Industrial food production cares little about the soil that their food is grown in except as a conduit to supply the plants with all the chemicals that they spray on it. The pesticides, chemical fertilizers and lack of rotational planting has greatly depleted our soils of all things nutritional. A good farmer knows that in order to have healthy plants healthy soil is vital.
The produce we buy at the supermarket is nutritionally depleted for several reasons. The soil industrial produce is grown in is most likely depleted of nutrients and plants derive their nutrients from the food they eat just like we do. If a plant is eating a malnourished diet then we in turn are getting that same malnourished diet by eating that fruit or vegetable. Industrial produce tends to travel very long distances, an average of 1500 miles, and the longer produce is picked before it is consumed the more nutrients it loses. Produce is most nutritious just after it is picked and because produce travels from so far away farmers must pick it before it is completely ripe. Ripe fruits and veggies would never survive the jostling of their long journey and would spoil before it reaches the supermarket bins. Produce has the most nutrition at its peak of growing and is vitamin and mineral deficient otherwise.
It has been discussed among nutritionists and scientists that part of the obesity epidemic is caused by this lack of nutritious food. Our bodies will want to continue to eat more and more of the nutritionally depleted food because our bodies demand that we consume enough vitamins and minerals to be healthy. Our brains do not turn off the "hungry switch" until we have consumed the desired levels of nutrition that we need.
Most organic farmers spend many years building up their soils with compost and manure in order to bring the land and soil back up to its healthy levels. This is a big reason why everyone should eat organic - organic produce has been found to be at least three times more nutritious than the same industrially grown produce. Nutritious eating also backs the argument for buying locally. Local farmers can pick their produce the night before or the morning of a farmer's market, which means they can pick when fruit is ripest and most nutritious and consequently most flavorful as well. The ripe fruit will survive the journey to your kitchen because it is only traveling a few miles.
Something you can do on your own to increase the nutritiousness of your own food is through composting. Household compost is made up of organic material - egg shells, veggies, fruits, coffee grounds, etc - and is broken down by microbes and worms. Use this compost in your vegetable or herb garden or even your window boxes if that is all you have. For those of us without a yard composting is still possible and smarter people than myself have invented the electric kitchen composter that I'm currently saving up to purchase! I tried to compost in boxes on my balcony and transport them to my in-laws on the weekends to add to their compost but unfortunately unsavory bugs moved in as well as a putrid smell. We quickly ceased all composting at our house until a better system was brought in.
My next big purchase: http://www.naturemill.com/
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