On the dependence of the nutritional value of agri-food products on soil health
The multifaceted nature of producing ever-increasing volumes of agri-food products and their nutritional value is outlined. The reasons for the decline in nutritional value have been categorised, including advances in plant breeding that focus on size and plant hardiness rather than vitamin and micronutrient content, the spread of industrial crop cultivation technologies that have led to reduced nutrient levels in fruit, and soil degradation and depletion due to intensive and monocultural land use, droughts and man-made pollution. The article analyses all this in light of the fact that according to the EU’s 2020 ‘Farm to Fork’ Strategy within the European Green Deal framework, soil nutrient losses must be reduced by 50%. This paper summarises the principles and mechanisms of new EU legal acts on soil, such as the 2021 Strategy and the 2025 Directive, as guidelines for improving domestic land legislation. The concept of soil health, which has gained prominence in EU legislation, and its association with human health, based on the principle of ‘healthy soil → healthy food → healthy people’, are explored. Some issues of military soil degradation in the context of armed aggression against Ukraine are examined. Proposals have been put forward to improve land legislation in accordance with the new EU legal acts, including standardising the principles and measures for achieving healthy soil conditions, introducing an appropriate soil monitoring system harmonised with the EU system, and standardising best practices in land use for dissemination during the post-war restoration of the agricultural sector.
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