Effects of crop rotation & monoculture: On the left field, the "Norfolk" crop rotation sequence (potatoes, oats, peas, rye) is being applied; on the right field, rye has been grown for 45 years in a row. (Source: Swojec Experimental Farm, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences.)
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons for various benefits such as to avoid the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occurs when one species is continuously cropped. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. It is one component of poly culture. Crop rotation can also improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants.
Crop rotation avoids a decrease in soil fertility, as growing the same crop in the same place for many years in a row disproportionately depletes the soil of certain nutrients. With rotation, a crop that leaches the soil of one kind of nutrient is followed during the next growing season by a dissimilar crop that returns that nutrient to the soil or draws a different ratio of nutrients, for example, rice followed by cotton.
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