Crop rotations sustainable and profitable

Roger L. Higgs; Arthur E. Peterson; William H. Paulson

Excerpt

THE time-tested advantages of crop rotations and the goals of low-input, sustainable agriculture are synonymous in most respects. Crop rotations are basic to the manner in which many farmers practice low-input, sustainable agriculture. Sustained profitability with either rotations of sustainable agricultural systems is a necessary assumption if farmers are to adopt these systems.

Rotations and sustainable agriculture are really old agricultural practices. In the 1940s and 1950s, agriculture began the transition toward a more intensified monocultural system of cropping Over vast areas of land, with high inputs of a fossil-fuel-based technology. This technology uses an impressive array of fertilizers, other agricultural chemicals, fuel, and equipment. Producers believed that the benefits from rotations would be supplanted by this new, rapidly developing technology and monocultural cropping system. Changes in the agricultural economy, environmental concerns, and results from long-term rotation studies now dictate a renewed and close look at crop rotations.

Rotational pros and cons

Historically, crop rotations are believed to date from the first century B.C. The Morrow plots at the University of Illinois, Urbana, America's oldest experimental field, have provided comparisons of rotations since 1876 (7). Other long-term rotation studies in …

Footnotes

Roger L. Higgs is a professor of soil and crop science in the College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, Platteville, 53818; Arthur E. Peterson is a professor of soils, Soils Department, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and William H. Paulson is superintendent of the Lancaster Agricultural Research Center and Associate Professor, Agronomy Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.