How do farmers increase the fertility of their soil and crops?

Perhaps rice farmers till in the rice straw, for example. That would increase the amount of organic material in the soil, improve moisture retention, increase microbial activity in the soil, generate a low-level fertilizing effect due to composting, and generally just make everything better. read more

Some crops are grown specifically to be tilled in -- these are called Green Manure crops. Clover, alfalfa, and legumes like cow-peas fall into this category. If you plant clover, you can harvest one crop of hay, and then plow in the next growth at the end of the season. read more

With the perennial irrigation system, farmers can _____. generate their own electricity plant two or three crops increase the fertility of their soil read more

Adjusting soil fertility is certainly an important part of good management, but you won’t see any return from the adjustments unless your crop rotations, choice of adapted varieties, legume cover crops included frequently in the rotation, tillage, weed control, and other such factors are in line. read more