Dear Mr. Diver,
Your website is excellent as is Mark Schonbeck's. Do you know what
lab Dr. Schonbeck used to evaluate the Albrecht method? All labs are
not the same.
We don't believe that everyone "has" to use soil analysis. But
where monetary considerations are important, we have found it extremely
useful in transition. But the analysis has to be done properly, with
the right equipment and materials, and geographic-specifically. And when
so, it works. Very well.
Here are a couple of quotes from some past e-mails that may be of
interest:
Lloyd Charles wrote:
"If we had done a poll of our group asking the question " What are
the best cropping paddocks around" - best results for least amount of
trouble and had ranked them in order then that order would have
parallelled William Albrects cation exchange system very close."
Allan Balliett wrote:
"Incidentally, I've also heard it said by east coast farmers that
Albrecht doesn't work here. Currently I assume that problems with the
Albrecht method in these parts can be attributed to the labs and not
to the theories."
Sincerely,
Cecilia Harmon
Green Gold International
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Steve Diver wrote:
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
--
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