Editing Crop rotation (section)

== Planning a rotation ==

There are numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when planning a crop rotation. Planning an effective rotation requires weighing fixed and fluctuating production circumstances: market, farm size, labor supply, climate, soil type, growing practices, etc.<ref name="bailey1907">{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Bailey, L. H. |title=Chapter 5, "Crop Management" |encyclopedia=Cyclopedia of American Agriculture |pages=85–88 |year=1907}}</ref> Moreover, a crop rotation must consider in what condition one crop will leave the soil for the succeeding crop and how one crop can be seeded with another crop.<ref name=bailey1907/> For example, a nitrogen-fixing crop, like a legume, should always precede a nitrogen depleting one; similarly, a low residue crop (i.e. a crop with low biomass) should be offset with a high biomass cover crop, like a mixture of grasses and legumes.<ref name=NRCS/>

There is no limit to the number of crops that can be used in a rotation, or the amount of time a rotation takes to complete.<ref name=coleman2012/> Decisions about rotations are made years prior, seasons prior, or even at the last minute when an opportunity to increase profits or soil quality presents itself.<ref name="johnson2009"/>