{"id":6382,"date":"2014-06-17T09:43:41","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T16:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=6382"},"modified":"2014-06-17T09:43:41","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T16:43:41","slug":"dry-farming-returns-california-slate-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2014\/06\/17\/dry-farming-returns-california-slate-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry farming in California – from Slate.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dry<\/a><\/p>\n

By Eric Holthaus<\/p>\n

\n

In a year with (practically) no water, here\u2019s something that was inevitable: farming without any water at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Small farms around the Bay Area are reviving an\u00a0ancient technique<\/a>\u00a0that is just what it sounds like. Add \u201cdry farming\u201d to the list of ideas that could get this dry state through the worst dry spell in\u00a0half a millennium<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Hoover Dam\u2019s Lake Mead, the primary water supply for Las Vegas,\u00a0has never had this little water<\/a>\u00a0to start June. Earlier this week, Fresno\u00a0hit 110 degrees<\/a>\u2014the second-earliest achievement of that lofty mark in the 127 years that weather records have been kept there.\u00a0New data<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday showed California has now gone five consecutive weeks with fully 100 percent of the state rated at \u201csevere,\u201d \u201cextreme,\u201d or \u201cexceptional\u201d drought. The state is\u00a0getting by on meager reserves<\/a>\u00a0amid a multiyear shortage, and there won\u2019t be any more significant rain until the fall: The annual dry season has begun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The last measurable rain in San Francisco was April 25, which is about a month earlier than normal. The coast gets most of its drinking water piped in from the Sierras anyway, so a dearth of local rainfall hasn\u2019t done much except make cars and sidewalks extra dusty. Jennifer Sedell, a student at the University of California\u2013Davis, told me: \u201cThe only time I really see anything about it is when restaurants put up a note and say we\u2019re not serving water unless you ask for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And there are some upsides: \u201cIt was the best surfing season in years,\u201d said San Francisco resident Ramin Taleghani in March, \u201cas guilty as I feel saying that.\u201d Persistent offshore winds\u2014the same winds that trapped desert-dry air over California\u2019s normally snowy Sierras all winter\u2014made for perfect waves<\/a>\u00a0on the coast.<\/p>\n

\n

ccording to a\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle analysis<\/a><\/em>, the region is falling short of meeting conservation targets via voluntary water cutbacks. The Bay Area\u2019s per capita water usage is already among the lowest in the state, so there\u2019s not as much to cut as compared with\u00a0other more water-hungry places<\/a>. In San Jose,\u00a0water use is actually up<\/a>slightly compared with the past three years\u2019 average. If usage isn\u2019t curtailed soon, San Francisco is\u00a0considering mandatory water rationing<\/a>\u00a0for the first time in more than 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

One theory on the lackluster response is that the state\u2019s crisis\u00a0isn\u2019t as immediately visible<\/a>\u00a0to city dwellers as it is to farmers, who use 80 percent of the state\u2019s water. Higher prices for food will be felt only gradually, even though they could linger for years. As an example,\u00a0consumers are still feeling the pinch<\/a>\u00a0from higher meat prices linked to a 2012 drought in Texas that forced ranchers to cut back on herds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

During my recent monthlong drought-themed road trip for\u00a0Slate<\/em><\/strong>, I heard\u00a0farmers blaming cities<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0cities blaming farmers<\/a>\u00a0for the ongoing water crisis. In fact, it was probably the most common attribution of blame for the drought I heard, above even the lack of rainfall itself. It\u2019s clear that both sides think the other is wasting water. To investigate, I sought out an interface of the urban-rural divide on water issues: a farmers market in Oakland.<\/p>\n

\n

There, I found one possible answer that\u2019s catching on: get rid of water entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Dry farming<\/a>, a longtime niche of California\u2019s massive agriculture industry, isgathering conversation<\/a>\u00a0within farmers market circles around the Bay Area. Here\u2019s how it works,\u00a0according to\u00a0Fast Company<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

By tapping the moisture stored in soil to grow crops, rather than using irrigation or rainfall during the wet season, dry-land farming was a staple of agriculture for millennia in places like the Mediterranean, and much of the\u00a0American West<\/a>, before the rise of dams and aquifer pumping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

During the rainy season, farmers break up soil then saturated with water. Using a roller, the first few inches of the soil are compacted and later form a dry crust, or dust mulch, that seals in the moisture against evaporation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Dry farming isn\u2019t as simple as just farming without rain. During a drought, it\u2019s even more challenging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about keeping these trees alive. We try to create a barrier to keep the moisture,\u201d said Stan Devoto, a dry farmer based in Sonoma County who raises apples, wine grapes, and cut flowers for Bay Area farmers markets. \u201cOn the east side of your grapevine, where the sun rises, you strip all the leaves. That allows for better airflow. On the west side, where the sun sets, you keep a good canopy of leaves to protect the drought. We do it by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The dry-farming method has long been practiced successfully in Mediterranean climates with a long dry season like California\u2019s\u2014basically, dry farmers forgo the extra fertilizer, water, and other inputs that maximize yields.\u00a0Advocates say<\/a>\u00a0its water starvation diet produces sweeter and more flavorful tomatoes, apples, and other fruit.\u00a0Some of the best wines<\/a>\u00a0ever produced in Napa Valley were dry farmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But there\u2019s a significant downside. Though his heirloom apples make a cider that \u201cbrings to mind Lambic beer,\u201d according to the\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle<\/a><\/em>, Devoto says \u201cpeople have to be willing to pay a little bit more for them.\u201d Dry farmers like Devoto are trading quantity for quality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Devoto concedes that\u2019s one of many reasons dry farming won\u2019t have the potential to overthrow conventional agriculture. The lower water usage means there\u2019s a significant yield tradeoff: His dry-farmed apples average 12 to 14 tons per acre, less than half the 20 to 40 tons per acre irrigated apple crops typically get. The wells on his property simply don\u2019t produce enough water to irrigate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

That\u2019s made his decision pretty easy.<\/p>\n

Link to article
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric Holthaus In a year with (practically) no water, here\u2019s something that was inevitable: farming without any water at all. Small farms around the Bay Area are reviving an\u00a0ancient technique\u00a0that is just what it sounds like. Add \u201cdry farming\u201d … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\r\nDry farming in California - from Slate.com - CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2014\/06\/17\/dry-farming-returns-california-slate-com\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dry farming in California - from Slate.com - CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Eric Holthaus In a year with (practically) no water, here\u2019s something that was inevitable: farming without any water at all. 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