Improving Cropping System for Sustainable Agriculture in South Florida.

Winter fresh market vegetable production is an important agricultural industry in south Florida of the United States because of the favorable weather. However, the major challenges for local growers are high land value, extensive pest pressure, intensive nutrient leaching in gravelly soil by torrential summer rainfall, and a vulnerable environment with a shallow aquifer. All these features make a unique cropping system challenging the sustainability of agriculture. Some cover crops, such as sunn hemp, sorghum sudangrass, and pearl millet, can grow vigorously during the hot and rainy summer, conserve soil and water, scavenge residual nutrients applied in the previous season and accumulate them in plant tissues. These nutrients can release through decomposition to provide vegetable crop needs after these tissues being incorporated into the soil. The approach has become a dominant practice in reducing nutrient leaching, suppressing field weeds and soil-borne pests, and improving crop yield and quality. Therefore, incorporating cover crops into the cropping system has shown a promising potential as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly practice to improve the sustainability of agriculture in this region.