Crop rotation & crop association : a healthy soil, a diversified and resilient agricultural production

Contrary to conventional systems, one of the principles put forward by agroecology is the diversification of agricultural production. In this framework, the agricultural practices recommended by agroecology, among other practices, are crop rotation and crop association.

Crop rotation is the cyclic replication of many crops on the same farming area. While crop association is the simultaneous production of a number of crops at the same time on the same farming area so as to maximize the synergies and biological interactions among them. As such, crop rotation differs from crop association in the sense that the different crops are not cultivated at the same time, but in a rotating and successive way.

ADVANTAGES OF CROP ROTATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Contratry to monocultural systems that are reducing soil fertility, crop associations and rotations offer a number of advantages as they contribute to most of the agroecology principes, particularly to those linked to soil fertility, pest and disease management, and generally to all the biological interactions that are taking place among different crops and other components of the agroecosystem.