The Complete Illustrated Guide to Farming

Crop Rotation Crop rotation, like green manures, dates back to the dawn of agriculture. It fell into disuse with the advent of modern chemical fertilizers and monocropping, but this was to the peril of soil health, so rotational cropping is considered a vital spoke in the wheel of organic farming today. In its simplest form, crop rotation is the act of planting something different in a field every year. A rotational sequence is usually for a series of years, coming back to the original crop after four or more years. This cycle disrupts weed and pest activity, helps eliminate soil-borne diseases, and aids soil fertility by growing crops with different nutrient needs in a field (thereby not using up one nutrient such as nitrogen by repeatedly planting corn in the same plot).