Dry farming grows crops with no irrigation, using only the rain stored in the soil, by capturing rain, preventing evaporation, spacing plants widely and choosing deep-rooted crops. It works only where the soil is deep enough to store the rain that falls before the growing season and where enough rain falls, so check your soil depth and your rainfall record before committing land. Expect fewer plants and a lower yield per acre than irrigated growing, in exchange for a crop that does not depend on a water supply.
Dry farming is the production of crops without irrigation by storing rain in the soil and managing the soil, spacing and crop choice so that stored water lasts through the growing season.
The Soil Is The Reservoir, So Its Depth And Its Refilling Decide Whether Dry Farming Works
The carrier guide (Drought Resilience & Water-Efficient Agriculture) defines dry farming as growing crops without irrigation, relying entirely on stored soil moisture and rainfall, and notes it was practised for thousands of years and is still used in Mediterranean climates, the American West and semi-arid regions. It gives four core principles: capture every drop of rain (contouring, mulching, soil structure); prevent evaporation (mulch, dust mulch, ground covers); space widely; choose deep-rooted varieties.
Two conditions make those principles possible. The soil must be deep and open enough to hold a season’s rain, and there must be a wet season to refill it before the crop is sown. In a climate where the rain falls in summer and the ground is dry in spring, or where the soil is shallow over rock, dry farming has little to work with.
What You Need
- Deep, well-structured soil. Check the depth by auger or a small test pit (see the safety note).
- A rainfall record for the months before and during the season (Rainfall Data).
- Seed of drought-tolerant crops (Drought-Tolerant Varieties).
- Tools for cultivation and mulching.
Method
Step 1: Test the soil. Dig or auger a hole and look at the depth of soft, root-penetrable soil, and at what stops it: rock, a hard layer, wet clay. Squeeze a handful from several depths and feel how much water it holds.
Step 2: Capture rain. Keep the soil open to rain with good structure, contour the slope, and use swales where useful (Swales and Berms on Contour).
Step 3: Prevent evaporation. Mulch, or cultivate a loose surface after rain (Dust Mulch and Moisture Trapping).
Step 4: Space widely so each plant has a large volume of soil (Wide Spacing for Root Competition).
Step 5: Choose deep-rooted crops (Deep-Rooted Crop Selection).
Step 6: Plan on loss. Keep a store of grain against a failed year, as the carrier advises (at least a year’s worth).
Common Mistakes
- Dry farming shallow soil — there is nowhere to store the water.
- Planting at irrigated density — the crop runs out of water early.
- Counting on the wet season that did not come — a dry winter leaves the soil reservoir empty.
Safety
Do not enter a deep or unsupported pit to check the soil
Use an auger, or dig a test pit no deeper than a person’s chest and never go below 1.2 m in an unsupported pit. Below that depth a wall can cave in with enough weight to bury a person, and dry, loose ground fails without warning. Never work in a pit alone, keep the spoil heap back from the edge, and fill the pit when you have finished.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Dust Mulch and Moisture Trapping — the traditional surface technique
- Combine with: Mulching & Soil Moisture — the alternative to dust mulch