Our Executive Director, Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, joined the hosts of Pattrn, a climate and sustainability platform partnered with The Weather Channel, to discuss dry farming, water resilience in the West, and how the Dry Farming Institute works with growers to discover how we can thrive with less water.
Why dry farming matters now
There’s a lot of interest in dry farming as we experience extended periods of drought and hotter, drier growing seasons. Many growers are asking how to cut back on irrigation. Dry farming is one potential path forward in a suite of practices that builds broader water resilience. It invites us to ask: Do I need to irrigate at all? What’s possible in my context? We define dry farming as growing crops with little or no irrigation during the driest part of the year, using the water already stored in the soil. It requires curiosity and invites us to consider how we can thrive with less water in our unique conditions.
Keep learning
- Explore the Water Resilience Toolkit to explore your climate, water, and soil stories and water resilience strategies and approaches may meet your unqiue contexts.
- Read our Water Resilience Case Studies: six Pacific Northwest growers showcase how they’re adapting and building water resilience in their contexts.
- Watch and learn more on our YouTube channel
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Help growers thrive with less water. Donate to the Dry Farming Institute today!