Welcome to the Dry Farming Accelerator Program!
This webpage hosts our Dry Farming Curriculum other resources for Dry Farming Accelerator Program participants and the general public.
Dry Farming Curriculum
The Dry Farming Curriculum is a self-paced online course designed to provide you with an introductory overview of dry farming in the maritime Pacific Northwest. The course includes farmer interviews, slide lectures, and supplementary content linked below.
If you have completed any of the course modules below, you can complete this feedback survey to help us improve and build the Dry Farming Curriculum.
The Dry Farming Curriculum is divided into three modules:
MODULE 1: Introduction to Dry Farming - Understanding Key Concepts and Practices
MODULE 2: Site Suitability for Dry Farming - The Impact of Soil and Climate
MODULE 3: Crop and Cultivar Selection - Turning our Attention to the Plant
The following farmers graciously provided video interviews for the course curriculum. You can see their locations on the map on the right.
Teresa Retzlaff of 46 North Farm
- Location: Astoria, OR
- Acres Dry Farmed: <1
- Plant Hardiness Zone: 8
- Annual Rainfall: 87 inches
Liz Shinn of Camron Ridge Farmstead
- Location: Jefferson, OR
- Acres Dry Farmed: <1
- Plant Hardiness Zone: 8
- Annual Rainfall: 44 inches
Dan Schuler of Moondog's Farm
- Location: Marcola, OR
- Acres Dry Farmed: 5
- Plant Hardiness Zone: 8
- Annual Rainfall: 53 inches
Jacques Neukom of Neukom Family Farm
- Location: Willow Creek, CA
- Acres Dry Farmed: 45
- Plant Hardiness Zone: 9
- Annual Rainfall: 53 inches
Blake Richard of Wild Rose Farm
- Location: Blue Lake, CA
- Acres Dry Farmed: 200
- Plant Hardiness Zone: 9
- Annual Rainfall: 49 inches
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MODULE 1: Introduction to Dry Farming - Understanding Key Concepts and Practices
Once you have completed this module you should be able to:
- Define dry farming, dryland farming, and rainfed farming
- Identify successful historic and contemporary dry farming and dryland farming industries
- Identify six reasons why a farmer might consider dry farming as opposed to irrigated farming
- Identify crops that you might consider trialing on your dry farm
- Describe key dry farming concepts and practices
- Understand the importance of conserving soil moisture when dry farming
- Understand the importance of weed control when dry farming
Required Materials:
Optional/Supplemental Materials:
- Article: Dry Farming in the Maritime Pacific Northwest: Intro to Dry Farming Organic Vegetables by Amy Garrett
- Aricle: Organic Dry-Farmed Tomato Production on California's Central Coast by Jim Leap and others
- Video: Hopi Dry Farming: 2000 Years of Resiliency by Michael Kotutwa Johnson
- Video: The Story of New Mexico’s First Black Settlement, Blackdom by Maya Allen
- Video: Dry Farming Carrots by Jacques Neukom
- Video: Tillage practices and soil moisture monitoring in Eastern OR by Katie Swanson and others.
- Video: Soil Management for Dry Farm Tomato Production by Matt Davis, Amy Garrett, and Alex Stone
- Article: Steel in the Field by Greg Bowman and others
- Article: Dry Farming by John Widtsoe
Please complete this feedback survey to help us improve and build the Dry Farming Curriculum.
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MODULE 2: Site Suitability for Dry Farming - The Impact of Soil and Climate
Once you have completed this module you should be able to:
- Understand what factors determine site suitability for dry farming
- Understand what factors control soil available water holding capacity (soil AWHC)
- Name potential subsoil constraints that may limit soil AWHC
- Understand how soil fertility impacts dry farm performance
- Understand how climate impacts dry farm performance
- Understand how microclimate impacts dry farm performance and ways it can be altered
- Understand methods for evaluating your farm for dry farming site suitability
Required Materials:
- Video: Site Suitability for Dry Farming - The Impact of Soil and Climate
- Spreadsheet: The Soil Available Water Holding Capacity Calculator
Optional/Supplemental Materials:
- Map: Dry Farming Suitability Map of Oregon by Desiree Braziel and Lucas Nebert
- Manual for Judging Oregon Soils by Herb Huddleston and Gerald Kling
- Agricultural Productivity Ratings for Soils of the Willamette Valley by Herb Huddleston
- Web Soil Survey
- How to use Web Soil Survey to assess soil available water holding capacity
- Red Hill Soils Website
- Nutrient Management for Sustainable Vegetable Cropping Systems in Western Oregon by Dan Sullivan and others
- Soil Test Interpretation Guide by Donald Horneck and others
- Analytical Laboratories Serving Oregon by Shannon Andrews and others
Please complete this feedback survey to help us improve and build the Dry Farming Curriculum.
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MODULE 3: Crop and Cultivar Selection - Turning our Attention to the Plant
Once you have completed this module you should be able to:
- Understand how drought stress affects crops
- Understand what traits might prevent drought stress and improve crop productivity and quality
- Name cultivars of tomato, potato, winter squash, melon, zucchini, corn, bean, and carrot that the dry farming program and dry farmers have trialed
- Understand factors affecting the profitability of dry farmed crops
- Know where you can get materials to help market your dry farmed crops
Required Materials:
Optional/Supplemental Materials:
- Principles of Tomato Grafting
- vegetablegrafting.org
- OSU Dry Farm Tomato Project
- OSU Dry Farm Melon Project
- OSU BER Toolkit Project
- OSU Dry Farmed Culinary Corn Project
- Dry Farming Collaborative - YouTube Channel - for variety trial updates and other videos
- A Seed Saving Guide for Gardeners and Farmers - from Organic Seed Alliance
- Dry Farming Collaborative - Facebook Group
- Dry Farming Institute - Dry Farming Seed Directory
- Dry Farming Institute - Dry Farmed Produce Directory
- Adaptive Seeds - Dry Farming Adaptive Varieties
Please complete this feedback survey to help us improve and build the Dry Farming Curriculum.
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46 North Farm - Full Interview
Camron Ridge Farmstead - Full Interview
Moondog's Farm - Full Interview
Neukom Family Farm - Full Interview
Wild Rose Farm - Full Interview
Our funding and team
The Dry Farming Accelerator Program was funded by the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program Research to Grassroots. The Dry Farming Accelerator Program was produced by Oregon State University Department of Horticulture and Small Farms Program. The Dry Farming Accelerator Program is led by Dr. Lucas Nebert and Matthew Davis, along with cooperators Amy Garrett and Andy Gallagher. These modules were reviewed by Dr. Alex Stone, Andy Gallagher, Eliza Mason, Jason Bradford, and Amy Garrett. The Dry Farming Site Suitability Project, which these materials are in part based on, was conceived of and led by Dr. Alex Stone.
During 2023, Matt Davis and Lucas Nebert worked with a cohort of 11 new and beginning dry farmers in Western Oregon, to experiment with dry farming practices and cultivars on their farms. Our team hope to work cohorts of growers again in the future, as funding permits.