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It depends on the crops in the rotation and the farmer's yield goals. For example, an organic producer who is most interested in crop quality instead of yield will not use up all the nutrients in the soil. If the soil is a little low, he can add some organic manure or compost. But a Midwest US corn and soybean grower with high yield goals will always have to keep adding some nutrients.
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Why do farmers alternate what they plant every year?
Different crops use different nutrients in the soil. Crops are alternated so not all the soil's nutrients are used up before nature can replenish them.
What are the advantages disadvantages of crops rotation?
Rotation of crops allows the land to replenish its nutrients and allows the land to be of use for a longer period of time instead of being used up completely and damaged beyond repair.
How were crop rotations important to farmers?
Crop rotation is a practice used to maintain nutrients in agricultural soil. When crops are planted in a field, the nutrients are drained from the soil into the plants. If all of the nutrients are removed from soil, it cannot hold water properly and becomes desolate- drying up and turning to dust. (For examples of this, look up what happened in the west during the great depression. Many people didn't rotate crops, and there were massive dust-storms because the loose soil blew in the wind.) In rotating crops, farmers will often put livestock onto a field every few years. The animals eat proper food, and the animal waste (which is filled with nutrients) is mixed back into the soil to be absorbed by the next crop. Alternatively, they will plant a type of crop that uses different nutrients than the previous crop to balance out nutrient use and production. By maintaining a lot of nutrients in soil, the farmers ensure that it can produce good, healthy crops for a long time.
What is an example of crop rotation?
It is like fertilizing the soil, but you just rotate the crops to avoid using up the minerals.
Can soil easily recover nutrients that crops use up?
Soils contain only finite amounts of nutrients. When they are used up they can be replaced only two ways: 1) dissolution or erosion of basic soil components and 2) adding the nutrients. The three macro nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. There are many micro nutrients. A shortage of any nutrients will cause defects or growth loss in plants.
How does crop rotation help the crops?
if you plant the same plant every year, the plant will only take the nutrient it needs and will suck up all that and leave may other nutrients. with crop rotation the amount of the nutrients stays in balance.
Why do some farmers rotate their crops?
They rotate their crops to utilize bacteria to increase nitrogen in the soil. because diffrent crops take up diffrent nutrients so they are rotated to ensure they have a good supply of the right nutrients
Why same crops should not be sown year after year in same field?
Each crop uses a different combination of nutrients from the soil. Planting the same crop over and over uses up those nutrients so the crop will have less yield each year. Alternating crops allows the nutrients used by one crop to be replaced by a different crop.
How does growing the same crops in the same fields year after year?
used up all the nutrients in the soil
Why does the land have to rest between seasons of growing crops?
The land has to rest between seasons of growing crops to let the nutrients build back up in the soil.
What is it called when a farmer plants different crops in order to use less nutrients or different nutrients from the soil?
Crop rotation. If you plant the same crop year-after-year. That crop will use up all the nutrients specific to the needs of the plant. Crop rotation involves planting a different crop each year - thus the nutrients in the soil are more evenly used.
Why should land be rested between growing crops?
Crops need nutrient rich soil in which to grow properly. If you don't rest the land between crops the first crop will use up all the nutrients in the soil and the following crop will grow poorly as a result. "Resting" the land allows nature to put a little more organic material back into the soil, replenishing it before you plant another crop. Some people cycle their crops instead, particularly with peanuts, because the different crops use different levels of nutrients and can thus balance each other out.
