The Dry Farming Collaborative will be hosting three field days this summer. Come to learn about dry farming, see crops (tomatoes, squash, melon, zucchini, dry beans, corn) grown with little or no supplemental irrigation in the field.

Corvallis

July 30th (OSU Vegetable Research Farm)

August 13th (OSU Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture)

Astoria

August 27th (46 North Farm)

About Dry Farming Project
It is important to note that dry farming is not a new way of farming, but knowledge sharing has been limited because practices have primarily been passed down from farmer to farmer. 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 Project began in 2013 with case studies of farms in Western Oregon (Garrett 2013; Garrett 2014) 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, keeping soil surface loose to conserve moisture in the root zone (also known as dirt or dust mulch), improving soil quality and water retention with organic matter addition (cover crops, compost, rotational grazing), increased plant spacing, and use of drought-resistant varieties.

These events will be FREE and drop-in style from 5-7 pm but registration is still required to assist in preparation and parking is limited on some sites.

Register Today