Measuring food for nutrient density can tell us all we need to know about the quality of the soil it was grown in.

Join us on our journey of learning how to grow and measure nutrient dense food and help develop the right yardstick for assessing food quality. 

The evidence is building which relates food grown in harmony with nature to an increase of beneficial nutrients. The ability to measure this is powerful as it creates a useful feedback loop to inform growers how well they are doing which also relates directly to planetary and human health. This is crucial information to empower Food Citizens to understand and support those growers who are creating better food.

Field observations show that ‘excellent’ values of  nutrient dense food: 

• return excellent yields 
• prevent pests and diseases
• tastes better 
• has a longer shelf life 

Research is beginning to show that ‘excellent’ values of  nutrient dense food: 

• regenerates soil  
• increases biodiversity of beneficial soil microbes. 

This increases carbon and water cycling which directly addresses climate change.

Learn with us how to regenerate soils and grow nutrient dense food by becoming involved in one or both of our citizen science projects.

1) Brix testing measures carbohydrates in plant sap to assess how well the plant was able to photosynthesise, this is an indicator of nutrient density. Anybody can test using simple equipment. Record your data on our database and compare results with others. Make changes to your growing practices and check the results next season.

2) The Bionutrient Meter is a global, open-source project to develop an affordable handheld scanner that will test food in real-time for nutrient density. In collaboration with our partners, The Bionutrient Institute (USA), food samples and the soils they were grown will be sent to The James Hutton Institute in Scotland. Results will be shared on a global open-source platform and used to expose nutrient variation to calibrate the Bionutrient Meter.