About Dry Farming

Dry farming refers to non-irrigated agriculture in a climate with 20 inches of rain or less annually. These farmers raise drought-resistant crops, or crops that mature in late spring or fall, so are not as affected by the dry weather of summer. They also maintain drought-resistant surface conditions to make best use of the limited water supply.

Function

People using dry farming technology work to reduce water runoff and evaporation, and to increase moisture absorption and retention in the soil. A main technique involves loosening the soil so that water can sink in easily, and then performing regular weeding so that the moisture is better utilized. Also, a dust mulch formed by tilling is renewed after each rainfall and seals water into the ground. This turns the soil into a sponge, where the only place water can go is into plant roots. The mulch also protects the surface from evaporation. Farmers cultivate before and after seeding, perform deep plowing, and leave alternate areas fallow in rotating summers.

History

Dry farming in the United States originated in the 1800s as independent farmers experimented with growing crops in locations having low annual rainfall. In the 1850s, California residents, for example, began to raise winter wheat, where the main growing season occurred during the winter rains. By the 1860s, Utah settlers were successfully practicing dry farming, and settlers in the Northwest and the Great Plains were doing so by the 1880s. Dry farming works well with grains and grasses, including not only wheat but alfalfa, barley, corn, oats, and rye, as well as with grasses for hay.

Time Frame

A South Dakota homesteader named Hardy Webster Campbell invented a new type of machinery called a subsoil packer around 1890, to supplement dry farming methods. In 1905, the Department of Agriculture established an Office of Dry Land Agriculture to develop dry farming in the Great Plains. Drought conditions in the 1930s intensified experiments there, and provided an impetus for the invention of further soil-culture machinery.

Significance

Some winemakers in California are once again producing grapes using dry farming techniques after many years of irrigation. They say this is not only because of water becoming more expensive and more governmental water-usage control, but because they believe it makes better-tasting wine. Napa Valley had been dry-farmed until irrigation was introduced in the 1960s.

Considerations

Other countries are working with dry farming techniques as well. India, for instance, with a large amount of arid land, is working to grow oilseeds, and grains such as millet, jowar, and bajra. A major problem has been that India's crops are not as high-quality as those produced in wetter climates, devaluing these commodities on the world market. Scientists have been working since the 1960s on crop improvement in this area.

China also is focusing on dry farming. The Ministry of Agriculture there has predicted that China could produce 20 million more tons of grain by employing dry-farming technology.

Resources

• California winemakers turn to dry farming