www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms guidelines-for-intercropping interplanting-crops-with-partially-overlapping-growing-seasons Interplanting Crops with Partially Overlapping Growing Seasons Interplanting crops that share the field for only part of the season can increase the capture of sunlight over the course of the whole year. Expert panel farmer Drew Norman provides an example of this sort of intercropping. He transplants lettuce next to his tomato plants. The lettuce uses the space that is not yet […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms guidelines-for-intercropping Guidelines for Intercropping by Charles L. Mohler and Kimberly A. Stoner Intercropping is an all-encompassing term for the practice of growing two or more crops in close proximity: in the same row or bed, or in rows or strips that are close enough for biological interaction. Mixed cropping, companion planting, relay cropping, interseeding, overseeding, underseeding, smother cropping, planting […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms crop-rotation-during-the-transition-from-conventional-to-organic-agriculture transition-to-cash-grain-or-vegetables-on-a-farm-without-forages Transition to Cash Grain or Vegetables on a Farm Without Forages If the farm does not need forages, the transition cropping sequence will probably rely on cover crops to build soil quality. Stale seedbeds (see table 3.6) and other fallow periods may be needed to reduce weed density. In vegetables, rely on transplanted crops and large-seeded crops like sweet corn and snap beans the first few […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms crop-rotation-during-the-transition-from-conventional-to-organic-agriculture transition-from-conventional-cropping-on-a-farm-with-forages Transition from Conventional Cropping on a Farm with Forages When the land has been actively farmed by conventional means, often soil organic matter and soil tilth are low. If the land has been in field crops, the dominant weeds will likely be full-season, spring-germinating annuals like lambsquarters, pigweed, and foxtail. No-till farmed land may have a lot of perennial weeds, as well. If the […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms crop-rotation-during-the-transition-from-conventional-to-organic-agriculture transition-from-old-sod-to-vegetable-production Transition from Old Sod to Vegetable Production Many small organic vegetable farms in the northeastern US begin on land that has been a hay field or pasture for several years. Often the previous manager applied no fertilizers or pesticides for several years, and thus the land can be quickly certified as organic. The long period in sod will have improved soil physical […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms a-crop-rotation-planning-procedure a-more-complex-example-summer-acres-vegetable-farm A More Complex Example: Summer Acres Vegetable Farm A More Complex Example: Summer Acres Vegetable Farm Table 5.9 shows the Crop Characteristics Worktable for Summer Acres Farm, and figure 5.4 shows a map of the farm divided into management units. Table 5.10 (PDF download) gives completed Field Conditions and Field Futures Worktables. The example is fictitious, but it is based on a sample […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms a-crop-rotation-planning-procedure a-complete-step-by-step-rotation-planning-guide A Complete, Step-by-Step Rotation Planning Guide Before You Begin... Before you begin, please read through the instructions to see where you are headed with each step. This will also tell you whether the effort involved is worthwhile for your farm. Earlier chapters in this manual provide many suggestions as to how to think about the problem of developing general crop rotation […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms a-crop-rotation-planning-procedure tips-for-sequencing-crops Tips for Sequencing Crops Because the planning procedure presented below is lengthy and detailed, some of the most useful steps are summarized briefly in this section. Growers who do not wish to go through the detailed planning procedure will still find this summary useful in planning crop sequences. Note that the simplified steps presented here do not cover development […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms a-crop-rotation-planning-procedure A Crop Rotation Planning Procedure by Charles L. Mohler This chapter provides a step-by-step procedure for planning crop rotations on an individual farm. The procedure is based on methods used by the panel of expert farmers (chapter 2), supplemented with other sources. It distills what experienced growers do, based on experience, knowledge, and intuition, into a systematic method. For the […]
www.sare.org publications crop-rotation-on-organic-farms crop-sequences-from-expert-farmers-fields reading-the-real-fields-on-real-farms-tables Reading the "Real Fields on Real Farms" Tables The "Real Fields on Real Farms" tables can be downloaded below: On the tables, the year and season are noted in the left-hand columns, and the sequence of crops is presented in one column for each farm’s sample field. These tables are color coded to show each crop’s botanical family. A few of the sequences […]