Growing agricultural crops is a complex line of work that requires a tremendous amount of expertise.
Traditional agricultural crop growing faces all kinds of challenges in order to properly produce yields. Appropriate environmental conditions are critical to ensuring successful crops. Soil quality is a critical component of successful crop growing. Crop health greatly depends on the balance of pH levels within the soil. When soil becomes too acidic – or has a lower pH level – it creates a toxic environment for crops. Acidic soil causes severe nutrient deficiencies for crops, which results in lower yields. Ultimately, this eats away at an agricultural business’s profits.
Fortunately, there is a way to monitor and remedy an acidic soil situation. When soil becomes acidic, it is a best practice to apply Agricultural Limestone (Ag-Lime) to the acidic soil where crops are grown as a way of raising pH levels and reducing acidity. Soil acidity is one of the factors that can influence plant growth and can seriously limit crop production. By spreading agricultural lime (Ag-Lime) on or into the soil the calcium carbonate content of the limestone is capable of neutralizing some of the acid in the soil. Ag-Lime is generally used to increase soil pH, which can increase crop yields among a wide range of soil conditions. Ag-Lime is often used to improve the physical structure of the soil by reducing surface crusting, increasing water retention, and reducing soil erosion. Ag-Lime treatment helps crops to better tolerate drought and wet conditions by increasing both root penetration and water percolation through the soil.
Using Ag-Lime to adjust pH in soils can reduce toxic levels of manganese, iron, and aluminum. In addition, ag-lime has been shown to increase herbicide effectiveness, increase nutrient availability to plants and add calcium to soil. The Increased efficiency of fertilizer through the application of limestone reduces the amount of fertilizers which need to be applied to the land, thereby resulting in increased production, financial savings to farmers and reduced risk of contamination to surface and groundwater.