Start small if major changes are required. Plan to follow through for at least three years on a nutrient feeding program for each different soil, testing and fertilizing according to need. Evaluate the results each year, but give the program time to show the changes in the soil that matters most before making final judgment. When properly tested and fertilized according to need, the soil and its productivity should continue to improve for many years. Assuming your fertility program has provided the proper nutrients for the soil and the plants to be grown there, improvements in the biological qualities of the soil should also continue to improve and give top performance for years to come.
As a soil fertility specialist consulting with growers around the world in their quest to grow top quality food for people and feed for animals, we receive thousands of soils to be analyzed each year from growers so they can produce better crops with better quality. Though the largest percentage of the soils we have analyzed have been from the US, we continually receive soil samples for analysis and proper fertility recommendations from over 75 countries (in particular, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa). Of the thousands of soils we have tested, very few come anywhere close to the proper nutrient levels required for growing highly nutritious food.
Many soils are extremely deficient in several crucial elements necessary for healthy plants. But with the great advances in technology it is now possible to scientifically measure and correctly quantify which nutrients are needed and at what percentage. Yet testing is too often neglected because its value is not realized and the cost of testing is perceived as being too high. In many cases the problem is lack of correct knowledge on the subject due to the diversity of opinions as to what is required in terms of testing and fertilization. If the goal is to raise truly nutritious food, one should begin with the very best quality testing possible. Advice for correcting any deficiencies or excesses in fertility is only as good as the soil testing used to determine and provide those recommendations.
In 1936, U.S. Senate Document # 264 stated, “diet deficiencies…cannot be remedied until the depleted soils…are brought into proper balance.” We are now in the 21st century and the question of what constitutes the needed balance is still debated. So-called experts on the subject – if they even agree that such balance is achievable – disagree on what balance is and/or how to attain it in the soil. Once the established rules are understood, how is balance in soil fertility to be achieved through laboratory testing? Should the testing methods utilized be water soluble, plant-root soluble, chemically soluble, or some other method?
And as technology continues to grow, more and more scientists are coming up with new ways to measure nutrient levels, doing it more quickly and for less money. But again, the question should be asked, “Do lower costs in the laboratory translate into better quality in terms of the recommendation you pay for when top quality is the end?” Many of us as growers emphatically believe it does not!
So in considering the pitfalls of relying on others to produce our foods, the question could be asked, “How much is it worth to try to grow at least some of my own food?” Can I spare the time? Do I have the space? Do I have enough expertise? The real answer is that if you are determined to make this work, an amazing amount can be accomplished with very little time, space and/or expertise!