Practice

Crop Rotation

Crop Diversification and Rotation Systems

Growing different crops on the same field in an ordered sequence, so a nitrogen-fixing legume restores what a hungry cereal took and pests of one crop starve during the years of another. From the medieval three-field system to the four-course Norfolk rotation that powered the British Agricultural Revolution, rotation is the oldest reliable answer to soil exhaustion. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts

Practice Class

Soil fertility and pest management 1

Origin

Practiced since antiquity; systematized in medieval Europe and refined into the four-course Norfolk rotation in 18th century England 1

Connections

Associated With

Agricultural Diversification

British Agricultural Revolution

The Norfolk four-course rotation is a pillar of the revolution

Source Wikipedia: British Agricultural Revolution

Integrated Pest Management

Crop rotation, breaking a pest's life cycle by denying it the same host in successive seasons, is one of integrated pest management's standard cultural tools.

Source Wikipedia: Integrated pest management

Nitrogen Fixation

Rothamsted Research

Soil Fertility