The development and current status in South Africa of soil and plant analysis for fertilizer advisory purposes is reviewed. Data obtained from governmental and private laboratories indicate that from 1966 to 1992 the number of soil and plant samples analysed annually increased by approximately 180 % and 470 %, respectively. Plant analyses increased exponentially, but countrywide analysis of soil samples has not increased since 1982. An inadequate soil test calibration base in many parts of the country, a scarcity of soil fertility researchers, and extractant and procedural differences among laboratories are considered to have been largely responsible. Advisory laboratories in those regions supported by ongoing field research programmes have shown continual growth in analytical output and farmer demand. In these areas, the intensity of soil sampling compares favourably with that in developed countries, but in other important cropping areas the intensity of sampling has stabilized at about 90 ha sample. Over 80 % of all plant analyses are conducted by laboratories serving high value deciduous and subtropical fruit industries, industries better able to make use of internationally established analytical norms. While there is an urgent need for expanded soil test calibration research for annual row crops, it is doubtful that this need will be easily satisfied. The availability of funds for such research is declining and the publication demands on young researchers make long‐term field studies decidedly unattractive.