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Introducing the Dry Farming Accelerator Program
The Dry Farming Accelerator Program was initiated in 2023 to facilitate farmer education and adoption of dry farming. The program offers:
- Free online dry farming curriculum
- Mapping and assessment of site suitability for dry farming
- Facilitation of collaborative research among beginning and experienced dry farmers
The Dry Farm Mapping Project is dedicated to increasing our understanding of statewide dry farming suitability. Link takes you to Dry Farming Institute website.
About the OSU Dry Farming Program
Dry farming is crop production through a dry season without using irrigation. It has been practiced globally for millenia, but cultural knowledge of dry farming, and associated crops, are disappearing due to agricultural modernization, particularly our reliance on irrigation. Compounded by the fact that there is only a very small subset of farmers that experiment with dry farming and an even smaller number have extensive experience in these farming practices, the OSU Extension Dry Farm Project plans to explore, revive, and expand awareness of dry farming.
The Dry Farming Program began in 2013 with case studies of farms in Western Oregon and Northern California (coordinated by Community Alliance with Family Farmers) that dry farm a variety of fruit and vegetable crops. These case studies revealed a suite of management practices that support crop production without supplemental irrigation including: careful timing of tillage, early planting, cultivation or surface protection to prevent crusting and cracking of soil surface, diligent weed management, improving soil quality and water retention with organic matter addition (cover crops, compost, rotational grazing), increased plant spacing, and use of drought-resistant varieties.
There have been dry demonstrations in Western Oregon every year since 2015.
Recordings of the 2020 Dry Farm Program Virtual Field Tours, Virtual Adaptive Ag Water Symposium, and annual Dry Farming Collaborative (DFC) Winter Convening, and more can be found in the events tab.