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Increasing Crop Diversity

Increasing crop diversity is an important step towards cropping systems that mimic natural systems. Crop rotation represents crop diversity in time. Crop rotation has improved dramatically in prairie Canada during the past 30 years. Intercropping, where two or more crops are grown together in the same field, represents a form of spatial diversity.

This section will feature practical crop rotation and intercropping ideas that go a long way to making agriculture more sustainable.

Articles

Diversity in Time (Crop Rotation)

• The N Benefits of Grain Legumes in Crop Rotation
• Adjusting Soil Test N Recommendations for Legume N from Pulse Crops
• The Organic Field Crops Laboratory: Carman, Manitoba

Diversity in Space (Intercropping)

• Agronomic Benefits of Intercropping Annual Crops in Manitoba<
• Cultivar Mixtures, Cover Crops, and Intercropping with Organic Spring Wheat

Paper

Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience. Thiessen Martens, J. R., Entz, M. H. and Wonneck, M. D. 2015.

Copyright and Liability

This page created October 2005.
Last updated September 2016.