Cropping

Cropping is the practice of growing and harvesting crops for food, feed, fiber, or industrial products. It encompasses the selection of crops, field preparation, planting, crop management, and harvest, and is a core activity in agriculture and farming.

Cropping systems describe how crops are organized on land. Monocropping concentrates on a single crop variety in a field across seasons. Crop rotation alternates different crops to improve soil fertility and break pest cycles. Intercropping plants two or more crops in proximity to enhance resource use and reduce risk. Mixed farming combines crop production with livestock or other enterprises.

Key practices include choosing suitable varieties, determining planting date and density, soil preparation, irrigation or rainfall management, fertilization, weed and pest control, and timely harvest.

Outputs are measured as yields, quality, and profitability, with metrics such as cropping intensity and land productivity. Sustainable cropping emphasizes soil conservation (e.g., reduced tillage, cover crops), nutrient management, water efficiency, and integrated pest management to reduce environmental impact.

Cropping patterns vary by climate, soils, infrastructure, and markets, with shifts driven by price signals and policy. Advances in technology—drip irrigation, precision agriculture, and plant breeding—aim to increase productivity while reducing inputs.

In digital imaging, cropping means removing portions of an image to improve framing or fit a display. It is a common editing operation that alters the composition of the image without necessarily changing the underlying file content.