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NEON:  The Northeast Organic Network Crop Rotation Manuals and Spreadsheets

Coming soon from NRAES:
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual
by Charles L. Mohler and Sue Ellen Johnson

Supplements to Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual Guide to the Expert Farmers’ DACUM Chart for
Manage Crop Rotation System
[527K .pdf file]

In January 2002, the New England Small Farm Institute convened a panel of twelve experienced organic vegetable farmers to discuss crop rotation. The goal was to give the NorthEast Organic Network (NEON) a better understanding of how successful farmers really manage crop rotations, as background for the development of a crop rotation planning manual. Using a structured, facilitated process called DACUM, the panel developed a chart detailing the actions and decisions related to rotations on their farms.

This booklet presents and summarizes the chart (pages 13-24). It also contains a description of the background of the project and findings, farmers’ comments about the process (pages 4-6), and sample five-year rotations for real fields on each of the panelists’ farms (pages 7-12). A summary of comments from additional farmers based on a verification process can be found on page 26. Brief biographies of the expert panelists and descriptions of their operations is on page 27.