Dr. William Albrecht

Published Writings from 1918 to 1974

Dr. William A. Albrecht was the first scientist of the 20th century to observe that "Food is fabricated soil fertility". After conducting extensive experiments with growing plants and animals, he noted that the declining soil fertility was due to a lack of organic material, major elements and trace minerals. His work indicated that a lack of or imbalance of these nutrients was responsible for poor crops and, in turn, for the pathological conditions in animals fed deficient feeds from such soils. He also felt that mankind was no exception.

Dr. Albrecht was Professor of Soils and Chairman of the Department of Soils at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture for many years. He had gained this position after he had earned four academic degrees - A.B., B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., all from the University of Illinois. He wrote extensively for a variety of scientific and agricultural journals.

Some of his most controversial work was with the addition of calcium... better known as the liming of soils. Most of the agricultural community accepted the theory that liming's crucial role was to reduce soil acidity, thus making certain nutrients more available. In 1928, after extensive work and research, Dr. Albrecht came to the understanding that calcium was the prince of nutrients and played a more extensive role in plant health. He maintained that soil acidity is a "bugaboo that farmers for years have been uselessly fighting". Natural soil acidity is in reality then, mainly a shortage of fertility in terms of many plant nutrients. "It is not the acidity in soils that is injurious, but the shortage of nutrients that are replaced by the acidity. This acid condition is merely a case of increased shortage of plant food nutrients for which crops suffer."

In other words, we will not grow nutritious plants merely by changing the pH. It is the wise management of the soil that will directly benefit plant growth.

Dr. Albrecht realized that calcium is at the head of the list of the strictly soil-borne elements required in the nourishment of life. It is demanded by animal and human bodies in larger percentages of total diet than any other element. Many of his research projects confirmed this theory and pointed to a different understanding of this commonly used agricultural element.