Having a good crop rotation and diversity is key for farmers when working in a direct seeding operation.

Brent Flaten is with Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture. He says besides helping to reduce disease pressure, there’s also a number of other benefits:

"Whether it's nitrogen benefit from a legume, or short root systems vs. very deep root systems, trying to take advantage of moisture," he said. "Mycorrhizal effects too, and we see that in flax."

He says the main thing is to not get to tight a crop rotation or not get the right crop rotation:

"We've had some experiences during these wetter years where if you have both peas and lentils in a crop rotation, you're not too tight in the same crop. But both of those crops, peas and lentils, are susceptible to actinomyces, root rot, so therefor that becomes a concern, too."

He notes having a good crop rotation doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for disease problems but it tends to be a lot less than if you have a tight rotation, and producers don’t want to go back into a maximum till summerfallow system where we have dust storms in January like we did through the 80’s.