Disadvantages Of Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is also intended to balance the fertility requirements of various crops to ensure that nutrients in the soil aren’t exhausted.  Typically, crop rotation involves the application of green manure in relation to cereals and other crops in order to replenish nitrogen levels in the land.  Fertility and soil structure can be improved by the crop rotational methods of alternating shallow- and deep-rooted plants.  Crop rotation can be applied to a massive range of crop types and occurs all over the world in various forms.

Mechanization Issues In Crop Rotation

The major disadvantage of crop rotation is problems with the mechanization of weed control, harvesting, and planting.  The farmer will have to invest heavily in many different types of equipment and extra labor to fully reap the rewards from crop rotation.  Such investments may be too much a burden for the farmer to handle, especially in these times of economic hardship and reduced funding, good will, and government assistance for the farming community.

Vulnerability To Pests

While industrialized farms using crop rotation produce much of the food available to the world, they are vulnerable to disease and pest issues.  Whereas certain crops grown in rotation will enjoy protection, growing exactly the same crops or those susceptible to the same disease grown in the same place will induce a slow build-up of unfriendly organisms in the soil.  The life cycle of pests can be breached by crop rotation, although if, for example, corn is grown in the same spot for two sequential years, then corn rootworm may become a problem.  Having said all that, most insects cause no long-term economic damage to the crop grower.  The best way to control pests is to ensure there is a diverse balance of predators and pests on the utilized land. 

A plethora of habitats should be provided in order to induce a broad assortment of wildlife including birds, spiders, toads, and frogs, all of which will assist in the management of pest species.  The responsible farmer will avoid the disadvantages of crop rotation by offering the pests and predators a panoply of shelter and food sources through intercropping (placing two crops to grow together like vegetables and grains), keeping hedgerows (rows of bush enclosing the fields), allowing certain weeds to grow on the land, and strip cropping (crop strips alternating with species that like to forage).

Keeping Abreast Of The Production Acreage

One of the more serious disadvantages of crop rotation is a reduction in the acreage of crop production when sod-oriented rotations are used.  Acreage can be affected by all manner of rotation-related issues such as feed shortages, forage quality, farm efficiency, perennial weed problems, corn rootworm pressure, drought stress, and poor performance of no-till corn.

More Information And Resources

The following online information and resources might be useful for an understanding of the disadvantages of crop rotation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation - straightforward explanation of the whole issue of crop rotation on Wikipedia.

http://www.fadr.msu.ru/rodale/agsieve/txt/vol4/issue3/art3.html - general references to disadvantages of crop rotation.

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex3479 - general references to disadvantages of crop rotation.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1200/crop_rotation.asp - sound advice from the Royal Horticultural Society on how to manage rotation systems.

http://cropsoil.psu.edu/extension/facts/agfacts57.cfm - excellent case study of how crop rotation operates in dairy farms.

Conclusion:  How To Avoid The Disadvantages Of Crop Rotation

The following advice is worth following if successful implementation of crop rotation systems is desired.  It really is worth carefully estimating grain and forage needs for at least the next three years.  If you have animals and the size of your herd is increasing, then this is particularly important.  You have to be able to answer such questions as where will the extra feed come from for these extra animals?  What arrangements should be made currently in order to ensure that tomorrow the feed could be produced and stored effectively? 

It is crucial to estimate grain and forage production based upon accurate crop acreage and yield figures.  Hay and corn growers need to ensure that this summary tells them precisely what the yearly feed production will be for the various crops.  Being too optimistic with these estimates can have disastrous consequences - major differences between expected and actual production being the major one.  Thus, it is important that a lot of hard work and focus are used when making such analyses.  A further bad consequence could be a total and utter imbalance between the feed inventory and the actual feed needs of the animal herd.  It is possible to check yield estimates against comparisons of silo capacities with the acreage needed to fill them up.  The person putting crop rotation into practice should be prepared to adjust the rations if that is what is called for; i.e., adjusting crops required for the ration so they can accommodate food types that can be produced in an economically, sensible manner. 

To further evade the disadvantages of crop rotation, you must try to match crops to soils as well as you can.  What will determine the kinds of crops that can be grown on a farm will be the types of soil present in the land.  Soybeans, small grains, and alfalfa will tend to grow better than corn on drought-affected or shallow soils.  Corn will generally grow better than barley or alfalfa on badly drained fields.  A crucial aspect of crop rotation implementation is rotational credits, which refer to the way that certain crops have higher yields when they are grown directly after other types of crops. 

The farmer or rotation planner must be as flexible as possible to allow short-term variations in feed needs or crop production.  No-tillage crops can be facilitated by the crop rotation system.  No-till crops assist dairy producers mostly, allowing them to meet conservation requirements without any disadvantages to row crops.