Intercropping and Companion Planting in Organic Production
- Resources
- Soils and Fertility
- Horticulture
- Field Crops
- Crop Rotation
- Pest Management
- Season Extension
- Seed Production and Plant Breeding
- Livestock
- Ecology and Environment
- Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods
- Post-harvest Handling, Storage and Processing
- Social Science
- Marketing and Economics
- Transition to Organic
- Canadian Organic Research Priorities
Practical Resources
- Agronomic Benefits of Intercropping Annual Crops in Manitoba
- Natural Systems Agriculture. 2004
- Companion Planting: Basic Concepts & Resources
- ATTRA. 2009
- Companion Planting & Botanical Pesticides: Concepts & Resources
- ATTRA. 2016
- Cultivar Mixtures, Cover Crops, and Intercropping with Organic Spring Wheat
- Natural Systems Agriculture. 2006
- Intercropping: Increasing Crop Diversity [PDF – 812 kB]
- Prairie Organic Grain Initiative. 2016
- Intercropping: Utilizing More Efficiently the Acres that We Have
- Pivot and Grow Video Series by the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative. 2016
- Mixed Crop Options for Maritime Organic Growers [PDF - 146 kB]
- OACC. 2006
Scientific Results
Effects of intercropping on crop yield and quality in organic systems
- Annual maize and perennial grass-clover strip cropping for increased resource use efficiency and productivity using organic farming practice as a model
- European Journal of Agronomy (2013) 47: 55-64
- Bi-cropping white lupins (Lupinus albus L.) with cereals for wholecrop forage in organic farming: The effect of seed rate and harvest dates on crop yield and quality
- Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2012) 28: 86-100
- Crop yield, root growth, and nutrient dynamics in a conventional and three organic cropping systems with different levels of external inputs and N re-cycling through fertility building crops
- European Journal of Agronomy (2012) 37: 66-82
- Dynamic analysis of competition and complementarity for light and N use to understand the yield and the protein content of a durum wheat–winter pea intercrop
- Plant and Soil (2010) 330: 37-54
- Early assessment of ecological services provided by forage legumes in relay intercropping
- European Journal of Agronomy (2016) 75: 89-98
- Ecological principles underlying the increase of productivity achieved by cereal-grain legume intercrops in organic farming. A review
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2015) 35: 911-935
- Effect of intercropping normal-leafed or semi-leafless winter peas and triticale after shallow and deep ploughing on agronomic performance, grain quality and succeeding winter wheat yield
- Field Crops Research (2015) 180: 80-89
- Effect of sowing date and variety on yield and weed populations in a lentil–barley mixture
- The Journal of Agricultural Science (2013) 151: 672-681
- Effects of intercropping on yield, weed incidence, forage quality and soil residual N in organically grown forage maize (Zea mays L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.)
- Field Crops Research (2014) 169: 21-29
- The efficiency of a durum wheat-winter pea intercrop to improve yield and wheat grain protein concentration depends on N availability during early growth
- Plant and Soil (2010) 330: 19-35
- Grain yield and quality characteristics of different genotypes of winter pea in comparison to spring pea for organic farming in pure and mixed stands
- Organic Agriculture (2012) 1: 187-202
- Influence of durum wheat-faba bean intercrop on specific quality traits of organic durum wheat
- Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2017) 33: 28-39
- Intercropping of maize and pulses: an evaluation of organic cropping systems
- Organic Agriculture (2016) 6: 1-17
- Intercropping spring wheat with cereal grains, legumes and oilseeds fails to improve productivity under organic management
- Agronomy Journal (2008) 100: 1436-1442
- Intercropping Wheat and Beans: Effects on Agronomic Performance and Land Productivity
- Crop Science (2014) 54: 2285-2293
- Interseeding forage brassicas into sweet corn: forage productivity and effect on sweet corn yield
- Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (1998) 11: 51-58
- Local food production in a subarctic Indigenous community: the use of willow (Salix spp.) windbreaks to increase the yield of intercropped potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability (2017) eArticle:1-11
- Optimizing lentil-based mixed cropping with different companion crops and plant densities in terms of crop yield and weed control
- Organic Agriculture (2012) 2: 79-87
- Organic fertilizer effects on growth, crop yield, and soil microbial biomass indices in sole and intercropped peas and oats under organic farming conditions
- European Journal of Agronomy (2013) 52: 259-270
- Producing organic wheat with high grain protein content: the significance of intercropping and the need for diagnostic tools
- Organic Eprints. 2011
- Productivity of Field Pea and Lentil with Cereal and Brassica Intercrops
- Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 249-256
- Strip-Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures Affects Biomass, Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio, and Spatial Distribution of Cover Crop Residue
- Agronomy Journal (2016) 108: 2433-2443
- Yield and Weed Suppression of Crop Mixtures in Organic and Conventional Systems of the Western Canadian Prairie
- Agronomy Journal (2012) 104: 756-762
Intercropping for soil health and fertility
- Barley–pea intercropping: Effects on land productivity, carbon and nitrogen transformations
- Field Crops Research (2014) 166: 18-25
- Biological nitrogen fixation in mixed legume-cereal cropping systems
- Plant and Soil (1992) 141: 155-175
- Biological nitrogen fixation in mixed legume/grass pastures
- Plant and Soil (1992) 141: 137-153
- Contribution of relay intercropping with legume cover crops on nitrogen dynamics in organic grain systems
- Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems (2014) 98: 1-14
- Dinitrogen fixation and transfer in legume-crested wheatgrass mixtures on semiarid rangelands
- Arid Land Research and Management (1993) 7: 1-13
- Effect of spring fertilization on ecosystem services of organic wheat and clover relay intercrops
- European Journal of Agronomy (2016) 73: 73-82
- Intercropping with legume for agroecological cropping systems: Complementarity and facilitation processes and the importance of soil microorganisms. A review
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2017) 240: 148-161
- Preliminary trials using a white clover (Trifolium repens L.) understorey to supply the nitrogen requirements of a cereal
- Grass and Forage Science (1992) 47: 366-374
- Suitability of legume cover crop-winter wheat intercrops on the semi-arid Canadian Prairies
- Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2010) 90: 479-488
- Mechanical control of clover improves nitrogen supply and growth of wheat in winter wheat/white clover intercropping
- European Journal of Agronomy 24 (2006) 149–155
- Wheat/forage legume intercropping in organic grain system: an answer to both weed and nitrogen deficiency issues
- Organic Eprints. 2014
Intercropping for pest control
- Agronomic aspects of strip intercropping lettuce with alyssum for biological control of aphids
- Biological Control (2013) 65: 302-311
- Agronomy of strip intercropping broccoli with alyssum for biological control of aphids
- Biological Control (2016) 97: 109-119
- Can legume companion plants control weeds without decreasing crop yield? A meta-analysis
- Field Crops Research (2017) 204: 158-168
- The competitive ability of pea–barley intercrops against weeds and the interactions with crop productivity and soil N availability
- Field Crops Research (2011) 122: 264-272
- Effect of interseeding cover crops and fertilization on weed suppression under an organic and rotational cropping system: 1. Stability of weed suppression over years and main crops of potato, maize and soybean
- Field Crops Research (2012) 127: 9-16
- Effects of Intercropping with Flowering Plants on Predation of Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Eggs by Generalist Predators in Bell Peppers
- Environmental Entomology (2012) 41: 612-620
- Effects of woodchip mulch and barley intercropping on weeds in lentil crops
- Weed Research (2012) 52: 161-168
- Genotypically diverse cultivar mixtures for insect pest management and increased crop yields
- Journal of Applied Ecology (2012) 49: 974-985
- Intercropping hampers the nocturnal biological control of aphids
- Annals of Applied Biology (2017) 172:148-159
- Relay-intercropped forage legumes help to control weeds in organic grain production
- European Journal of Agronomy (2013) 49: 158-167
- Suppressing weed growth after wheat harvest with underseeded red clover in organic farming
- Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2016) 31: 185-190
- Suppression of Annual Weeds in Pea and Cereal Intercrops
- Agronomy Journal (2014) 106: 1765-1774
- Weed, disease and grain yield effects of cultivar mixtures in organically managed spring wheat
- Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2007) 87: 855–859
- Weed suppressive ability in sole and intercrops of pea and oat and its interaction with ploughing depth and crop interference in organic farming
- Organic Agriculture (2015) 5: 39-51
- Wheat/forage legume intercropping in organic grain system: an answer to both weed and nitrogen deficiency issues
- Organic Eprints. 2014
Managing intercrops in organic agriculture
- Biotic and abiotic factors impacting establishment and growth of relay intercropped forage legumes
- European Journal of Agronomy (2016) 81: 169-177
- Effect of ploughing depth and mechanical soil loading on soil physical properties, weed infestation, yield performance and grain quality in sole and intercrops of pea and oat in organic farming
- Soil and Tillage Research (2015) 148: 59-73
- Intercropping – The practical application of diversity, competition, and facilitation in arable and organic cropping systems
- Organic Eprints. 2005
- Life cycle assessment applied to pea-wheat intercrops: A new method for handling the impacts of co-products
- Journal of Cleaner Production (2014) 73: 80-87
- Managing white clover living mulch for sweet corn production with partial rototilling
- American Journal of Alternative Agriculture (1990): 5: 4-12
- Mechanical control of clover improves nitrogen supply and growth of wheat in winter wheat/white clover intercropping
- European Journal of Agronomy (2006) 24: 149–155
- Organic and conventional management of mixtures of wheat and spring cereals
- Agronomy for Sustainable Development (2008) 28: 363-371