[mespe]

Fallow fields are essential to maintaining soil health, a successful practice going back 10k years. Additionally, some of the "barren" fields are actually being used to alternate crop - it is a technique to grow crops with limited natural water. Modern best-practices avoid a lot of erosion by using no-till or low-till systems.

[carapace]

I read up and watched some videos in re: "syntropic agriculture" last night. Ernst Götsch's farm produces crops all year w/o any inputs and with continuous improvement of the soil quality.