Strip cultivation
Under strip attachment (engl. Strip cropping or strip farming ) is the sequence of narrow, built-up and unbuilt to reduce erosion by water and wind field stripes with the destination.
This method of soil protection is particularly widespread in the Great Plains , where soil and wind erosion lead to the erosion of the fertile soil surface . It is used when the slope is too steep, runs too long or other cultivation methods cannot prevent soil erosion or wind erosion.
Before sowing, strips are plowed parallel to the slope in strip cultivation ( contour farming ), or in flat fields in regions such as the Great Plains, where stronger winds blow, against the main wind direction in order to prevent soil or wind erosion.
With strip cultivation, the cultivation does not take place in large-scale monocultures, but instead strips of densely sown crops such as hay, wheat or other small seeds alternate with strips of crops grown in rows such as corn, soybeans, cotton or sugar beet.
In order to prevent soil erosion, residues of the cultivated plants should remain there as protection after the cultivation area has been harvested.
Disadvantages of the cultivation method
Plowing, sowing and harvesting are considerably more time-consuming and labor-intensive than with large-scale monocultures that can be worked in one piece.
The harvest dates are different so that only parts of the cultivated area can be harvested.
When plowing, the course of the slope must be taken into account so that the furrows are not dead straight, but instead are undulating perpendicular to the slope, which requires a slower working pace.
Many farmers who have carried out strip cultivation due to the severe erosion and the deterioration in soil quality were not prepared to use this method in the long term because the effort seemed too high to them.