Indeed, such specificity may prove futile as plans become disrupted by weather, changes in the market, labor supply, and other factors.
Lack of planning, however, can lead to serious problems—for example, the buildup of a soilborne disease of a critical crop, or imbalances in soil nutrients. Such problems can result in an inability to meet the demands of a carefully cultivated market or in additional labor and expense. Problems caused by faulty rotation often take several years to develop and can catch even experienced growers by surprise.
In fact, rotation problems usually do not develop until well after the transition to organic cropping. Cornell Horticulture News and views from the Department of Horticulture. Other features include: Problems and opportunities for more than crop sequences Characteristics of more than 60 crops and 70 weeds Crop diseases hosted by more than 80 weed species Modes of transmission for diseases found in 24 crops Thirteen sample four- and five-year vegetable and grain crop rotations Step-by-step procedure for determining crop rotation plans Download Crop Rotation on Organic Farms for free at www.
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A few keep all details in their heads. Most of the panel farmers agreed that farmers should write down their field records and plans. They do not necessarily have to be addressed in the order listed,butresponsibilitiesAthroughEprimarily occur during the relatively quiet winter months, when production and marketing pressures are less intense and time is available to take stock and look to the growing seasons ahead; responsibility F the actual execution and implementation of the rotation begins in early spring and continues throughout the growing season; and responsibilities G and H intensify in fall and winter, following the most hectic portions of the field season.
Some tasks require great attention every year, while others require little effort unless the farm is undergoing major changes. When the weather or other uncontrollable event requires the rotation plan to be changed, expert farmers reevaluate options and revise the plan. Expert farmers agree that frequent, careful field observations are critical. The chart does not cover all aspects of farm management—only those that the farmers thought were most important in determining the rotation and that are linked to rotation management.
Some tasks and key responsi- bilities relate to the entire farm and others to the rotation on a particular field. Expert farmers manage their field rotations in the con- text of their whole farm systems. Although they may not consciously review them, each farmer has a set of farm- ing goals that guide rotation planning for each field and for the whole farm. Some goals are common to all farms sidebar 2. Under responsibility A, the most important and most difficult task is reviewing the overall farm operation.
This includes reviewing the production plan: the crops, cover crops, fallows, and livestock that need to be allocated to particular field areas in the coming year. Certain factors— including cropland available, equipment, cash flow, crop mix, and marketing strategies—define the parameters within which the rotation must be designed. Another important task is to identify which problems can be addressed by rotation. Responsibility B: Identify Resources and Constraints Identifying the possibilities and limits of the overall farm production plan and the rotation for each field is central to planning.
At the farm scale, parameters such as market demand, available land, equipment, projected la- bor availability, and regulatory issues have to be reviewed Sidebar 2. Other expert farmers reviewed the chart and indicated the ten most important tasks and the ten tasks they considered most difficult to perform.
Tasks are listed in order of most to least. Codes in parentheses correspond to the number of the task on the chart. Ten Most Important Tasks 1. Maintain crops. F 2. Implement production plan. F-4 3. Prepare soils as soon as weather permits. F-9 4. Plant crops. F 5. Walk fields regularly to observe crops and fields. C-1 6. Review overall farm operation. A-2 7. Draft annual [rotation] plans. E 8. Monitor soil and crop conditions.
F-6 9. Adjust actions according to field and crop conditions. F Identify problems that can be addressed through rotation. A-3 Ten Most Difficult Tasks 1. Assess profitability on a whole-farm and crop-by- crop basis. G-5 2. F 3. Assess whether pest, disease, and weed pressures must be addressed. D-4 4. Investigate new market opportunities. H-3 5. A-2 6. Review regulations. B 7. Analyze weather probabilities. D-1 8. Determine if successes or failures were due to on- farm or regional factors. G 9.
Develop collaborations to verify successes and solve problems. H-2 Tweak the crop mix. D-1 Assess weather probabilities D-2 Assess soil conditions on a bed or field basis e. Farmers consider complying and keeping up with regulations to be among their most difficult tasks. Constraints may include field-specific limits like whether a field is ready for planting and harvest early or late in the season and how that relates to market timing, cash flow, and profitability.
Problems of specific fields in a particular year must be identified. For example, heavy weed pressure the previous season may preclude small- seeded crops. Crop cultural needs, such as spacing and trellising, also have to be accommodated.
Constraints imposed by equipment, such as row width, must be fig- ured into the rotation plan. Crops with similar irrigation, fertility, labor, and cultivation regimes or planting times are often managed as a block to simplify field operations.
Responsibility C: Gather Data Rotation decisions, for each field and for the whole farm, are based on an impressive array of information. Some information is collected on the farm, and some is gathered from off-farm sources.
All the expert farmers agreed that regularly walking the fields is a crucial way to gather data and monitor ongoing conditions for the current and coming seasons. Will Stevens interviews his workers throughout the season, because they are able to observe many field situations he does not have the oppor- tunity to see.
Even in winter, expert farmers are observ- ing their fields, sometimes while cross-country skiing or walking the dog. This helps them review field conditions and logistics of previous seasons and organize their think- ing for the season ahead. Production and marketing information usually needs to be updated and cross-checked annually. A new crop, research recommendations, or market arrangements may require that new data be considered.
For example, seed potato grower Jim Gerritsen uses his rotation to interrupt potato disease life cycles and pest vectors. He reviews the scientific research annually, staying current to take advan- tage of any advances in the understanding of the ecology of his system.
Categorization of crops and fields helps guide the Sidebar 2. Produce nutritious food. Increase profitability. Have a holistic approach and a good rotation that leads to healthy crops. Manage the farm as a whole system. Have a diverse line of products to market. Provide economic stability. Control insects. Add nitrogen and other nutrients in a way that is environmentally safe and conforms with regulations.
Maintain biotic diversity. Unlock the living potential of the soil. Reduce labor costs. Balance economic viability and soil fertility. Diversify tasks to keep labor happy and productive all season. Balance the needs of the farm with the needs of the farmer. Minimize off-farm inputs. Capture solar energy wherever possible.
Refine the aesthetic quality of fields and farm. Bring the farmer to life; develop a spiritual relationship with the land. These tasks rely on the cumulative pro- cess of integrating information and experience over many growing seasons. Information about both crops and fields is necessary to effectively match them in a given year.
For example, it is useful to know what late crops or varieties can go into a field in a wet year. The variety of characteristics considered indicates the complexity of the issues farmers balance in crop rotation decisions. The data on market options, equipment, labor and seed availability, and financial constraints, along with the overall farm and rotation goals are reviewed. Information is cross- referenced and, when necessary, weighted.
Possible trade- offs are considered. For example, the field crew may be able to plant two fields to high-value crops but not also harvest an early crop the same week. The experts assess soil conditions and determine how pest animal, insect, weed and disease pressures from the previous season should be addressed.
This is among the most difficult tasks. Even weather projections are considered. Every possible crop mix is analyzed.
Various possible pairings of crop to field are outlined, and options for each field are compared. Responsibility E: Plan Crop Rotation This responsibility is the ultimate synthesis of infor- mation and results in a production plan and a rotation plan.
Expert farmers distinguish between these two types of plans. The production plan specifies what needs to be grown the crop mix and how it will be grown, where- as the rotation plan determines where each crop will be planted.
Final decisions about the crop mix and the al- location of crops to fields and fields to crops are pivotal to this responsibility.
Information such as what crops to grow, in what quantities, labor availability at various times in the season, required equipment, and desired harvest dates are integrated into the rotation plan for each field and for the entire farm.
Two questions bounce back and forth. One is what will be grown in each field? The other is where will each crop grow?
These questions are answered based on obser- vation and experience. Several steps are involved. First, the cropping history of each field or bed for the past three or more years is reviewed.
This includes what crops and crop families were grown; how well they performed; any particular successes or failures; and any logistical issues relating to equipment use, irrigation, harvesting, or labor. Obviously, the size of the field and market needs how much of each crop is required are also considered.
The al- location of crops to fields includes consideration of future cropping plans as well as the cropping history of a field. The rotation plan must be responsive to weed pressures or other legacies from earlier years and must provide future crops with favorable conditions. Expert farmers first assign their highest-priority crops to fields or beds.
High-priority crops include the most profitable crops, cover crops with the greatest benefits, and crops particularly vulnerable to pests, diseases, or weather. Decisions are also based on high-priority fields— for example, those that have the highest fertility, are prime locations for u-pick crops, or have current problems that need to be addressed. Remaining fields or parts of fields are then assigned to the remaining crops, cover crops, fal- low areas, and sometimes pasturage for livestock.
All these decisions are based on both business and biology. An ex- ample is provided in sidebar 2. The crops and fields are tentatively matched, creating a cropping plan for the entire farm for the year. Many ex- perts plot this information on farm maps and notebooks. Several expert farmers take their plans into the field and walk the farm for this task. They think through why any sequence might not work, re- viewing any possible logistical or biological conflicts like Sidebar 2.
For example, crops with frequent harvests or need for frequent care must be easily accessible. Expert farmer Jean-Paul Courtens considers road access and produce characteristics. He prefers to allocate some crops to fields with close proximity to packing sheds. Long rides on bumpy roads can bruise delicate produce like tomatoes.
He locates salad greens and braising greens in the same field due to the time of day they are harvested. Crops are also grouped based on the time of the season when they are harvested. They then adjust the plan as necessary. Responsibility F: Execute Rotation Farmers indicated that executing the rotation involves many of the most important and difficult tasks see side- bar 2. They identified maintaining crops in- cluding activities such as weeding, thinning, and irriga- tion as the most important task and the second most difficult task in crop rotation.
Scheduling tillage and planting for all the fields across an entire farm every sea- son is also a challenge for most farmers. Although they generally want to till the soil as early as possible to ac- celerate soil warming and residue breakdown, they must wait for workable soil moisture conditions. Other criti- cal steps in crop production and central to executing the crop rotation are soil preparation and planting. Delays in soil preparation or planting may cause crop failures due to poor emergence, runaway weeds, or inadequately broken down cover crops and require shifts in the crop rotation see sidebar 2.
Expert farmers attempt to plant priority fields or beds and their most important crops as scheduled in their plan. If they have to alter the plan, they still prioritize high-val- ue or sensitive crops and fields.
Many decisions and ad- justments have to be made on the fly. In early spring, farmers monitor the weather—some- times hourly—as they implement and alter their rotation plan. Problems related to weather, cover crop maturity, crop emergence, and weeds may cause farmers to alter their original plan. Soil moisture conditions affect the timing of tillage and subsequent field operations see sidebar 2.
Cover crops are monitored to de- termine maturity, thickness of stands, and optimal time for incorporation. Farmers also monitor the breakdown and incorporation of crop and cover crop residues. Soil and air temperatures influence planting and transplanting decisions, as well. Any of these factors can cause crops to be reassigned to different fields or beds.
While a change necessitated by weather or the condi- tions in one field can cause reassignment of crops around the farm, general and farm-specific rotation goals and guidelines remain the basis of every decision; for example, cucurbit crops will never be planted in the same field two years in a row.
Most expert farmers anticipate problems that might occur and have contingency plans ready see sidebar2. ExpertfarmerPaulArnoldsuggested that this ability to make effective on-the-fly adjustments is an important factor in the success of his farm.
In the event of crop failure, crops may be abandoned, replanted, or replaced with a cover crop or even a different cash crop. Even as the rota- Sidebar 2. Oneoptionforthefieldmighthavebeentoplant oats and field peas in early spring, which would have had to be plowed down prior to planting fall brassicas. Another option would have been to plant the field to a spring crop of brassicas and then put in buckwheat or an early rye cover crop.
He may subdivide the field and plant heavy feeders where the legume cover crop was most successful. For example, beefsteak tomatoes, which are heavy feeders, would get that part of the tomato acreage that had good cover crop growth; whereas thrifty cherry tomatoes would get the remainder.
Alternatively, he might plant heavy-feeding and high-value watermelons on the most fertile, weed-free areas, whereas lower-value and resilient winter squash would be assigned to the less fertile areas.
At both farms, all the options are considered before finalizing a decision. The expert farmers emphasize the importance of recording actual cropping as it happens particularly deviations from the plan for later comparison with their initial rotation plan for the year. Responsibility G: Evaluate Rotation Execution Throughout the season, expert growers monitor the performance of their fields, each crop, and the farm as a whole. They record how their plans have worked and evolved.
This is not just to solve problems in the current season, but also to observe, learn, and collect ideas and data for future seasons. Expert farmers do this directly and through communicating with their crews.
Several said they interview their field crews at the end of the sea- son. Workers often have suggestions, such as improving the farm layout, that enhance the efficiency of operations. At the end of the season, growers carefully assess what actually happened relative to what they expected based on the original rotation plan.
The factors they consider include yields; soil conditions; timing of events and op- erations; costs of crop production; disease, weed, and pest levels and their control; crop losses; labor satisfaction and efficiency; and profitability of each crop and of the whole farm.
By walking around the farm and by analyzing data at their desk, they review the success of the production year. They compare the results with those of previous years to detect any trends or patterns. When attempting to analyze the causes of success or failure of various ele- ments of the rotation, growers talk to other growers and extension agents to determine whether problems were the result of actions on their farm rather than, for example, a bad disease year for all farms in the region, regardless of rotation.
Assessing whether regional conditions or on- farm mistakes were the source of problems is among the most difficult tasks, even for experts. Rotation goals and rotation plans serve as benchmarks to measure the success of the cropping season and the ro- tation. Expert farmers consider how closely they followed biological principles in their rotation, whether they met their production and market objectives, and how their ro- tation execution supported their biological and business goals.
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