Crop Rotation Calculator — Your Cyclic Sequence
Expand your crop and family sequence across beds and years, checking a user-selected number of intervening seasons including cycle wraparound.
Turn an explicitly chosen crop sequence into a repeating bed-by-year schedule. You supply both crop names and their family or management-group labels, together with your own required break between repeated groups. The check includes the join between the end and beginning of the cycle.
How to use this tool
- Enter one Crop | Family or group line for each season in your chosen cycle.
- Set the number of beds and years to display.
- Enter the minimum number of intervening seasons required by your local plan.
- Inspect short group breaks and the expanded schedule before using it.
Formula
Crop index = (year offset + bed offset) modulo sequence length; intervening seasons = distance to the previous same-group entry − 1
One crop entry represents one year on a bed. Each later bed starts one step further through the sequence. The gap check treats the sequence as repeating indefinitely; it does not assume that your actual previous field history matches this cycle.
Example
A four-entry cycle with four distinct supplied groups has three intervening seasons before each group returns. With four beds over four years, the table has 16 bed-seasons. A rule requiring three intervening seasons passes this arithmetic check; crop suitability is a separate decision.
Frequently asked questions
Does a passing result establish a good rotation?
No. It only satisfies the rule you entered. Crop choices and required breaks depend on local pests, diseases, soils, residues and production goals. The example order is illustrative, not a universal recommendation.
Will different crops in the same family count as repeats?
Yes, when you give them the same group label. Labels are normalized and converted to lowercase before matching. Use the same spelling consistently; this is not botanical classification or language-specific name matching.
Why is a repeat at the start of the cycle flagged?
The final year is followed by the first year when the cycle repeats. Ignoring that join can hide consecutive same-group plantings. The shortest cyclic break checks every occurrence, including that boundary.
Can I plan two crops in one year?
This version uses one entry per bed per year. A multi-crop season or perennial phase needs a more detailed plan with its own timing and disease-host assumptions.
Sources
Last updated: 2026