Crops are currently distinguished by type, but not by quality.
This central issue is one that the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) is working to address, as the assumptions that are made based on this point have several significant ramifications.
Numerous studies have been done with lab and farm animals feeding them rations that were apparently similar except for the underlying nutrient levels in the foodstuff to dramatic effect. Agronomists among whom Dr. William Albrecht is a leading light have grown corn, soy, wheat, oats and other crops out in soils of different mineral levels and then fed those foods to animals and documented growth, disease, vigor and functional intelligence over generations of these animals and seen disease and degeneration in those animals fed crops grown on mineralogically denuded soils, and vigor health and vitality in those animals grown in balanced soils.
The basic premise behind these animal experiments is the operating assumption of the BFA. The nutritive value of the crops we eat has a direct impact on our personal and generational health.
Currently, our food supply infrastructure does not discern relative nutritive value of the crops we eat, and we are provided food based on production type and volume specifications only.
The BFA is actively working to give consumers the ability to identify crop quality before purchase and thereby empower its members and allies and hopefully use that awareness and economic leverage to shift the crop production mechanisms across the food supply. Read more about those efforts with our Real Food Campaign.