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Fields tilled and sown against the natural contour of the land.
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One only needs to fly over the Island to realize the extent of cross-slope and contour farming. On a bright sunny day, the green pastures look like a patchwork quilt following the lay of the land and water. Clearly these measures are popular with Island farmers. Tilling and planting across the natural slope creates a series of dams which redirect and slow runoff. This allows water to soak into the ground or to flow gently between the rows to grassed headlands at the edge of the field or to grassed waterways within the field. On short slopes, cross-slope farming can reduce erosion by up to fifty percent.
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Photo:
Crops planted in rotated strips to break the expanse of a large field
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Strip cropping involves planting crops in strips across the slope, with alternate strips of grain and/or forage crops. Strip cropping combines the soil and moisture conservation properties of cross-slope farming with the soil building advantages of a crop rotation and is more effective in reducing soil losses.
Strip cropping can reduce erosion rates by seventy-five percent if potatoes are grown in a three year rotation with grain and hay compared to farming up and down the slope using the same rotation. Strip cropping has the added benefit of reduced
horsepower and fuel requirements.
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