The science of crop rotation

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

Change is often a good thing, especially when it comes to your crops.
Crop rotation is the foundational principle of agriculture production. If you want to build an agricultural production system on a firm foundation that can withstand the risk of viabilities that happen throughout the year, it needs to be strong with firm building blocks that can withstand change.
“You could farm without rotation plans, yes, but it promotes risk in your plant. The more diverse your rotations are, the more stable your crops will be,” said Dr. Michael Harding, a research scientist, plant pathology.
Planting your crops in a different order in your field over a number of years helps maintain nutrients in the soil, reduces erosion, and can help prevent diseases and pests that could harm plants.
Growing the same crop in the same place year after year robs the soil of nutrients which, in turn, leads to poor plant health and a lower annual yield.
“You need to have different plants extracting the nutrients from different soils. If you have a three-year cycle, you will have roots extracting those nutrients for one year, and then they will be replaced during the following two years,” said Neil Whatley, a crop specialist with the Alberta Ag-Info Centre.
The soil only represents one aspect of sustaining a healthy crop by rotating seeds.
The other is protection of the plant by protecting them from pests and weeds.
“In organic farming, the pressure put on by disease build-up in weeds drops off when the crops are rotated through each year,” said Harding. “It’s even more important in conventional farming, where pesticides and herbicides are used, because over time the plant can develop a resistance to the chemicals, becoming ineffective.”
For more information about crop rotation and other agronomic topics, presentations from January’s Agronomy Update Conference can be viewed/downloaded from agric.gov.ab.ca.