In agriculture, polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop species together in the same place at the same time, in contrast to monoculture, which had become the dominant approach in developed countries by 1950. Traditional examples include the intercropping of the Three Sisters, namely maize, beans, and squashes, by indigenous peoples of Central and North America, the rice-fish systems of Asia, and the complex mixed cropping systems of Nigeria.
Pawpaw trees growing under mulberry trees, a forest gardening style of polyculture
A Central American polycultural "milpa" in 2011. Beans are growing among the drying maize; banana trees are in the background.
Excellent soil structure in land in South Dakota farmed without tillage using a crop rotation of maize, soybeans, and wheat accompanied by cover crops. The main crop has been harvested but roots of the cover crop are still visible in autumn.
Applying pesticides to crops in a monoculture: polycultures need lower inputs, reducing environmental harms.
In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare cornfield and a 10-ha field of organic kale are monocultures. Monoculture of crops has allowed farmers to increase efficiency in planting, managing, and harvesting, mainly by facilitating the use of machinery in these operations, but monocultures can also increase the risk of diseases or pest outbreaks. This practice is particularly common in industrialized nations worldwide. Diversity can be added both in time, as with a crop rotation or sequence, or in space, with a polyculture or intercropping.
Monocultural potato field
Aerial view of deforested area prepared for monoculture or cattle ranching, near Porto Velho in Rondônia, Brazil, in 2020