Crop desiccation is used as a pre-harvest herbicide and harvest aid on cereal crops including wheat and oats and on oil seed rape. As a systemic herbicide it is not a true desiccant as it can take weeks rather than days for the crop to die back after application. In the UK, it began to be applied to wheat crops in the 1980s to control perennial weeds such as common couch which was very effective and meant that sowing of the next crop could occur sooner. Use as a harvest aid in the UK increased after the introduction of strobilurin fungicides which
Crop rotation for specialist crops, and to reduce waste and inefficiency by simplifying planting and harvesting. A preliminary assessment of crop interrelationships can be found in how each crop: (1) contributes to soil organic matter (SOM) content, (2) provides for pest management, (3) manages deficient or excess nutrients, and (4) how it contributes to or controls for soil erosion. Crop choice is often related to the goal the farmer is looking to achieve with the rotation, which could be weed management, increasing available nitrogen in the soil, controlling for erosion, or increasing soil structure and biomass, to name a few. When discussing