Modern agriculture is focused on achieving maximum crop yields and high-quality indicators. Realizing the potential for productivity is possible by eliminating competition with other species and providing plants with all the necessary resources in balance. This strategy is called intensive crop production. Unfortunately, such a strategy leads to reduced biodiversity, the one-sided depletion of nutrients, soil degradation, and contamination with xenobiotics, which can have negative ecological and biological consequences for the environment, subsequent crops, humans, and animals. Alongside intensive technologies, ecological, biological, and regenerative practices are developing, with the aim of preserving the environment, improving biodiversity, and achieving a certain level of agricultural productivity and product quality.

Organic farming methods have their advantages, but in certain aspects, they represent a long-term approach. Achieving a stable biocenosis after transitioning from intensive to organic farming requires a comprehensive strategy for developing such a system. Typically, in the first year after discontinuing the use of chemical plant protection products, crops are more susceptible to diseases, become prime targets for pests, and weeds experience a "burst of freedom." Is there a way to transition to organic technologies more easily and painlessly?

According to agricultural laws, no ecological niche can remain vacant; if a crop does not occupy all niches, weeds will. Some crops can successfully compete with weeds without the use of herbicides. This trait is common among many cereal crops, with barley being the champion in this regard. Barley develops quickly in the spring, matures rapidly, and has a high yield potential. Despite these positives, barley has a lower protein content compared to other cereals, making it less valuable as feed compared to wheat and corn. However, one of barley's strengths is its ability to coexist with other cultivated species that do not occupy its ecological niche.

Historically, peas, beans, and vetch have been similar to barley in terms of environmental and biological requirements, making them suitable for mixed cropping. These crops are also excellent for balancing feed content with protein, both in green mass, straw, and as concentrated feed.

So, why might mixed cropping be the answer to the challenges of transitioning to organic technologies?

1. Complete Occupation of Ecological Niches: The legume-cereal complex occupies all available ecological niches in the first half of the growing season. Weeds in mixed crops either do not emerge or their presence does not significantly impact productivity. By the time legumes begin to mature, weeds may start to appear, but in mixed crops, cereals occupy these niches and also start to mature. With the right variety selection, the ripening periods are synchronized, allowing for simultaneous harvesting.

2. Enhanced Biodiversity: This type of coexistence increases biodiversity, promoting the presence of predatory insects and mites that feed on pests. The absence of insecticides allows these beneficial populations to increase, leading to fewer phytophagous insects in subsequent seasons.

3. Improved Nitrogen Fixation: Legumes are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in the rhizosphere, with excess nitrogen being absorbed by the cereal component. Barley, which is very "greedy" for nitrogen, benefits from the increased efficiency of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, even though they are now working for two plants. Numerous studies have shown that mixed cropping results in higher nitrogen assimilation than monocropping legumes. This nitrogen is assimilated into the vegetative mass and seeds, making the produce from mixed crops suitable for human consumption, animal feed, and as raw material for other byproducts.

4. The Simplicity of Separating the Cereal Fraction from the Legume Fraction

Given that legumes typically have large, spherical, or kidney-shaped seeds, they remain on screens with round holes, while the cereal component is sieved and calibrated through screens with rectangular openings.

Overall, the simultaneous cultivation of several crops, known globally as "intercropping," has been practiced since the dawn of agriculture, but it has seen a resurgence in modern times. The primary advantages of implementing this system include increased production per unit area, reduced fertilizer use, minimized or controlled pesticide application, enhanced biodiversity, and alignment with positive "eco-friendly" trends. Unlike complex organic practices that involve artificially increasing populations of beneficial insects, using viruses, or employing antagonistic fungi against pathogens, intercropping yields results in the first year of implementation.

At the current stage of agricultural development, the focus has shifted from simply creating mixed crops to effectively managing their productivity. In organic farming, a specific group of products known as biostimulants exists, aimed at stimulating biological processes in the plant directly or indirectly through the environment in which it grows. But that is a story for another time.

Oksana Tonkha
Bohdan Mazurenko