Calcium is an essential nutrient that allows plants to grow, develop, remain healthy and reproduce optimally to form seeds or fruits. Although it’s considered a secondary nutrient, a plant’s need for calcium can be as high as its needs for primary nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium.

Soil pH is a key factor in farmland as it controls availability of nutrients, microbial activity and crop productivity. Before delving into what causes soils to become acid or alkaline and the steps to take to treat and correct soil pH, we must first establish what is considered an optimal pH for crop production.