How does the chemical properties of the soil relate to soil fertility?

Answer 1

One example is pH. It is more difficult to make soils which are very high or very low in pH as productive as soils with a more neutral pH. The nutrient minerals are made less available to the growing plants, forcing the farmer to apply nutrients at higher levels than they would otherwise. Example: soil with a pH in the 8.0 range is high in calcium, which bonds with phosphorus, making the phosphorus less available to plants, so farmers have to apply more phosphorus (or coat the phosphorus with a polymer to protect it).