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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.
===============================================
From: 
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas - ATTRA 
http://www.attra.org 
================================================


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