Crop rotation and crop mixing are two examples of traditional farming techniques. These techniques are more labor intensive and produce lower crop yields than modern techniques.
Crop rotation involves dividing a parcel of land into multiple sections. Each planting season, one section is left idle. The idle section is rotated each season. This allows the soil to replenish nutrients. Crop mixing involves planting multiple types of complementary crops on the same land. The products released into the soil by one crop serve as nutrients for the other. In the Americas, indigenous people customarily planted corn, beans and squash together in a form of crop mixing.