Cropping systems

Cropping systems enable the management of crops so as to efficiently use the available climatic and soil resources. The cropping systems that producers use are therefore greatly influenced by the environmental conditions of a region. Cropping systems vary in their biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to all the species of living organisms in an agroecosystem that we will consider a whole farm. Continuous cropping and crop rotation are two approaches for using a land area or field over the years. With coninuous cropping, the same crop is frown for 2 or more years on the same land. Continuous cropping is typically practiced when there are economic incentives for growing that single crop or there is a limited market for alternative crops.

Coffee plants are grown from seed in seedbeds until they have two true leaves. Seedlings are shaded to prevent excessive water loss. After 3 months they are moved into nursery beds where they grow to 20-40 cm high before transplanting out in to the field at the start of the rainy season.First harvests are taken after bushes flower at 3-4 years old. Coffee plants produce cherry-like fruit (‘berries’) with red skins when ripe. These are harvested 7-8 months after flowering.The most expensive and labor intensive method of harvesting is to go over the crop several times picking only the ripe fruit. Alternatively, if ripening is relatively uniform, the crop may be stripped by hand or mechanically, Unripe berries are sorted later. Two beans are usually found within each fruit. ‘Green coffee’ is the extracted beans ready for roasting.