seed can vary enormously depending on where the plants were grown.
William Albrecht, chairman of the Soil Department at the University
of Missouri during the 1930s, was, to the best of my knowledge, the
first mainstream scientist to thoroughly explore the differences in
the nutritional qualities of plants and to identify specific aspects
of soil fertility as the reason why one plant can be much more
nutritious than another and why animals can be so much healthier on
one farm compared to another. By implication, Albrecht also meant to
show the reason why one nation of people can be much less healthy
than another. Because his holistic outlook ran counter to powerful
vested interests of his era, Albrecht was professionally scorned and
ultimately left the university community, spending the rest of his
life educating the general public, especially farmers and health
care professionals.

Summarized in one paragraph, Albrecht showed that within a single
species or variety, plant protein levels vary 25 percent or more
depending on soil fertility, while a plant's content of vital
nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus can simultaneously
move up or down as much as 300 percent, usually corresponding to
similar changes in its protein level. Albrecht also discovered how
to manage soil in order to produce highly nutritious food. Chapter
Eight has a lot more praise for Dr. Albrecht. There I explore this
interesting aspect of gardening in more detail because how we make
and use organic matter has a great deal to do with the resulting
nutritional quality of the food we grow.

Imagine trying to make compost from deficient materials such as a
heap of pure, moist sawdust. What happens? Very little and very,
very slowly. Trees locate most of their nutrient accumulation in