What is dry farming?
Dry farming is the production of crops without irrigation during a dry growing season in regions receiving at least 20 inches of annual precipitation.
Dry farming has been practiced globally for millenia, including in the Pacific Northwest. Amerindians have cultivated crops in the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial, including tobacco gardens, managed camas plots, and estuary root gardens. Despite this, colonial authorities deemed Northwest coastal communities “non-agricultural” and dispossessed them of their traditional garden sites. Today, Amerindian farmers, growers, and horticulturalists continue to utilize a diversity of practices to maintain their First Foods.
European settlers, attracted by the climate and soils of the Willamette Valley, began to immigrate to this region in the mid-late 19th century. These farmers initially relied on dry farming to produce their crops until the 1950s, when government and private investments in canals, ditches, pumps, irrigation equipment, dams, and reservoirs increased access to irrigation. Popular dry-farmed crops in western Oregon during the early 20th century included wheat, potatoes, vegetables, hops, apples, caneberries, walnuts, and prunes.
Cultural knowledge of dry farming, and associated crops, are disappearing due to agricultural modernization, particularly our reliance on irrigation. However, many farmers throughout western Oregon have continued to dry farm many crops, including grapes, hazelnut, annual ryegrass, caneberries, walnuts, and summer vegetables. The OSU Dry Farm Program exists to research dry farming practices and systems, educate beginning dry farmers, and connect experienced and novice dry farmers to help foster resiliency in our food system.
The OSU Dry Farming Program began in 2013 with case studies of farms in Western Oregon and Northern California (coordinated by Community Alliance with Family Farmers) that dry farm a variety of fruit and vegetable crops. These case studies revealed a suite of management practices that support crop production without supplemental irrigation including: careful timing of tillage and cover crop termination, early planting, cultivation (also called dust mulching) to prevent crusting of the soil surface and control weeds, diligent weed management, improving soil quality and water retention with organic matter addition (cover crops, compost, rotational grazing), increased plant spacing, and use of drought-resistant varieties.
What are some resources that the OSU Dry Farming Program provides?
Education:
The Dry Farming Accelerator Program was initiated in 2023 to facilitate farmer education and adoption of dry farming. The program offers:
- Free online dry farming curriculum
- Mapping and assessment of site suitability for dry farming
- Facilitation of collaborative research among beginning and experienced dry farmers
The Dry Farm Mapping Project is dedicated to increasing our understanding of statewide dry farming suitability. Link takes you to Dry Farming Institute website.
Recordings of the 2020 Dry Farm Program Virtual Field Tours, Virtual Adaptive Ag Water Symposium, and annual Dry Farming Collaborative (DFC) Winter Convening, and more can be found in the events tab.
Research:
Connection:
How can growers get involved?
Receive periodic updates, with dry farming resources and opportunities to connect and participate in dry farming trials and educational activities. Sign up here.