Contour Strip Cropping is a practice of alternating strips of different crops on the contour. Each strip would have either a spring or fall seeded crop, a row crop or a close grown or drilled crop. One of the crops might be a legumes that stays for several years.

The purpose of such a practice is to prevent all of a given field from being tilled at one time. The area not being tilled would trap soil, nutrients and pesticides from the tilled area. The more trapped on the field the less contaminates that can reach a stream.