Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is a cultural practice for planning which crops to establish, with the aim of avoiding soil exhaustion.

As the name suggests, planning this practice means avoiding sowing or planting the same crops in the same place one season after another.

The practice lets the soil be worked at different depths and nutritional levels, since different crops have different root systems and different nutritional demands.

Advantages:

• A varied food production;
• Benefits to soil structure;
• Improved soil fertility;
• Breaking pest and disease cycles;
• Better weed control;
• Soil cultivation at different depths;
• Organic matter returned to the soil.

When planning, it is important to choose plants with different:

• Families;
• Root systems;
• Growth habits;
• Nutritional demands.

When planning, it is also important to watch the compatibility between successive plants, and to include legumes in the rotation.

Did you know about this practice?

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