Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
• Alternate nitrogen fixers (such as alfalfa or vetch) with
nitrogen consumers (such as grains or vegetables).
The most important rule with crop rotations is to experiment
and keep careful records. Some families of plants have a
detrimental effect on some families that may follow them in
rotation but not on others. These effects will vary depending
on cover cropping, manuring, and composting practices, so no
hard and fast rules apply, but it is absolutely certain that an
observant farmer will see a difference between cabbage that
follows carrots as opposed to cabbage that follows potatoes.
Keeping careful records and making small variations from
year to year while observing the results will allow the farmer
to fine-tune practices to optimize quality and yields.
A three-bed rotation applicable to where I live in New
Hampshire might give you an idea of how crop rotation with
cover cropping works. We'll start with the fall.
Table 5: Example Three-Bed Rotation with Cover Cropping
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