Meyer was born in Salzderhelden, near Einbeck, in southern Lower Saxony, the son of a school teacher.

[1] He studied agronomy at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1926 with a thesis on crop production.

[1] Meyer was one of the key agricultural scientists and spatial planners of the Nazi era, and served as the chief editor of the main journals of the field.

[1] Meyer's subordinates in RKF's creating the memorandum included geographer Walter Christaller and landscape architect Heinrich Friedrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann.

[1] He was released in 1948, and in 1956, he was appointed professor of agriculture and regional planning at Leibniz University Hannover, where he worked until his retirement, in 1968.