Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the risk of soil erosion. Crop choice is often related to the goal the farmer is looking to achieve with the rotation, which could be weed management, increasing available nitrogen in the soil, controlling for erosion, or increasing soil structure and biomass, to name a few. When discussing crop rotations, crops are classified in different ways depending on what quality is being assessed: by family, by nutrient needs/benefits, and/or by profitability (i.e. cash crop versus cover crop) .
Different plants have different nutritional needs and are susceptible to different pathogens and pests. Crop rotation helps return nutrients to the soil without synthetic inputs. The practice also works to interrupt pest and disease cycles, improve soil health by increasing biomass from different crops’ root structures, and increase biodiversity on the farm. Farmers are required to implement a crop rotation that maintains or builds soil organic matter, works to control pests, manages and conserves nutrients, and protects against erosion. For crop rotation to be most effective, farmers should not plant an area with vegetables from the same plant family more than once every three to four years.
