Talk:Crop rotation

Why mention George Washington Carver and not scientists who's developments were adopted and are in use to this day?

George Washington Carver was indeed a scientist who, specifically, looked into nitrogen fixing in regards to crop rotation. However he was one of countless scientists looking into these agricultural developments - In fact he has many contemporaries whose developments were actually impact full, put into common use, and are still in use to this very day. Particularly via the way of soy beans, there are several scientists who deserve accreditation in the "modern era" section that have apparently been overlooked in favor of Carver. He is worth including as very notable scientist, but not because of his impact in agriculture - but of because of his historical relevance in overcoming the discrimination African Americans Americans faced in his time, in academics, and in the south in general. That is worth noting, but he shouldn't lead the segment unless context given as to why he's being mentioned.

If the mention was prefaced by a sentence saying, "In the modern era one prominent African American scientist who worked in this field in was GWC" then the inclusion of Carver would make some more sense - as it stands its just appears a random scientist, who's work has minimal impact modern agriculture, is being mentioned before all others for no clear reason. He did teach, and thus he did teach Southern farmers, but the section is framed as if his methods were used by all farmers in the south, something that is patently false. 99.75.147.243 (talk) 17:42, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

The 'Modern developments' section could definitely use expansion and improvement. If you have suggestions for WP:RS sources that describe other influential science in this area, please add those sources to the article or in a comment here.Dialectric (talk) 18:13, 15 January 2023 (UTC)

Edit notice: When?

Just explaining my edit.

This article currently says:

"From the times of Charlemagne (died 814), farmers in Europe transitioned from a two-field system to a three-field system. This persisted until the 20th century."

But the article for the three-field system itself, which this article links to, says:

"Previously a two-field system had been in place, with half the land being left fallow. The change happened around the 11th century."

They both use the same source from the University of Houston, which says that the change occurred from the 9th century (I know it's just a framing to say the time period, but the source never mentions Charlemagne so I've removed that) but the change it caused was "delayed until the 11th century". So as far as I can tell the change occurred from the 9th century to the 11th century; it's too vague in my opinion to just say "from the times of Charlemagne".

Also the paragraph in this article concludes saying that the system "increased the overall nutrition of the people of Northern Europe." But... the only source is about all of Europe, not specifically Northern Europe, and Northern Europe is not mentioned at all otherwise. It seems out of place. So I've removed the word "Northern".

I'm not an expert, if anyone knows better about the subject please go ahead and revert.

Thank you 2A02:C7E:2F68:AC00:1568:2CE2:47B:34A6 (talk) 18:41, 5 October 2024 (UTC)