Could crop rotation save the soil?

[lemit]

Are we overlooking something simple that, when I was an active farmer, was used to create black, fertile ground (terra preta)?

Crop rotation, for those of you who have grown up in modern agriculture or outside agriculture of any kind, is the practice of following row crops with grasses and legumes used as hay crops and pasture, with the result that (when turned) the soil is again able to support row crops. It is as natural as you can get, with no chemical fertilizers ever needed for the simple reason that traditional farmers couldn't afford the price of chemical fertilizers and needed to develop their own ways of growing the soil so the soil could grow crops.

The U.S. practice of farming "fencerow-to-fencerow" was developed when diversified farming failed economically in the seventies. An unfortunate byproduct of that development was the elimination of crop rotation, a natural way of replenishing of the soil.

Can we revive the soil by reviving some old-fashioned farming practices?

What do you think?

--lemit

[Boerseun]

I don't know about US farming practices, but over here in SA, crop rotation is part and parcel of the business if you want to farm. It's taken for granted.

[lemit]

Unfortunately, we've become too technical and theoretical. My late brother ran a farmer's cooperative in Kansas and explained (as I have since observed) that modern U.S. farmers only go into the fields on weekends. The rest of the time they spend networking (i.e. sitting around drinking coffee).

I sometimes wish my body would let me be upright without pain long enough to get out into the fields. I wish I could be an example. American farm culture and American farm initiative seem to be missing now.

We have a lot of work that needs to be done on our farms. We have a lot of people who need work. We don't seem to know how to close that gap.

Sorry for the rant. It's one I've given to my local members of Congress and Senate and the dominant political party. I've got a favorable face-to-face response from the Congress member, but no other response of any kind. I don't know. Maybe what seems obvious to you and to a bunch of people in this country doesn't resonate economically to some people who have a lot more economic power than a guy who owns 140 acres somewhere in the midwest.

--lemit

[maikeru]

Crop rotation would probably be very good in application with terra preta, since green manures and their nutrients could be more efficiently stored and then released to cover crops.

Also, should be used in conjunction with composting or creating on-site fertilizer from crop residues, wastes, etc. to restore nutrients from the land back to the same land they came from. I was thinking about this last night when I was out buying more seeds and saw steer and chicken manures for sale. It's important to encourage and strengthen nutrient cycles and storage, so that the land can maintain its fertility.

[lemit]

Originally Posted by maikeru

Also, should be used in conjunction with composting or creating on-site fertilizer from crop residues, wastes, etc. to restore nutrients from the land back to the same land they came from. I was thinking about this last night when I was out buying more seeds and saw steer and chicken manures for sale. It's important to encourage and strengthen nutrient cycles and storage, so that the land can maintain its fertility.

Traditional farming (at least the tradition I grew up in) used animal manure run through a spreader on the hay ground (grasses and legumes). Those plants would keep the chemicals from running off and then store the chemicals in the roots, to be aerated for bacterial consumption when we plowed the ground for row crops.

I really didn't understand or appreciate the wisdom of the practice at the time. It was just what we did.

--lemit