The value of a soil test for guiding agronomic decisions on your farm is indisputable. The importance of soil health in agriculture has been documented over decades of research. But too few row-crop growers have considered the value of comparing soil tests from one year to the next to reveal important trends in field performance. Nutrient deficiency in soybeans, corn and cotton is a recurring risk. Proactive winter planning can help avert sub-par results.
This winter, take some time to gather the soil health and management data you’ve captured across multiple seasons. Then take a closer look at the numbers.
You’ll be glad you took the time when insights start to surface that can improve your operation’s fertility, yield and financial health.
Here are just a few of the advantages of multi-year tracking of soil-test data.
Benefit #1: Look past weather anomalies to evaluate soil health practices
When you compare multiple years of soil data, you can take into account how weather conditions changed from one season to the next. By filtering out weather variability, you can more clearly evaluate the degree to which your soil is meeting your expectations. Ask yourself: To what degree is my soil delivering the yields I want? What are some appropriate ways of improving soil fertility?
Benefit #2: Catch pH drops and intervene with smart soil health solutions
If you grow cotton, corn or soybeans, tracking your multi-year acidification rate is important.
For cotton, this is helpful because those data points will allow you to map out your fields’ dolomitic lime (which contains 6% magnesium or more) or calcitic lime (which contains less than 6% magnesium) requirements.1 Making lime adjustments can help you preserve cotton yield before severe pH declines start to restrict productivity.
Similar trends have been observed in corn and soybeans. In general, both crops produce well when soil pH is about 6.0 or even slightly higher.2 Yet some soils benefit from lime supplementation, especially when an acid subsoil is present. Yield can follow, with 2.5% yield gains for both corn and soybeans in one study where supplementary lime had been applied.
Fail to step in and big problems can transpire as pH plunges. In corn, that looks like stripe patterns appearing on lower leaves, root damage and even plant death.3
Conversely, if pH is too high, other issues can emerge. In soybeans, too much lime applied to adjust pH can contribute to symptoms of manganese deficiency, such as a yellow coloring on new leaves.4 High soil pH also causes iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC), where iron might be present but prevented from soybean root absorption. Symptoms of IDC include interveinal chlorosis of the newly formed soybean leaves.
Benefit #3: Avoid nutrient mining to ensure sufficient nutrients for crops
To keep your high-yielding corn, cotton and soybean zones at peak performance, cross-reference soil tests with crop removal rates from the past two to four years.5 This will allow you to decide whether your bank of phosphorus and potassium remains full or whether depletion merits a concerted recovery effort.
Benefit #4: Measure soil health and management effectiveness
By collecting and studying long-term metrics, you’ll notice structural changes in your soil over time. Pay attention to soil attributes such as wet aggregate stability, which refers to the soil’s ability to stick together when wet rather than coming apart and eroding. Another feature to monitor is biological buffering, meaning the ability of soil fungi and microbes to stabilize soil performance even when it’s under stress.6
Experts are available to help you analyze your soil data to make better fertility decisions ahead of planting. Reach out to your seed retailer, a nearby extension office agent or a seed company professional like your regional BASF representative.
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Endnotes
- Hand, Camp, editor. 2024 Georgia Cotton Production Guide. University of Georgia Extension, 2024,https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AP-124-4_2.pdf. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
- Vetsch, Jeff. “New Research Shows Increased Yield with Liming Treatments.” Minnesota Crop News, University of Minnesota Extension, 1 Jan. 2024. Accessed 23 Sept. 2026.
- Nielsen, Bob. “Symptoms Associated With Low Soil pH in Corn.” Picture of the Week, Purdue Extension, 19 July 2021. Accessed 23 Sept. 2026.
- Anderson, Eric. “Identifying and Correcting Manganese Deficiency in Soybeans.” MSU Extension, Michigan State University, 8 June 2023. Accessed 23 Sept. 2026.
- Mallarino, Antonio. “Fall Phosphorus and Potassium Fertilization Decisions with Variable Prices and Updated Soil-Test Interpretations.” Iowa State University Extension, 15 Sept. 2023,https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2023/09/fall-phosphorus-and-potassium-fertilization-decisions-variable-prices-and-updated. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
- Hoffman, Oliver, et al. “Biological Soil Health.” College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, 6 Nov. 2025,https://cfaes-contenthub.org.ohio-state.edu/fact-sheet/biological-soil-health. Accessed 19 Sept. 2026.
