Modern production agriculture has been striving for
increased yield ever since I can remember. Farmers are trying anything that
will give them even a slight yield increase. We should take another look at
what makes a quality yield instead of a quantity yield.
Everything that can be done to increase early, vigorous root
growth increases the quality of the crop. This holds true for grains, fruits,
and vegetables. When the root system is dominant, there is more uniform
branching and increased flowering. Seed heads on grain are fuller with less
shriveled seeds. Fruit has more fruit spurs with better set and more uniform
development.
This happens because the roots are the brains of the plant
and the purpose of the plant is reproduction. With that in mind why would it
not want to put out as many high-quality offspring as possible? The conflict
comes in when we try to push for quantity. To do this we increase rates of
fertilizer, mostly nitrogen, over water, and basically take the brains of the
plant and give them a real hard shake. What we do in excess can totally mess up
the plant’s hormonal direction and increase the internal stress level. So the
crop we get may have increased in number or volume but internal quality and
storability is lacking.
