Irrigation in farming is among the giving users of water . unluckily , it ’s also among the biggest wasters . fit in to the U.S. Department of Agriculture , some 80 percent of consumptive water use move to agrarian irrigation . That amount increase to around 90 per centum in some westerly state . The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that as much as 60 percent of that water is devastate through overspill into waterways or evaporation . gratuitous to say , irrigation is not always an effective use of an already stressed water supply .
However , water is also substantive to liveliness , and that include the life of plants . Dry or inconsistently moist poop will not cue seminal fluid to germinate . Deprived of moisture , untested plants ca n’t efficiently exchange water for atomic number 6 during photosynthesis , result in slow - grow , infirm and often unhealthy plant . fruit phase of crops such as tomatoes and melon require significant amount of water to fill the fruit and grow a high yield . Without water , in other words , it can be difficult to grow produce .
Yet whether by necessity — a deficiency of access to water — or personal initiative , many farmers throughout account have gotten creative and been able to produce without irrigation . This style is call teetotal farming . It ’s as much an art as a type of factory farm , and it demonstrates that food can be raise without irrigation . The process does , however , take some creativity and forethought .
Preserving Moisture
Dry farmers must be attentive in their body of work , finding ways to take advantage of the surface-active agent months to keep wet in the soil . In ironic regions with disproportionate rainfall — such the arid West , where the mass of the rain might come in the bound and fall with small or no rainwater in the chief summer growing season — taking care of all moisture is critical .
One thing that will pig the water content of soil is weeds . Weeds contend with crop for moisture and sunlight and can devastate a dry farm . A proper culture program is a must when consider dry husbandry so that weeds ca n’t establish themselves . Soil should be regularly cultivated or till . Shutterstock
In fact , tillage is another means dry Farmer manage existing water . If disposed ground acquire wet , but not tilled , not only can weed seeds establish themselves but the ground will lose moisture into the zephyr through vaporization . A light tilling or harrowing helps stop or slow down the leaching of water . However , this sort of serious-minded tilling , and serious-minded weed cultivation , is not enough in dry areas to preserve the wet required to get through two or three dry calendar month . So dry farmers will couple their cultivation and plowland program with one or several other tactics .
Shutterstock
Cover
One such tactic is covering the undercoat with an organic mulch — hay , leaves , Natalie Wood chips or pale yellow — either after tillage or in topographic point of it . This can do a mess to help preserve wet . The mulch protects the bare soil from the sun , preventing vaporisation , but it also blankets the ground , providing a barrier from rut and wind , which can both lead to dry soil .
mulch , if not plastic , will also break down into organic thing , which itself is important in retaining moisture . accord to the USDA , 1 percentage of organic affair in the top 6 inches of land will deem some 27,000 gallon of water per Akka . So if your grease is low in organic subject , it might take a lot of compost or additional organic matter such as leaves to educate it to be dry farmed . If you hope to turn your farm into a teetotal farm , it ’s absolutely OK to spend some years build your organic matter before eliminate irrigation . You wo n’t repent it .
Another effective way to build constituent thing is through cover cropping . Fast - acquire annual grass and plant life can be sowed between croppings to add to the soil organic matter when mowed and tilled in . Some farmers also will roll tender cover craw such as buckwheat and vetch into the earth so they matte up like mulch . Some permaculture farmers will give trefoil and transplantation crops direct into them for victuals and wet retention . Many options survive in covering crop , and a serious ironic granger should consider them all .
It ’s also worth examining your soil eccentric . Loamy and silty soils are in general the best for all - around soils . Clay soil retains urine well and might work well in a dry - husbandry situation . However , sandy soils enfeeble quickly and might be more unmanageable to to the full ameliorate for a completely teetotal - farmed operation .
Timing
The next ingredient in dry farming is timing the planting of crops when the moisture is right . This is where the fine art of ironic farming really becomes apparent .
tomato plant , for instance , are a somewhat drouth - tolerant crop , but they need wet in the first few hebdomad after transfer to get establish . If a granger does n’t time this well , it can result in rickety plant life that might become susceptible to disease and pesterer damage . If planted at the right time , into the right storey of moisture , tomatoes will thrive throughout the summer .
Because fruiting phases of crop , such as love apple , require water supply , farming often produces lower issue — three times less , in some cases — compared with irrigate field of battle . So preserving that original moisture is key to give a full yield . However , less yield is n’t necessarily a bad thing , especially for quality . Less yield intend more intense sapidity and can lead in nutritionally dense and delightful crops . For this reason , many teetotal farmers sell their crops at a higher price as speciality item to gamy - end eating place that appreciate the timbre of flavor .
Shutterstock
Drought-Resistant Crops
It ’s also important on a teetotal farm to see the variety of the crops one hopes to grow . Plant breeders and source purveyors often indicate in their plant descriptions whether a picky craw is drouth - immune . This can be life-sustaining to a dry farm , peculiarly in areas with irregular rainfall .
Not every crop is bred with drouth tolerance in mind . Many are bred for carrying into action under irrigation and return . The genetics of some traditional crop , then , might not serve on a farm without steady lacrimation .
Minimum Irrigation
Of naturally , sometimes dry farming have-to doe with to those who simply do n’t expend municipal H2O sources . In areas where the law permit , collecting some amount of water and using it strategically throughout the growing time of year can dramatically increase achiever . Shutterstock
These sorting of “ off storage-battery grid ” sources might admit wells , rain catchment tanks under buildings , ponds or cisterna . So if you go for to dry farm but the soil is perhaps not correct for it , there is no ignominy in collecting weewee when it is abundant and spreading it throughout the time of year . In the same way that mulch preserve rain below ground , awater tankcan preserve the rainwater above .
Season Swap
One net consideration for ironical farmers : centre on growing when the moisture is most abundant . Winter and spring , for instance , when rain is not as much of an return and local green goods might be notably in shorter supply , is a great time to dry farm . In the summertime , you could simply grow drouth - tolerant crop such as tomatoes and sweet potatoes , then fall to the more water supply - reliant , shallow - rooted crops such as greens and pelf in the fall . Or you may take the summer off , pick out rather to grow cover crops and build up your constitutional affair for a three - season farm — drop , winter and fountain .
Whatever you adjudicate , have it off that dry farming takes serious planning and suppose to execute on a commercial scale of measurement . However , it can be done . History turn out this , as do the 1000 of farmers worldwide who feed their communities on whatever rains the skies provide .
7 Crops for Dry Farming
ironic agriculture is not for every crop . Shallow - rooted crop such as lettuce and smaller greens might be more unmanageable to farm in a dry - agriculture situation . Here are a few good crops that do well when rainfall is thin .
Members of the nightshade family line tend to be sunlight - loving crop that do better in siccative climates so long as they are establish first . They demand rainwater or watering for the first few weeks to thrive and a mulch to help retain moisture , but they do well in dry charm . Some of my dear Lycopersicon esculentum have come in drought years . proceeds might be low-spirited , but the flavors will be alone .
Another nightshade , pepper can do well in dry farming if you take the time to establish them . Keep them well mulched , but anticipate yummy peppers throughout the summertime .
Shutterstock
Like peppercorn and tomatoes , eggplant are built for summer yield . They are tender at first and should be covered to protect against pests such as the flea beetle . They also need a fair amount of moisture to get established . Buy drought - tolerant varieties and keep them mulch , and you will savour eggplant all summer .
The beauty of potatoes in a dry - agriculture situation is that they are typically plant ahead of time enough in the year that they can take advantage of the fountain rainfall in most region . Once they are established , make certain the potatoes delay well - cultivated — as weeds will drink up water — and mulch them if you’re able to .
One of the most robust summer crops , sweet potatoes can really handle the heat . Sweet potatoes are started from tender slips , however , so make indisputable they go into a ground with sufficient moisture . So long as that occurs , the plant life will grow tight and create their own ground cover to preserve moisture . They are a perfect summertime crop .
Jessica Walliser
Known for its heat and drouth - margin , okra is an excellent crop for dry farming . Mulch will certainly aid it to thrive in the drier month , but Abelmoschus esculentus can handle a fair amount of heat and H2O stress before it really starts to diminish .
Garlic is perhaps the easiest of all dry farmed harvest as it develop throughout the winter , which in most places is the wettest time of year . embed in the declination and glean in the late spring ( in most places ) , garlic can often be haul out before the dry weather condition come . I recommend mulching it to keep weed imperativeness down and maintain wet for those last few calendar month , but there is no reason on a dry farm to skip this crop .
This history originally seem in the March / April 2018 issue ofHobby Farms .
Elizabeth Weller/Flickr
Shutterstock
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Shutterstock
