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24 Wednesday, September 9, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Researchers give dry farming a try By Eric Mortenson Capital Press CORVALLIS (AP) — The squash plants’ leaves are wilted and crinkled in the mid-day heat, and look like they desperately need water. But unless it rains, they won’t get any. In fact, they’ve never been irrigated since they were planted this spring. Neither have the zucchini, dry beans, potatoes, melons and toma- toes growing alongside them. The vegetables are part of a dry farming demonstra- tion project at Oregon State University’s Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture. In three 10-foot-by-100-foot plots, OSU Extension instruc- tor Amy Garrett is examining the possibilities of growing food crops without irrigation. It’s a topic under serious review as drought grips the West. Irrigators throughout the Pacific Northwest and California have been restricted or shut off entirely this sum- mer, the mountain snowpack that feeds streams in late sea- son has already melted and many storage reservoirs are at alarmingly low levels. Climatologists believe lon- ger, hotter, drier summers and winter precipitation that falls as rain rather than snow is the “new normal.” Beatrice Van Horne, direc- tor of the USDA’s Northwest Regional Climate Hub in Corvallis, said that will be the trend for the coming decades, although individual years may vary. “Those are pretty clear results” of climate modeling, she said. Faced with that reality, some farmers and ranchers are thinking about making changes. About 100 people attended a dry farming field day that Garrett hosted at her OSU demonstration plots in early August. She’d expected that 30 people might show up. What they saw may have surprised them. Garrett is growing four varieties of dry beans, her Yukon Gold potatoes are producing about four pounds per plant and the squash, despite looking withered, have produced nice- looking Stella Blue and Blue Hokkaido varieties. Then there are the Dark Star zucchini, which look as vigorous as if they’d been irrigated all summer. Planted May 27, they were in full pro- duction by early July. Garrett said she’s picked lots of “zukes” in recent weeks. “It’s like a machine, a zuc- chini machine,” she said with an admiring glance. The hit of Garrett’s field day, however, were the small, striped Little Baby Flower watermelons, which easily won a taste test. “Across the board, they preferred the flavor, sweetness and texture of the dry farmed melon over an irrigated one of the same variety,” Garrett said. Dry farming is not new, of course. Mediterranean growers have been raising wine grapes and olives with- out irrigation for centuries. Some California growers do the same, and the term “old vine Zinfandel” often refers to dry-farmed vine- yards that are more than 75 years old, according to the California Agricultural Wa t e r Stewardship Initiative. Other California crops that are sometimes dry-farmed include tomatoes, canta- loupes, garbanzos, apricots, apples, squash and potatoes, according to the group. Pacific Northwest pro- ducers grow wheat and other grains without irrigation, but Garrett wants to see what else can be grown that way. Many of the farmers inter- ested in the project are rela- tively new to the profession or are just now venturing into commercial production. In some cases, they’ve leased or bought land, then discovered it did not come with water rights, or they are in a state- declared groundwater-limited area and can’t sink a new well. Dry farming is not an easy option. Without irrigation, yield and size are almost cer- tainly reduced, although qual- ity remains good. It requires altered tech- niques, revised expectations and the right conditions, start- ing with the soil. A layer of clay in the soil, common in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, holds moisture that plants can access during the summer. Dry farming is less likely to work on soil that’s sandy and porous. Soil preparation, seed selection and the timing and method of planting are criti- cal, Garrett said. Many of the seeds she planted come from varieties that are dry-farmed elsewhere. The Stella Blue and Blue Hokkaido squash come from a line originally developed by a Veneta, Oregon, farmer who has been dry-farming vegetables for 40 years. Dry farming calls for deeper planting and more space between plants to reduce competition for water. The Nugget Newspaper Crossword By Jacqueline E. 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