Farmers may also choose to rotate crops in order to reduce their production risk through diversification or to manage scarce resources, such as labor, during planting and harvesting timing.
Crop rotation is the practice of planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land. Crop rotation is defined as a “system of growing different kinds of crops in recurrent succession on the same land”.
When the corn harvest is finished, the farmer might plant beans. Corn takes nitrogen out of the soil, while soybeans add it back in. Switching between the two crops keeps the soil balanced and healthy.
Crop rotations are affected by various factors such as soil type and fertilizer input in interaction with seasonal rainfall variability.
Crops should be rotated on at least a three-to-four-year cycle. They should be rotated every year. So, a crop of corn planted this year is not planted in the same field for the next two or three years. Ideally, altogether different crops should be used each year as insects and disease that affects one crop will also likely affect similar crops.
Crop rotation in United States
