Even out in the drier sections of the Columbia Plateau, the need for liming is going to occur sometime in our lifetime. Increased irrigation in previously dry areas, certain crop rotation practices and the widespread use of nitrogen fertilizers all contribute to the problem. Since 1931, researchers at the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center have documented the relationship between applying nitrogen fertilizer and how quickly and to what extent soils become acidified. For example, you might find measurements of acidity down to 4.5 pH compared to the 5.5 or 6.0 pH that you might find in soil that had never received nitrogen fertilizer. In 1996, he and other scientists published a report that showed a relationship between soil acidity and root diseases in some cereal crops.
Soil acidity affects many other crops as well.
If an orchard has a low soil pH, you see reduced growth and increased manganese toxicity. The environment in which the roots grow becomes chemically harsh. At a certain critical zone of low pH, yields drop off dramatically and the grass doesn't grow anymore. In grass seed crops, the damage from acid soils is often below ground as well, Mellbye said. It can be so bad that seedlings germinate and the roots are so puny and ineffective that the plant just dies.