catch crop
- noun
- Specialized
:
cultivo de cobertura
- Farmers often plant a catch crop like lettuce to utilize the space between main crop cycles.
Examples
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Radishes are sometimes used as a catch crop between longer-maturing vegetables.
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The use of a catch crop can help prevent soil erosion and increase land productivity.
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Farmers often plant a catch crop to maximize their harvest.
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A catch crop can improve soil health significantly.
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Farmers often plant a catch crop like lettuce to utilize the space between main crop cycles.
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Radishes are sometimes used as a catch crop between longer-maturing vegetables.
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The use of a catch crop can help prevent soil erosion and increase land productivity.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the transparent lexemes 'catch' and 'crop', so learners can guess it refers to a type of crop with some catching-related function, but the precise agronomic sense (a quick-growing crop sown between main crops to make efficient use of time/soil) is specialized and not directly predictable from the everyday meaning of 'catch'. Because 'catch' does not normally mean 'fast-growing' and this is a technical collocation, a B1 learner who only knows the parts would likely get a vague idea but not the exact meaning without exposure.
Etymology
The noun catch crop comes from a simple farm picture: farmers plant a fast-growing catch crop to 'catch' the empty time or space between two main crops. That's why it means a quick crop planted between main crops to use the land well.
