[bukkdems]

"The lack of calcium and minerals in our diet is to blame, due to petroleum based fertilizers " Could you explain this, please. Soil gets depleted of minerals when it is farmed year after year. That is why crop rotation is a good idea. For the past half century, farmers have relied on N-P-K fertilizers to produce a good crop, but there is no replacement of minerals unless organic mulches are also applied. The "no-till" methods help address the problem, but it is impossible to mulch thousands of acres. The grains and vegetables produced this way do not contain high mineral content compared to crops grown in newly tilled soil, or soil enriched with compost and mulch. The organic additions to the soil get broken down by microorganisms and minerals become available to the plant.

[gatex]

"but there is no replacement of minerals unless organic mulches are also applied. "

I used to work for Tennessee Corp., which was a major supplier of micronutrients (they called them trace elements). The major ones were copper, zinc, manganese and iron. Other micronutrients usually accompanied the major ones.

Major quantities of fertilzer were applied as bulk blends of small pellets. Based on soil analysis, the farmer asked for a quantity of fertilizer of a specific N-P-K analysis, with specific micrnutient addition.

An the N-P-K pellets were blended in a mixer, micronutrient powders were added to coat the pellets.

The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) at their Fertilizer Research Facility in Alabama once researched adding Sulfur powder to fertilizer pellets. This was to replace sulfur usually washed from the air by rain, since acid rain concerns were causing chemical and power plants to reduce sulfur emmissions.

So, replacement of minerals has been a big business for a long time.