The crop, of course, is by far the biggest user of soil moisture. The way it was explained to me (40 years ago, when I was in college and lived in eastern Washington) is that it took about a year and half's worth of moisture to grow a wheat crop. Summer fallow would only lose about half its moisture, so by growing wheat every other year, you had your year and a half's worth for the crop.
They would disc under the stubble, and the ground would crust over in the winter, which holds moisture in. Rod weeder drags a rotating rod under the surface, to preserve the crust.
What I don't understand is why there is almost no summer fallow in eastern Washington any more. My guess is that with the advent of Roundup, they don't work the stubble down anymore, and that helps slowdown the runoff in the winter, and more water is absorbed. I do remember some hellaceous gullying and erosion from the worked fields in the winter back in the day, and you don't see much of that anymore.
I do know that in some of the poorer rainfall areas, they alternate wheat and barley, because barley doesn't take as much moisture, leaving more for the next wheat crop.
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