Tending crops before, during and after Shmitta

Let us move on to the subject of tending crops before, during and after Shmitta. The source is again tractate Moed Katan page 3B: "The verses teach us: 'do not plow or reap.' R' Akiva says the verse is not needed to teach us about not plowing or not reaping because another verse taught us already not to sow your field and not to prune your vineyard. So for what purpose was this written? To teach us not to plow BEFORE the seventh year and not to reap AFTER the seventh year." The idea is that it is possible to prepare land by plowing it so that it will be in good condition to produce next year. That is because plowing does at least two things: (1)it opens the land allowing seeds that fall there to be in a good position to sprout, and (2) it breaks open the upper surface allowing rain to sink deep and reach the roots of sprouting seeds. The Torah does not want us to do these improvements, according to R' Akiva, and so forbids plowing before the start of the seventh year. Of course, if plowing and other types of work are done for the benefit of existing sixth year crops in the field, they should be permitted. At the end of the seventh year there are often patches of land that made it through the difficult 12 month period without any tending of the fields - and produce is growing in them. Perhaps some wheat or oats or vegetables that by accident or with the help of wind and rain conditions managed to sprout during the seventh year and made it all the way to Rosh Hashana of the eighth year. The Torah does not want us to tend or reap those plants that began to sprout and take root in the seventh year. Therefore, according to R' Akiva, there is no permission to reap those "crops" - exactly the same as during the seventh year itself. It is important to know that when the Torah forbids reaping produce grown during the shmitta year, it only made forbidden reaping like a land owner does: (1) all at one time and (2) for his own warehouse to sell off to others. However, the Torah allows any Jew to go to the field and pick a quantity of one or two days of produce from those patches that grew without cultivation in the seventh year for his home-needs. The owner of the field may also go to his field and reap one or two days worth of produce for his home-needs.

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