BD-Now - The thread on Re: Albrecht System for soil testing and fertilisation caught my eye.
First, I draw your attention to the online materials from Mark Shonbeck, the soil scientist and farmer associated with Virginia Association of Biological Farmers, VABF. Soil Cation Nutrient Balancing in Sustainable Agriculture: Missing Link, or Red Herring? By Mark Schonbeck, VABF Information Sheet http://www.vabf.f2s.com/soilre1.php Does my Soil Need Cation Nutrient Balancing?: A practical guide to balanced nutrition for soil and crops By Mark Schonbeck, VABF Information Sheet http://www.vabf.f2s.com/soilre2.php How to Use a Soil Test By Mark Schonbeck, VABF Information Sheet http://www.vabf.f2s.com/soilre3.php Soil Nutrient Balancing in Sustainable Vegetable Production By Mark Schonbeck, VABF Results of 2000 season field trials, and evaluation of the first three years. A Final Report submitted to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, December 2000 http://www.vabf.f2s.com/soilresum.php It should be noted these online materials are html versions of the original information sheets published in print. The print versions contain contain addditional diagrams, illustrations or tables. An interesting note is that Schonbeck -- in the context of an historical timeline of soil science and agronomic research -- has conducted the most recent and up-to-date field research on base saturation ratios. Working on research funds from Organic Farming Research Foundiation and the Southern SARE program, he conducted soil tests and made fertilizer recommendations according to the so-called Albrecht formula or what is more widely known as Base Cation Saturation Ratio, BCSR. He evaluated the effect of calcium-magnesium ratios, for example, on crop yields and soil quality factors, and maybe pest occurrence. Schonbeck presented the results of the first 2-3 years of field work at the Southern SAWG conference in January 2000, in Chattanooga, TN. In a nutshell, he has not found much support for BCSR in soils of the southern region, i.e., Virginia soils. The point is, that BCSR is not a "be all, end all" soil fertility management scheme for farmers in all locations. In fact, Schonbeck said that a number of gardening and farming publications from the Northeastern U.S. and Europe (for example, England) are geocentric. For example, a southern farmer would not encounter the same soils found on the Rodale research farm in Pennsylvania. Southern farmers face high summer temperatures and rapid oxidation of organic matter. Therefore, organic matter content of southern soils is typically lower (1-2% OM) than northern soils (5-6% OM), yet the "active" portion of decomposing OM is present as well as many other complex forms of organic matter and humus. By the same token, Schonbeck questions the universal application of BCSR -- which was developed in relation to Midwestern soils from Missouri and Ohio -- to all soils, such as those of the south. It should be noted that Midwestern soils are of montmorillinite origin which has a 2:1 clay lattice structure while southern soils are of kaolin clay origin which have a 1:1 clay lattice structure. Fred Magdoff, soil scientist from University of Vermont, presented a well attended 4-hour long soil seminar at the same January 2000 conference in Chattanooga. He talked about soil tests that provide a hybrid analysis using BCSR and the Sufficiency method. Magdoff does not support BCSR and "wishes it would just go away." My impression is that Magdoff sees BCSR as an method used by the fertilizer industry. For example, he is uncomfortable with a company that provides a soil test and fertilizer recommdation at the same time (such as most of the eco-farming labs associated with Acres, USA conference workshops). That is where I don't see eye to eye with Magdoff, though I respect his work immensely. He is the author of "Building Soils for Better Crops", he developed the soil-nitrate test for sweet corn, and he is soil scientist working in sustainable agriculture. But he is from the university environment and I am from the non-profit/farmer environment. In my experience, the eco-farming labs and crop advisors do offer valueable insights, recommendations, and fertilizer products. And since farmers ask for this informtaion, we did compile a list of alternative soil testing labs. Alternative Soil Testing Laboratories http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/soil-lab.html What I find most helpful from Mark Schonbeck's work is the literature review of the body of work from Albrecht and BCSR, the summary of the concepts and technology behind BCSR, and the findings that not all soils and plant systems respond positively to BCSR. As an aside, my own research on Albrecht and BCSR is extensive, and my resource collection and literature citation list was supplied to Schonbeck for his initial research. Working on the OFRF and SARE funds, Shonbeck completed the most thorough and extensive literature review and summary of this soil testing philosophy and fertilizer recommendation system. That is not one of the items online, but it should be noted as resource in case somebody is interested. If you are the kind of person that likes to have a long list of citations (Agronomy Journal, Soil Science, etc.) and brief abstracts of their content, that's what I'm talking about. In other words, the literature review that Schonbeck compiled in addition to the aforementioend information sheets is an especially noteworthy contribution to this topic. In fact, it is a widely expressed view among soil science types in sustainable agriculture that BCSR works better under the montmorillinite soils typical of the Midwest, where Albrecth and the 2nd generation eco-farming advisors like Neal Kinsey tend to focus their work. Neal Kinsey and Gary Zimmer are probably the two leading experts on the Albrecth system, and I don't think you can talk about this topic without including their views and experience. Kinsey, for example, explained to me that he doesn't agree with the view that BCSR is geocentric. One additional point worth noting, is that BCSR is just one part of a holistic approach to soil science that Albrecth and Kinsey bring to the table. If you do get to attend one of Kinsey's seminars, it is a fascinating expereience to learn about minerals, minerals levels, soil testing, and mineral balancing and their cummulative influence on soils and plant health. Steve Diver
