Intercropping and Companion Planting
Interplanting two or more mutually beneficial crops in close proximity is one strategy for increasing biodiversity. In large-scale mechanized crop culture, this is called intercropping. It typically involves alternating rows or a number of rows of compatible field crops, like soybeans and corn. It also applies to sowing multiple forage crops, like alfalfa, bromegrass, and timothy, when these are grown together. When interplanting is done on a smaller scale, it is often called companion...
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Another example of an agronomic crop rotation this one suitable to drier, western climates is typified by the Quinn Farm in North-Central Montana and presented in Figure 3. Bob and Ann Quinn's rotation begins with the most reliable cash crop, hard red winter wheat, fall-seeded after alfalfa. Weeds are controlled following harvest and the land reseeded to lentils, kamut, or durum wheat the following spring. Switching from a winter grain to a spring grain helps to break weed cycles and optimizes...
Planned Crop Rotation
Essentially a tool for annual cropping systems, crop rotation refers to the sequence of crops and cover crops grown on a specific field. Particular sequences confer particular benefits to long and short-term soil fertility, and to pest management. Agronomic operations are especially dependent on crop rotations that include forage legumes. These provide the vast majority of the nitrogen required by subsequent crops like corn, which is a heavy consumer of that nutrient. Even when livestock are...
Esoteric Practices
There are a number of farming and gardening practices based on belief in a non-physical world closely aligned with our physical reality. Those who use these practices believe that conditions in this unseen realm influence, or even dictate, what happens on a material level. They take pains to understand these influences and adjust their farm activities. In some instances, they act to influence events. Obviously, these practices are rooted more deeply in metaphysics than in the conventional...
Organic Farming Niche Market or Viable Alternative
The pioneers of organic farming considered organics the preferred direction for the whole of agriculture to take. It is likely that most contemporary proponents still hold that view. While recent growth in the organic industry is definitely encouraging, much of the impetus is tied to its growth as a niche market, not as a serious shift in the direction of mainstream agriculture. Unfortunately, a likely reason for the newfound tolerance of organic agriculture in many land grant universities and...