The most important task performed by sustainability farmers occurs long before a single seed is planted. Before any other activity, encouraging soil health is foremost, since it produces vigorous crops that show greater resistant to pests and disease. Methods used to enhance soil health and productivity, includes crop rotation, soil coverage, and reduced tillage.

Crop Rotation
Crop rotation is the process of planting different crops on the same land in sequential seasons. For example, cereal crops like corn are often planted in one season followed by legumes, such as soybeans in the following season. Planting complementary crops replenish soil nutrients. Corn, for example, sucks nitrates from the soil and soy beans put nitrogen back into the soil

Soil coverage
In nature soil remains covered throughout the year with organic matter, which moderates temperature extremes, improves water absorption, enhances aeration, and protects soil from wind and rain erosion. Sustainability farmers use the following techniques to maintain soil coverage:

• Planting cover crops such as clover and alfalfa offer perennial soil coverage
• A mulch layer is often placed over exposed land

Reduced Tillage
Sustainability farmers avoid activities like moldboard tillage. Turning over soil causes significant problems, since fertile top soil is buried beneath sub soil. Top soil is rich in plant matter and once buried this plant matter is unable to decay properly. Moreover, sub-soil has little plant matter, which makes it much more susceptible to erosion.

Intensive farming places high demands on the land. Crops take nutrients out of the soil that must be replaced for use in successive planting cycles. Chemical fertilizers offer a short-term solution to nutrient depletion, but they cause serious problems in the long-run. Run-off, for example, pollutes rivers and streams. In addition, plants require several different nutrients, while chemical fertilizers provide relatively few compounds, leading to soil exhaustion. By contrast, sustainability farmers use natural methods to maintain soil nutrients as outlined below.

• Biodiversity-Each plant requires a certain set of nutrients and planting the same crop continuously
  depletes such nutrients. Growing a variety of crop types prevents depletion of specific nutrients
• Crop rotation helps to replenish the soil with vital nutrients
• Catch crops reduce mineral leaching
• Composts and aged manures are ideal, eco-friendly fertilizers

Biological Control

• Insects like spiders & mites, prey on unwanted pests keeping pest populations at bay.
• "Farmscaping” is the process of building habitats for natural control agents

Biodiversity

• Pure crop plantations have higher concentration of specific resources that can sustain large populations of crop specific pests
• Diverse plant types prevent pests from recognizing their preferred food source. Certain insects locate green plants against a brown soil background and ignore areas with total plant coverage. Other insects
  recognize plants by smell and plant diversity dilutes the odor of individual plants, preventing insects from locating their preferred food source

Weed Management

• Sod crops out compete weeds for resources, preventing them from spreading
• Cleaning farm equipment to prevent weed seeds from being replanted
• Guard against introduction of weeds from outside sources

Disease Control

• Disease control begins with a healthy soil that produces robust plants
• Plant clean seeds
• Sterilize farm equipment