Intercropping

Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops together in the same field during part or all of their growing periods. It can increase resource use efficiency, diversify production, or reduce risks compared with growing each crop alone.

Complementarity (ecology): The process by which species use resources or perform ecological roles in ways that reduce overlap. Intercrops can use light, water, and nutrients more completely when their resource demands differ.
Milpa: A traditional Mesoamerican farming system that commonly grows maize, beans, and squash together. This well-known polyculture combines crops with contrasting growth forms and uses.
Monoculture: The cultivation of a single crop species or variety over a given area. It contrasts with intercropping by growing one crop rather than a mixture in the field.
Crop yield: The amount of harvested agricultural product produced per unit of land or other input. Mixtures may raise combined output per area, even when one component yields less.
Land equivalent ratio: A measure comparing the land needed for sole crops with the land needed for an intercrop to produce the same yields. It quantifies whether a crop mixture uses land more productively than separate plantings.
Push–pull agricultural pest management: A crop-management strategy that repels pests from a main crop and attracts them to trap plants. It uses companion and border plants to manage stem borers and parasitic weeds in cereal fields.
Crop rotation: The planned sequence of different crops grown on the same land over successive seasons or years. Rotation changes crop identity over time, whereas intercropping overlaps crops in time.
Biodiversity: The variety of living organisms and their differences within a place or across places. Adding crop species changes field habitat and can support more varied biological communities.
Nitrogen fixation: The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into biologically usable compounds, carried out by certain microbes and plants. Legumes can supply nitrogen to neighboring crops through soil processes and residue turnover.
Agroforestry: A land-use system that combines trees or shrubs with crops or livestock. Intercropping can extend beyond annual crops to mixtures that include trees.

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