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A comment on Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desiccate to ripen their crops. Parent comment

Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by FlyMoreRockets on Sunday November 25, 2018 @09:13PM (#18530512)
A simple out of the box solution is intercropping. The loss of a single crop in a multi-crop system is not a ruinous loss compared to monocropping. It also reduces the requirements for pesticides and fertilizers if done well.
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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by artificialLimbs on Sunday November 25, 2018 @10:43PM (#18530878)
Yep. See Sepp Holzer's mountain farm for an egregious example of this.
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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by icebraining on Monday November 26, 2018 @10:30AM (#18533968)
I'm not a native speaker, but generally "egregious" means "particularly bad", is that what you meant?
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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by ovi256 on Monday November 26, 2018 @07:00AM (#18532683)
Is this solution compatible with contemporary mechanized agriculture ? Seeding, spraying, harvesting by machines ?

Otherwise, it's like finding an automobile manufacturing improvement that can only be used with hand assembly. Besides Rolls-Royce, it won't help anyone.

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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by FlyMoreRockets on Monday November 26, 2018 @12:40PM (#18535171)
Yes, depending on the particular intercrop. It's an area that could benefit from the application of robotics.
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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by bluGill on Monday November 26, 2018 @10:27AM (#18533946)
Somewhat, but 180 bushels of corn at $3.50/bushel is worth more than 60 bushels soybeans at $10/bushel. Farmers only grow soybeans because they are a source of fertilizer for their corn and so it works out in the long run.
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Re:Swathing is going out of fashion, as most farmers desicca... by FlyMoreRockets on Monday November 26, 2018 @12:42PM (#18535193)
This is why farmers spend so much money on insurance.
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