The company says the technology opens the door for foliar application of specific nutrients, including calcium, which was considered ineffective because it did not readily translocate through the plant to the root zone.

If soil calcium and magnesium levels are adequate and soil pH is acceptable, variations in the calcium-to-magnesium ratio between 2 and 8 have been shown to have no influence on crop yield.

Gypsoil Blendable is a high-quality pelleted gypsum fertilizer that supplies 17% sulfate sulfur and 21% calcium, the company says.

Michigan State University Extension says magnesium build-up from use of dolomitic lime is a very unlikely problem.

University of Kentucky Ag Extension explains what agricultural lime is, how it works and why some of these lime "alternatives" aren't going to affect soil pH.

As the name would imply, evaporite minerals form by the evaporation of sea water millions of years ago. Gypsum and limestone are two evaporite minerals found in Kansas and used for agricultural amendments.

I must admit to playing a little catch-up after spending all of last week in Springfield, Ill., working with my colleagues at No-Till Farmer to host the 22nd annual National No-Tillage Conference. Our second-largest crowd ever with 1,024 attendees took in 4 days of no-till learning at the Springfield Hilton. While there were plenty of familiar faces, we still saw 408 first-time attendees. More than 500 first-timers were on hand last year at the NNTC in Indianapolis.