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WHAT IS SUMMER FALLOW?

Farmers in the Great Plains region are shaping the local climate by abandoning the practice of summer fallow.

The practice consists of leaving wheat fields empty for one year in between crop harvests.

The tradition is deeply embedded in some agricultural regions, but scientists now know it is actually harmful to soil.

An essay on the phenomenon said: 'The traditional belief - one that still prevails in some regions - was that leaving fields fallow for alternating growing seasons conserved soil water and nitrogen necessary for plant growth and also broke agricultural pest cycles.

'Additionally, tilling the land, or turning the soil, during fallow periods controlled weeds and allowed soils to "breathe".

'The conventional wisdom went something like this: rigorous planting and harvesting exhausts the earth, and the soil needs to rest. And without plants to feast on, fewer pests survive to attack crops next year.'

However, researchers have now claimed that summer fallow deprives soil of moisture and nutrients.

And farmers who have decided not to observe the tradition have benefited the land by regulating the local climate, which has not been hit as hard by global warming as other regions have been.

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