[Low Tech] Crop Rotation Patterns

[scc]

One thing I've felt was missing from LTC3 and the follow up Pyramid articles was that while they mentioned crop rotation, they only actually provide details on the most basic system and hints at the other ones, so I'm creating this thread to ask for examples.

People need not restrict themselves to examples from TL1-4, after all Yrth likely has advanced agricultural knowledge from else where in the IW, and DF is likely ancient, someone stumbling upon a better is not unbelievable.

Personally I', currently interested in vegetable oil in pattern with stables such as wheat, rice or corn.

[whswhs]

I recommend reading up on the Norfolk four-course rotation, for one.

[Anaraxes]

Canola (rapeseed) is often grown in rotation with wheat, peas, or flax. A 3-year gap between canola crops is ideal; at least one is recommended. Yields are around 10-20% higher, with better pest and disease management.

Corn is grown in rotation with soybeans or alfalfa for hay in various patterns, sometimes just alternating with soybeans, or up to three years of alfalfa between corn crops, sometimes two years of corn and three of alfalfa. The decision on the exact pattern is usually driven by economics and the value of the non-corn crops. Again, it's about a 10-20% increase in yield over continuously planting corn. Decreased demand for nitrogen fertilizer is a motivation (which factors into that economic decision), as well as reducing diseases and pests.

Rice is usually alternated with soybeans, and sometimes wheat or barley. You might see corn as an oil crop. In Southeast Asia, sometimes you'll see palm oil.

Any crop rotation system is just one implementation of general principles. They don't have to be followed strictly and mechanically. It's not a specific pattern of exact plants that matters. Work backwards from the basic idea (get something nitrogen fixing in there, something that uses a different proportion of nutrients than your main crop, and break it up just so the diseases don't have a consistent environment to colonize) and you can invent all sorts of systems. Climate is also a big factor, as you can of course only rotate crops that will actually grow in your area.

Economics matter, too, which isn't a matter of evil farmers raping the land for extra profit, but of simple practicality in producing the desired product. There's no point in growing something worthless that costs you a whole year of income but that gives you a 3% increase in yield, compared to continuous planting at 80% yield. Two years gives you 160% compared to 103%. Similarly, rotating with something that gives you a 10% improvement, but that has its own value locally, is more appealing than losing that year for a 20% improvement. So all the crops in the rotation matter, not just one main one.

[robertsconley]

I have a question that is somewhat unrelated to crop rotation but is related to medieval agriculture.

What are sheepfolds used for in animal husbandry? I know they are a pen for sheep. But you got your pasture and you got your sheepfold/pens out in the pasture land. What role they play in the whole scheme during medieval times before the 18th century enclosure.

[ericthered]

And in many respects, the strain you're using matters as much as the rotation.

Just as 16th century horses are a lot bigger than 6th century BC, so with grain. You get better yields.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I recommend reading up on the Norfolk four-course rotation, for one.

This, and other four-crop rotations, were key to the success of farming until the development of industrial agriculture in the 1950s, with chemical fertilizers and pesticides in widespread use, as a by-product of the petroleum economy.

Another four-crop rotation uses, cereals -> beans/peas/peanuts (high protein nitrogen-fixers) -> beets or turnips (used for sugar or fodder) -> alfalfa (nitrogen-fixing hay).

In North America, you can use Three-Sisters agriculture, also. This has maize and beans planted together, so the nitrogen-fixing beans help the corn, and the corn-stalk acts as a trellis for the beans. Between the bean-corn mixture, plant butternut squash, which adds more starches, and which has broad leaves with hair-like extrusions that create a ground-level micro-climate to reduce evaporation, and fight pests. Once potatoes were introduced to North America, those got added to the rotation in the second year, and alfalfa was grown the third, once the Europeans arrived, although they sometimes added a year of peanuts, too.

Basically, you need a cereal crop, followed by a nitrogen-fixing protein crop, followed by one that uses deep soil nutrients instead of surface nutrients, and then a fodder crop (hopefully one that also fixed nitrogen). At the end of every harvest, spread manure on the fields and plow it in.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Canola (rapeseed) is often grown in rotation with wheat, peas, or flax. A 3-year gap between canola crops is ideal; at least one is recommended. Yields are around 10-20% higher, with better pest and disease management.
..

Isn't non-GMO rapeseed toxic? If so, then it wouldn't really fit Low Tech.

[scc]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Isn't non-GMO rapeseed toxic? If so, then it wouldn't really fit Low Tech.

No, at least not in the way you're thinking of. There are at least two strains of Canola, one made via genetic engineering, the other via more traditional methods

[(E)]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

I have a question that is somewhat unrelated to crop rotation but is related to medieval agriculture.

What are sheepfolds used for in animal husbandry? I know they are a pen for sheep. But you got your pasture and you got your sheepfold/pens out in the pasture land. What role they play in the whole scheme during medieval times before the 18th century enclosure.

Shearing, mothering on, marking, docking, monitoring sick animals, reducing food intake with prolapse cases (bearings), drafting/sorting, weaning, tarring, crutching, emptying out, training dogs and any situation where there will be lots of catching.

It is easier to move the labour to the sheep than vice versa. Also at some times of the year (lambing leaps to mind) you want to move the sheep as little as possible so having a pen close to where the sheep graze is useful. (Portable yards are the modern equivalent)

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by scc

No, at least not in the way you're thinking of. There are at least two strains of Canola, one made via genetic engineering, the other via more traditional methods

Huh. Looking at the Wikipedia pages, it looks like the toxic oil's effects in dietary intake of natural rapeseed was initially over-estimated. (The older I get, the more outdated random pieces of data I know become.)

Not something to ingest loads of when you have preexisting heart issues, but when is that ever an issue for the majority of a campaign setting?