Crop Rotation Enhances Pest, Disease, Agroecosystem Resilience, and Sustainability in Crop Production

Abstract

Ensuring food security with limited farm resources under a climate change scenario is a major challenge for agricultural scientists. Conventional farming uses ample fertilizers and pesticides for crop production, which badly impacts the environment. The key to sustainable agriculture is finding ways to boost productivity with sustainability. This chapter focuses on the importance of crop rotations for achieving the said goal by highlighted several benefits of implementing diversified crop rotations, including the conversion of atmospheric CO2 into plant biomass, improving system (pests, diseases, weed infestations, and abiotic and biotic stress) resilience, and enhancing water and fertilizer use efficiencies. Furthermore, legume-based crop rotations also benefit a significant reduction in the use of synthetic fertilizers and augment the sustainability of the agricultural production system. Thus, cropping rotation has become indispensable to transform agriculture and pave the way for a more sustainable future.