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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...nough-nutrients-says-leading-farmer-5fctpswm9
Eat twice as much to get enough nutrients, says leading farmer
Jerome Starkey, Countryside Correspondent
June 12 2017, 12:01am, The Times
Fruit and vegetables have fewer nutrients because of poor soil so people need to eat more, farmers claim JULIEN BEHAL/PA
A farming leader has been criticised for urging people to eat twice as much food to get the nutrients they need.
Guy Smith, vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union, was responding to claims that modern intensive farming had “killed the soil”, which meant that fruit and vegetables had fewer nutrients.
“There’s a simple solution,” he said. “If apples have only half the nutrient density they used to have, eat two.”
Campaigners said that his comments were irresponsible when Britain was facing an obesity crisis and failed to acknowledge the damage that farming had done. “Eating twice as much means doubling a terrible obesity crisis,”
Peter Melchett, head of policy at the Soil Association, which promotes organic farming, said. He added that it would expose people to twice as many chemical residues from pesticides. “Farming has suffered from a mindset which aims to maximise production at any cost. That’s been a cost to wildlife, animal welfare and the quality of our food.”
Vicki Hird from the campaign group Sustain, which works to improve food and farming, said that the solution was better food, not more volume.
“We should be rebuilding the soil fertility through good farming techniques,” she added. Mr Smith, who was addressing the Nuffield conference in Nottingham, said he was not convinced that there had been a “reduction in nutrition density”.
“My advice to anyone who thinks they might not be getting their nutritional needs from a single apple is to eat two. It will be good for them and good for the apple grower,” he said. “With regards to obesity I always think it would be more in the farmers’ interest to say people should exercise more.”
Michael Winter, a professor of land, economy and society at the University of Exeter, told the conference that farmers “absolutely have to tackle the obesity challenge”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...nough-nutrients-says-leading-farmer-5fctpswm9
Eat twice as much to get enough nutrients, says leading farmer
Jerome Starkey, Countryside Correspondent
June 12 2017, 12:01am, The Times
Fruit and vegetables have fewer nutrients because of poor soil so people need to eat more, farmers claim JULIEN BEHAL/PA
A farming leader has been criticised for urging people to eat twice as much food to get the nutrients they need.
Guy Smith, vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union, was responding to claims that modern intensive farming had “killed the soil”, which meant that fruit and vegetables had fewer nutrients.
“There’s a simple solution,” he said. “If apples have only half the nutrient density they used to have, eat two.”
Campaigners said that his comments were irresponsible when Britain was facing an obesity crisis and failed to acknowledge the damage that farming had done. “Eating twice as much means doubling a terrible obesity crisis,”
Peter Melchett, head of policy at the Soil Association, which promotes organic farming, said. He added that it would expose people to twice as many chemical residues from pesticides. “Farming has suffered from a mindset which aims to maximise production at any cost. That’s been a cost to wildlife, animal welfare and the quality of our food.”
Vicki Hird from the campaign group Sustain, which works to improve food and farming, said that the solution was better food, not more volume.
“We should be rebuilding the soil fertility through good farming techniques,” she added. Mr Smith, who was addressing the Nuffield conference in Nottingham, said he was not convinced that there had been a “reduction in nutrition density”.
“My advice to anyone who thinks they might not be getting their nutritional needs from a single apple is to eat two. It will be good for them and good for the apple grower,” he said. “With regards to obesity I always think it would be more in the farmers’ interest to say people should exercise more.”
Michael Winter, a professor of land, economy and society at the University of Exeter, told the conference that farmers “absolutely have to tackle the obesity challenge”.
