Why Do Some Fields Grow Different Crops Each Year?

This week on the Super Smart Farm Show, we're having a field day while talking about why farmers like to move their crops around.

Keen farm observers may notice that farmers will sometimes move their crops around. A field that's growing corn one year will have soybeans next year and the old soybean field is now full of corn. Is there a reason for playing musical crops? And what does it have to do with the soil and weeds?

Join host Elmer, Sawyer the soil scientist and Marvin the marestail weed as they talk about crop rotation.

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In this episode of the Super Smart Farm Show, Elmer and Sawyer the Soil Scientist explain why farmers practice crop rotation and how planting different crops in the same fields from year to year can improve soil health and farm sustainability. Young listeners learn how crops have different nutrient needs, including how corn uses significant amounts of nitrogen while soybeans use nitrogen fixation to make atmospheric nitrogen available in the soil. The episode explores several benefits of crop rotation, including improving soil fertility, reducing soil erosion, disrupting crop pests and diseases, and helping farmers manage weeds through varied herbicides, tillage practices and cover crops. Marvin the Marestail Weed adds some humor while demonstrating how changing crops can make weed management more challenging for persistent weeds. The show also reveals that crop rotation has been practiced for thousands of years, with evidence of the practice dating to around 6000 B.C. in the Middle East. Through interactive quizzes and kid-friendly explanations, this episode teaches children about crop production, soil conservation, nitrogen fixation, pest management, weed control, sustainable agriculture and the science behind healthy farmland.