If you live in a hot, dry climate, you may feel discouraged at the prospect of growing crops. In reality, the technique known as “dry farming” has been used to cultivate food and medicine for thousands of years.
It’s a matter of working with your environment and timing everything to coincide with your region’s seasonal cycles.
What is Dry Farming, Exactly?
Dry farming—sometimes referred to as “dryland agriculture”—is a growing technique that’s specifically tailored to arid regions that receive less than 30 inches (or about 75 cm) of annual rainfall, without using additional irrigation techniques.
It’s ideal for areas that are prone to droughts (whether naturally or due to recent climate changes).
Farmers aim to make the best use of moisture retained in their soil by growing crops that are ideally suited to their environment.
For example, species that evolved in arid conditions are resilient to drought-like conditions and are much more likely to survive with low moisture levels. Furthermore, the way they arrange their crops and how growth periods are timed to coincide with annual rains, aim to optimize moisture distribution.
Some of the ideal locations for dry farming include:
- The Southwestern U.S. states: Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah
- Saskatchewan, Canada
- Western and north-central Mexico
- Atacama region, South America: namely southern Peru and Northern Chile
- Various regions in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Malta, and Southern Italy
- Some areas in Russia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria
- Large regions of the Middle East and North Africa
- Many regions in Australia and India
- Parts of Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan
Advantages of Dry Farming
Dry farming offers a number of advantages, not least is the ability to farm in clay-heavy soils. These are usually considered detrimental for agriculture because of how they hold onto water.
Most crops don’t like “wet feet” and can suffer from various watery soil-borne pathogens as a result. With dry farming, however, this ability to hold onto water becomes an advantage, offering moisture to thirsty plants long after the surrounding soils have dried up.
Many people insist that dry-farmed crops taste better and have greater nutrient density than crops that are traditionally farmed. One possible reason for this is that the reduced water content may result in concentrated sugars and other flavor compounds.
For example, melons and tomatoes that are cultivated by dry farming are smaller than their traditionally grown cousins but are more flavorful, sweeter, and slightly more acidic.
As such, some consumers are happy to pay extra for the sheer amount of flavor found in these little treasures.
Disadvantages of Dryland Agriculture
If dry farming isn’t done responsibly, then the results can be absolutely devastating. In fact, the over-farming of normally dry soil is one of the many factors that led to the American “Dust Bowl” agricultural crisis in the 1930s.
Poorly managed dryland farming contributed to a massive dust storm that swept across eastern Washington State in 2009.
Additionally, since there are fewer crops grown (and harvested) in dryland fields, their cost will be higher when taken to the market. This isn’t an issue if you’re simply growing food to feed your family and community, but you may be working at a loss if you’re aiming to sell your crops for profit.
How to Establish Your Dry Farming Fields
The key thing to remember about dry farming is the focus on keeping as much moisture in the soil as possible while simultaneously keeping other plants from stealing your crops’ moisture and nourishment.
Eliminate Any and All Weeds
All gardeners know that weeds will compete with food and medicine crops for vital resources like nourishment and water. As such, successful dry farming prep includes eliminating any weeds or unwanted species that may try to steal precious water from your food plants.
When you pull them up, you can leave them on the soil’s surface as a mulch and green fertilizer, as they’ll nourish the earth beneath when they break down. Just ensure that they haven’t gone to seed, otherwise you’ll be doubling your workload.
Be Sure to Create Contour Bunds to Retain Moisture
Till your fields to prevent the surface from developing a hard crust so rainwater can seep in, rather than being sloughed off the surface. As you till, create bunds (raised mound strips every few meters. These will help to retain rainwater in the areas between them.
Contour bunds are especially important if your land is on a slope.
Very few agricultural areas are completely flat. As such, it’s vital to observe your land well to determine what type of slope you’re dealing with, as this will dictate your dry farming orientation.
As you till the soil to prepare it for planting, be sure to create contour bunds across the slope to prevent water runoff. You’ll plant your dry farming crops in the areas between these bunds, where water is the most plentiful. If you plant them vertically rather than horizontally, you’ll simply aid in water loss and erosion.
Additionally, unlike standard agriculture, you won’t plant cover crops while fields are lying fallow between seasons. There’s so little water available that it needs to be reserved for your primary food crops instead.
Differences in Crop Planting Techniques
With dry farming, plants are generally spaced further apart than with traditional growing methods. This allows plants to maximize their water uptake in their immediate area.
Their root systems will spread out further and go deeper to find water in the surrounding soil, so spacing them further apart lets them stretch out as needed.
Additionally, dry farming benefits greatly from diligent crop rotation. The nutrients deposited into the soil by one crop will help to nourish the next year’s growth, and so on.
As a result, one year’s crop of nitrogen-fixing bush or pole beans will work wonders for the following year’s melons or okra.
Time Your Planting
Crops require the most water when they’re fully grown. As such, if you’re going to be using dry farming techniques to grow your edible and medicinal plants, you’ll need to do your research to determine when they’ll reach peak maturity.
For example, let’s say you’re based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and you’re aiming to cultivate a “three sisters” interplanted crop of indigenous corn, beans, and squash. These plants require hot temperatures while maturing, and fair amounts of water at maturity.
Squash takes 120-150 days to reach full maturity, whereas sweet corn generally requires 80-100 days, and pole beans can take anywhere from 80-120 days to mature, depending on the cultivar.
As such, you’ll need to create a work-back planting schedule to ensure that your plants will reach maturity during your area’s rainy season.
In the example used above, it would be ideal to plant seeds in mid-June. The soil should still have some water from the spring rains to get the seedlings going, and the plants will mature in September/October when precipitation is highest.
SLC’s first frost date is around October 31st, so farmers who want to try dry farming can take advantage of the early autumn rains for food crop maturation and then harvest before frost damage can occur.
Feel free to refer to the irrigation and water management information article offered by the Farming and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for more information on various crops’ water needs.
Additionally, if you’re interested in growing your own corn and you’d like to nurture a cultivar that’s native to your area, read our article on The 18 Best Indigenous Corn Cultivars to Discover.
Crops that are Best Suited to Dry Farming Conditions
As a general rule, the crops that will thrive best in the arid conditions around you are those that evolved in that area. If you’re keen on using dry farming techniques, then do plenty of research to learn about local indigenous edible and medicinal plants, as they’ll be attuned to annual weather and rainfall patterns.
Should you wish to grow additional species—both for crop diversity and personal preferences—then choose plants that thrive in similar conditions worldwide.
For example, let’s say you live in and around Las Vegas, Nevada, which has an agricultural growing zone of arid 9 a/b. You can then look for species that thrive in similar zones, and find cultivars that appeal to you, such as ribbed ‘Zapotec’ tomatoes from southeastern Mexico, melons from Iran, ‘Baklouti’ peppers from Tunisia, and so on.
In general, the crops that are best suited to dry farming include:
- Melons
- Squashes (summer and winter)
- Tomatoes
- Hot peppers
- Eggplant
- Okra
- Beans (bush and pole)
- Amaranth
- Cashews
- Sunflowers
- Olives
- Dates
- Agave
- Artichokes and cardoons
- Figs
- Mesquite
- Lentils
- Drought-loving herbs such as thyme, oregano, lavender, and sage
Don’t be Intimidated!
Although dry farming may seem a bit daunting, it’s an age-old technique that has fed people for countless generations. It simply requires you to work with the land instead of trying to make it behave the way you want to, using crops that are made for arid conditions.
If there are Indigenous elders living in your area who would be willing to work with you, consider asking for their advice with crop recommendations. They may be able to offer tips and techniques that can help you succeed in your endeavors.
As with any new growing technique, it’s important to do thorough research and testing before you begin. Determine the slope of your land, and dig down to see what water retention is like at different times of the year. Once you’ve done that and determined which crops you’d like to grow, you’ll be ready to dive in!
