What is Dry Farming?
Dry farming is crop production without irrigation during a dry season, usually in a region that receives at least 20 inches (50 cm) of annual rainfall. Instead of irrigation, dry farming relies on the moisture stored in the soil from the rainy season. Read more
Just beginning to learn about dry farming?
- Intro to Dry Farming Organic Vegetables in the Pacific Northwest: short Oregon State University Extension publication providing an overview of dry farming in the maritime Pacific Northwest.
- Dry Farming Zine: Short publication created to increase the understanding of dry farming, its roots, and application in the maritime Pacific Northwest of North America.
Intro to Dry Farming: Video (55 min) introduction from Dry Farming Accelerator Program curriculum introducing key concepts and practices.
Want to connect with other dry farmers?
Dry Farming Collaborative (DFC): Grassroots community of practice focused on increasing knowledge and awareness about dry farming strategies. Ways to join and stay connected:
- DFC Facebook Group – Private group of growers across the Pacific Northwest and across the globe exploring dry farming in different contexts. Questions, updates, resources, events and opportunities are shared.
- DFC Listserv – Email list of growers primarily in Western Oregon. Moderated by the OSU Dry Farming Program. Learn about OSU hosted field events and opportunities to participate in dry farming research.
Ready to dive a little deeper?
- Dry Farming Accelerator Program: Free, online, self-paced curriculum for beginning dry farmers.
- DFC YouTube Channel – Archived presentations on dry farming with the OSU Dry Farming Program and Dry Farming Institute that expand beyond Oregon.
- Dry Farming Seed Directory: Identify crops and varieties for dry farming.
- Dry Farming Suitability Map for Oregon: Help growers assess and understand site suitability for dry farming in Oregon.
Dry Farming Research
- Oregon State University’s (OSU) Dry Farming Program: Learn about research projects and access reports, recordings and results on resource page.
- Site Factors Related to Dry Farm Vegetable Productivity and Quality in the Willamette Valley of Oregon (Davis et al., 2023)
- Deep nutrients and soil fungal communities support tomato fruit yield and quality in dry farm management systems (Socolar et al. 2024)
- Dry Farm Melon Project: Results, report and resources from two years of variety trials, grafting trials, planting density trial and succession planting research conducted by OSU in 2022-2023
- Blossom-End Rot Toolkit for Dry-Farmed Tomatoes: Research project led by OSU in 2023-2024 with the goal of developing methods that farmers can use to profitably produce tomatoes while reducing blossom-end rot and other physiological disorders.
- Organic Dry-Farmed Tomato Production on California’s Central Coast: A Guide for Beginning Specialty Crop Growers (Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems)
Additional Resources
Do you have any resources to recommend? If so, please contact us.
DFI Enewsletter – Signup to stay in the loop on upcoming dry farming events, resources and opportunities in the Western U.S.
Dry Farmed Produce Directory: Beginnings of a listing of farms in the Western U.S. that offer dry farmed produce.
A Reference Guide to Sustainable Land Use in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands
Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries Under Low Rainfall (Widtsoe, 1920)
