Question

A farmer decides she wants to grow certified organic corn and sets out to meet all usda standards to do so. her crop grows well for the first 3 years; however, she notices during the 4th and 5th years that plants are getting smaller and producing much less corn. she has not altered farming practices and begins to wonder what is happening. she remembers someone mentioning planting peanuts every 3rd year in place of a corn crop, which leads to much healthier corn. why would a farmer want to change to a different crop, especially something like peanuts?

Answer 1

Crop rotation. Crop rotation is growing a series of dissimilar or different types of crops in the same plot in sequenced seasons. Peas, like other legumes, are nitrogen fixing crop. They recover depleted nitrogen and other nutrients squeezed out by the organic corn, making nitrogen available to the soil for use again. This practice takes advantage of the uniqueness of each crop make use of diverse natural and ecological resources present in the soil to maximize yield and increase output. The organic corn requires a lot of nutrient for root growth and with repeated use, the available nutrients has gotten depleted. Planting legumious crops which are good nitrogen-fixers will help to recover lost nutrient.