If climate change is a reality, science predicts the severity of pests and diseases to grow.  In order to break our reliance on pesticides alone, we must employ the resilience of biologically diverse systems.  Simply put, planned crop rotations are one strategy to adapt to global change.

You can experience your local planet right at home by growing plants.  Farmers work outdoors day in and day out so outdoor experience comes with the job.  Gardeners can model what farmers manage over hundreds of acres on micro-sized plots of land.  If you consider the specific relationships a insect pest has with specific plants, you can appreciate the power of crop rotations.

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Plan and project the plant families you intend to grow during different seasons.  Separate your land into distinct plots that serve as boundaries through which you can orchestrate a rotation.  Consciously, select plants from various families and build in a calendar to time planting and harvest.  Think of your land as a diversified portfolio that grows ever more resistant to volatile times of pest and disease.

The cycle of crop rotations comes full circle as we face unpredictable times.  What appears to be a prudent practice to land stewardship while breaking dependence on synthetic inputs might not stand up to economic challenges.  Not all plant families are created equal and thus they fetch variable prices.  So long as our world is volatile we need to depend on resilience to weather the storm.  How much of a risk are we willing to take?