By Mary Hightower
Farms were the biggest users of soil testing by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, with samples representing more than a million acres, according to a summary in the latest edition of the Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies.
The annual publication is a collection of soil fertility research done by scientists with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture, and with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.
The publication also includes a summary of a year’s work at the division’s Marianna Soil Testing Lab. In 2024, the lab tested 158,592 client soil samples representing more than 1.14 million acres.
The publication is named for Wayne Sabbe, who retired from the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences in 1999. Sabbe edited the research collection from its inception in 1989, when it was called the Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies, until his retirement. It was named in his honor in 2001.
The compilation is now edited by Nathan Slaton, associate director of the experiment station and head of the soil testing program for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Of the samples sent to the Soil Testing Lab in Marianna, 71 percent represented row crops, 21 percent represented hay and pasture, and 2 percent represented home gardens and lawns.
Source : uada.edu