The Soil Bank Account and the Farmer's Bank Account

Emil Truog's analogy of soil fertility as a bank account has had a profound effect on the practice of soil fertility in the USA. His philosophy has given respectability to the maintenance concept of fertility recommendations. In an effort to avoid exploiting the soils, P, especially, has been applied in excess of removal for many years. Results of Kentucky soil test summaries of 1975 and 1985 show large increases in soil test values for P and K with very little increase in yields. Now is an appropriate time to draw down the soil bank account.