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Who is the most far-sighted of the two farmers?
Laura, of course!
So, now it is clear why growing different crops over long periods is so important. If you want to maintain the soil health you must rely on crop rotation.
Laura, of course!
So, now it is clear why growing different crops over long periods is so important. If you want to maintain the soil health you must rely on crop rotation.
The following information is taken from: https://www.britannica.com
Crop Rotation systems
It's the sequence of crops grown over a period of time on a given area of soil. It can be defined as the cropping system. It may be a pattern of regular rotation of different crops or one of growing only one crop year after year on the same area.
The advantages of crop rotations
Such a system generally
- maintains productivity,
- aids in keeping soil structure favourable,
- and tends to reduce erosion.
- Alfalfa, sweet clover, red clover, and Ladino clover are considered effective for building up nitrogen.
- Legumes leave nitrogen in the soil.
- the soil is enriched with nutritional substances and nitrogen.
- the soil structure is improved and preserved, reducing soil erosion
- the cycles of pests and diseases are interrupted. Thanks to crop rotation, the dangerous consequences of weeds, insects and pests are played down.
Moreover, crop rotation has the great environmental benefit of reducing soil erosion. Many areas are preserved from landslides, floods, mud slidings.
Three-field system is a method of agricultural organization introduced in Europe in the Middle Ages and representing a decisive advance in production techniques. In the old two-field system half the land was sown to crop and half left fallow each season; in the three-field system, however, only a third of the land lay fallow. In the autumn one third was planted to wheat, barley, or rye, and in the spring another third of the land was planted to oats, barley, and legumes to be harvested in late summer. The legumes (peas and beans) strengthened the soil by their nitrogen-fixing ability and at the same time improved the human diet.
