizers and "maximum yield" intensive farming methods.

NPK Fertilizers Are Not The Solution! 

Dr. William A. Albrecht, Chairman of the Department of Soils at the University of Missouri, said:

"A declining soil fertility, due to a lack of organic material, major elements, and trace minerals, is responsible for poor crops and in turn for pathological conditions in animals fed deficient foods from such soils, and that mankind is no exception." 
 
Dr. Albrecht goes further to unequivocally lay the blame: 

"NPK formulas, as legislated and enforced by State Departments of Agriculture, mean malnutrition, attack by insects, bacteria and fungi, weed takeover, crop loss in dry weather, and general loss of mental acuity in the population, leading to degenerative metabolic disease and early death." 

We know plants can make vitamins, amino acids, and varying amounts of fatty acids if they are healthy from being grown in soils containing abundant minerals. If the soil lacks minerals, the plant is stunted because a plant cannot make minerals.

Why not just add more minerals? Because it's too expensive for corporations with vested interests in the current system to fix the problem until the demand for fully nutritious food is higher. The demand won't increase until more people know about the result of mineral deficiency. More people won't get informed until scientists and others manage to inform the public. 

This socio-economical perspective is confirmed by a US Department of Agriculture official that was quoted in Diet for a New America (John Robbins, Stillpoint Publishing, 1987), "...halting soil erosion and degradation would be prohibitively expensive". In other words, the situation is not going to be fixed any time soon. 

NPK Commercial fertilizers were introduced in 1908. Was the soil depletion problem solved? Not by a long shot! 

Study any commercial fertilizer by reviewing the ingredients listed on the package. You will see nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) and most times, nothing more. Why? 

It's a known fact that you can raise most crops and plants with what little nutrients are still in the soil, and NPK. Most farmers never put back more than 3 or 4 minerals. Let’s remember that farmers get paid to produce maximum yield per acre, not maximum nutrition, so why bother with producing healthy food? 

In addition to causing mineral depletion fertilizers also weaken the crop which in turns makes it more subject to insect and fungal attack. This in turn forces the farmers to use toxic chemicals to kill the insects and fungus. Dr Jerome Weisner, Science Councilor to John F. Kennedy stated way back in 1963, "The use of pesticides is more dangerous than atomic fallout."

His words are simply a deafening reverberation from those of Rachel Carson in her incisive work of 1962, Silent Spring, where she says, "We are rightly appalled by the genetic effects of radiation...How then, could we be indifferent to the same effect from farm chemicals used freely in the environment."  

Few people know that these clear thinkers were simply expounding on the writings of Amerige Mosca, Italian Scientist and winner of the Science Prize at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. He tried to stop the fire, which is now burning out of control, when he warned us, "The damage resulting from nuclear radiation is the same as the damage resulting from the use of toxic genetic chemicals. The use of fungicides of organic syntheses annually causes the same damage to present and future generations as atomic fallout from 14,500 atomic bombs of the Hiroshima type (approximately 29 X 14 megaton hydrogen bombs)."

Sadly, Mr. Mosca's full report was classified for 50 years by the Italian Government. On top of everything, the farmer is encouraged to spray there vegetables with wax in order to provide a nicer look and increase sales and profits. 

When consuming mass produced (non organic) food one is definitely at risk of eating more toxic chemicals, not to mention genetically engineered food that looks fresh for suspiciously long time, but has questionable effects on yourphysiology. 

So, is eating organic food the answer?  NO! 

In 2008, The Society of Chemical Industry's (SCI) Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture reported that there is no significant difference in nutrient value in organically grown food compared to non-organically grown food. Bothmethods produce remarkably low nutrient values deficient in critical minerals due to past over-harvesting practices. 

In 2001, The Journal of Complimentary Medicine pointed out that US and UK Government statistics show a decline in trace minerals of up to 76% in fruit and vegetables over the period 1940 to 1991. 

In 2003, News Canada reported that today's fruit and vegetables contain far fewer nutrients than they did 50 years ago. Potatoes, for example, had lost 100% of vitamin A content, 57% of vitamin C and iron, and 28% of calcium. The report examined data from the US Department of Agriculture involving vegetable quality. Over the entire 20th century the average mineral content in cabbage, lettuce, spinach and tomatoes, declined from 400mg to less than 50mg. 

In 2004, The Journal of the American College of Nutrition examined food composition changes from 1950 to 1999 recorded in the USDA food composition tables. Forty-three crops were examined showing statistically reliable declines for 6 nutrients. The declines were observed in protein, calcium, phosphorous, iron, riboflavin and ascorbic acid; 6% in the case of protein and 38% for riboflavin. 

In 2008, The UK publication Food Magazine analyzed food quality changes in the UK over the period 1940-2002. In milk iron content had fallen 62%; magnesium was down 21%; copper content had disappeared completely. Parmesancheese had a 70% decrease in magnesium. The calcium and iron content of all the foods examined was reduced dramatically. Beef rump steak iron content fell 55%. 

One thing is certain, mineral deficiency is a root cause of multiple medical conditions that are abated by mineral replenishment. It is likely that plant disease can also be reduced by mineral replenishment. Is there finally an affordable, effective answer? YES.

Solution 

ESI has the ability to tackle these issues head-on through the use of its unique resources and proprietary technologies. Together, the company is able to create a dynamic product that has the potential to change the horticulture and agricultural landscape. 

The product is called Ag-Gel™, and is created through the utilization of an extremely unique and rare source of naturally occurring nutrients. This natural source provides the base ingredients in which we use to create our product. Ag-Gel ™ contains copper sulfate (CuSO₄), iron sulfate (FeSO₄), zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) sulfur (S), calcium sulfate (CaSO₄), boron sulfate B2(SO₄)3, manganese sulfate (MnSO4), magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄), as well as other natural minerals and micro-organisms. The combination of these essential plant nutrients are the foundation of Essential Solutions products. 

The Company's proprietary processes, biological in nature and stoichiometric, combines the above micronutrient and macronutrient to create a unique environmentally friendly plant nutrient and soil conditioner. The use of the unique product produces rapid and healthy plant growth by making essential nutrients available for plant uptake.