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New: Intercropping Principles and Production Practices
Announcing this new web item from ATTRA.
Intercropping Principles and Production Practices
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/intercrop.html
Abstract
Intercropping offers farmers the opportunity to engage nature's
principle of diversity on their farms. Plant spatial arrangements,
planting rates, and maturity dates must be considered when planning
intercrops. Intercrops can be more productive than growing pure
stands. Many different intercrop systems are discussed including
mixed intercropping, strip cropping and traditional intercropping
arrangements. Pest management benefits can also be realized from
intercropping due to increased diversity. Harvesting options for
intercrops include hand harvest, machine harvest for on-farm feed and
animal harvest of the standing crop.
The author is Preston Sullivan, agronomy specialist.
Here's another sample, from the "Introduction."
Sustainable agriculture seeks, at least in principle, to use nature
as the model for designing agriculture systems. Since nature
consistently integrates her plants and animals into a diverse
landscape, a major tenet of sustainable agriculture is to create and
maintain diversity. Nature is also efficient. There are no waste
products in nature. Outputs from one organism become inputs for
another. The death of one organism becomes food for other organisms.
Since we are modeling nature, let us first look at some of the
principles by which nature functions. By understanding these
principles we can utilize them to reduce costs and increase
profitability, while at the same time sustaining our land
resource base.
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From:
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas - ATTRA
http://www.attra.org
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