Perennial Crops in Rotation
Nothing mimics perenniality better than a perennial. Manitoba studies have shown that perennial crops mimic much of the rooting features of the natural grasslands. However not all perennials are equal. For example, monoculture alfalfa hay crops do not mimic the prairie system as well as a multispecies pasture. Nevertheless, perennial crops are critical to any naturally-based system. Several perennial systems will be explored in this section.
In recent years, farmers have used no-till systems to establish and remove perennial crops from the rotation. The combination of no-till and a high degree of perennial crops in the rotation allows the cropping system to more closely mimic a natural system.
Articles
- The Feral Nature of Alfalfa and Implications for The Co-Existence of Genetically Modified (GM) and Non-GM Alfalfa by Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan and Rene C. Van Acker (PDF 610kb; opens in new window)
- The Rotational Benefits of Forages
Paper
Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience. Thiessen Martens, J. R., Entz, M. H. and Wonneck, M. D. 2015.
This page created October 2005.
Last updated September 2016.