Question

what is the difference between multiple cropping and dual cropping

Answer 1

The difference between double cropping and mixed cropping is simple. With double cropping, you plant and harvest one single crop, then after harvest, replant another crop either the same or different, and grow and harvest it in the same year or growing season. Mixed cropping is planting complementary or compatible plants in the same crop. It was quite common, years ago, to plant melons with corn in the spring, and harvest the melons before the corn matured, for livestock feed, since both required basically the same nutrients and planted at the same time. This was fairly simple since fields were small, less than 40 acres, and were cultivated with mules or oxen, not huge diesel powered machines here in the southeastern U.S. Other mixed crops might be feasible if the crops are hand picked at harvest, or the machinery used to harvest can handle both products, but I cannot imagine an example of this. Produce farmers can both double crop and mix crops since most of their products are hand picked on small scale, but there needs to be an economic incentive for doing so.