The way I read it was that there are some minerals that are no longer there to begin with because they're simply not in the soil. For nutrients (like vitamin C) created as part of the growing process, speed is the only factor that matters.

So yes, it does matter but unless you have a way of knowing which farm(s) the produce came from and what their soil mineral content is, that's not something you can factor into your purchasing decision.

That's exactly the problem, fertilisers don't necessarily fully replenish the soil in every single micro nutrient so if you cultivate corn on the same parcel for 60 years you might very well have completely depleted the soil of some of them

You can grow very nice fruits and veggies on NPK fertilisers alone without caring for any of the other nutrients, nobody buys tomatoes because they're nutritious, we buy them because they're big and red. And that's why most taste like water and have no nutritional values today

whoops you're right, I somehow skipped that part.

I guess it is kind of weird article with contradicting points of view and the author could have communicated that improving soil quality and pairing it with speed to consumption is the best combination.