An ancient drought-friendly farming process could become the next organics

Quartz | 10/16/16

By Renuka Rayasam

In 2008, when Brice Jones decided to stop irrigating his grapevines, California was in the middle of a drought. Jones, however, wasn’t thinking about water conservation. He was thinking about making California pinot noir that would rival French burgundy.

Jones had been in the winemaking business in California for decades and like most wine makers in the state, had never questioned the need to add extra water to his vineyards to compensate for the lack of summer rain. But when he began discussing how to establish an irrigation system in his new project, Emeritus Winery, set on an apple orchard in the Russian River Valley, his then business partner, from France, was aghast and suggested that he dry farm his grapes.

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Farming Without Water

CUESA | 8/3/12

By Brie Mazurek

This week, as the nation grapples with the worst drought in decades, the USDA added more than 218 counties to its list of natural disaster areas, bringing the total to 1,584—more than half of all US counties. Farmers in the Midwest and Great Plains have been the hardest hit, but the drought is a growing reality for farmers across the country, including California. While the Secretary of Agriculture won’t comment on the drought’s link to climate change, it’s at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and as global warming unfolds, knowledge of dryland agriculture will become increasingly valuable.

David Little of Little Organic Farm has had to adapt to water scarcity in Marin and Sonoma Counties, where most farmers and ranchers rely on their own reservoirs, wells, and springs, making them particularly vulnerable in years with light rainfall. Through a technique known as dry farming, Little’s potatoes and squash receive no irrigation, getting all of their water from the soil.

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When in drought: the California farmers who don’t water their crops

The Guardian | 5/5/16

By Charlotte Simmonds

There’s something different about Will Bucklin’s grape vines. At first it’s hard to notice, but a drive through northern California’s Sonoma Valley, past waves of green, manicured vineyards, makes it clear. The black ribbon of PVC irrigation pipe that typically threads the vines is curiously absent here – because Will doesn’t water his crops.

Bucklin’s Old Hill Ranch, purchased by his stepfather Otto Teller in 1980, claims to be the oldest-rooted vineyard in the area. Teller fell in love with the vineyard because it was one of the few that still “dry-farmed”. Dry farming is a method that bypasses artificial irrigation, relying instead on seasonal rainfall and working the soil in such a way that it holds on to water for the drier months…

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When the Well Runs Dry, Try Dry Farming

Modern Farmer | 7/10/14

By Brian Barth

Drought in the West makes the news every year and it always seems to be the worst in decades. This summer, they say it is the worst in centuries.

2013 was the driest year on record in California. A report released in May by the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California in Davis projects a nearly $2 billion loss to the agricultural economy in 2014 as a result of drought. The report goes on to say that in California’s Central Valley — often referred to as America’s fruit and vegetable basket — 410,000 acres may go unplanted for lack of water, leaving 14,500 farm workers without fields to tend…

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Is Dry Farming the Next Wave in a Drought-Plagued World?

National Geographic | 9/29/16

By Ari LeVaux