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Friday, August 30, 2019 CapitalPress.com 9 A dry farming trial produces some success By LUCY KLEINER The Astorian In mid-May, as soon as the sun came out and the soil warmed, Teresa Ret- zlaff dug into the earth at 46 North Farm. She filled holes with seeds and starts of zuc- chini, dry beans, summer squash and more. She cov- ered the holes with soil and made sure the beds were free of weeds. And then, she walked away. About 10 miles down the road, the same thing hap- pened at LaNa Conscious Farm. On a 2,000-square- foot plot of land, Larry and Nancy Nelson’s field was filled with the same plant varieties and, aside from light weeding, was left untouched. Now, in late August, the starts have grown to pro- duce-bearing plants. The zucchinis’ wide leaves shade dozens of vegetables, the full-sized tomatoes are rip- ening from green to red. One of Retzlaff’s winter squash is more than 2 feet long. All of this happened without any irrigation. “I didn’t really think it was going to work,” Ret- zlaff said. “I kind of thought they’d all be dead in a few weeks and they weren’t … It was phenomenal.” The process is called dry farming. Farmers who prac- tice it do not irrigate their plants throughout the dry summer season. Aside from occasional rainfall, plants rely only on moisture from below the surface to sustain growth. It’s a historic agricultural practice, but until recently it has remained widely unheard of on the Oregon Coast. In 2015, Amy Garrett, an assistant professor at Ore- gon State University, kick- started a dry farm trial that now stretches across the state. As of 2019, three farms on the coast partici- pate in the trial, two of them just a short drive from down- town Astoria. “It seems like the coast is a really good place for dry farming, mostly because of the climate,” said Matthew Davis, the project coordina- tor at Oregon State for dry farm site suitability. “It’s a lot cooler on the coast … It’s just a more forgiving place.” Davis began working Hailey Hoffman//EO Media Group On a misty morning, Larry Nelson adjusts the basket holding up a tomato plant in a dry plot on his 3-acre farm, LaNa’s Conscious Farm. In dry farming, farmers do not rely on irrigation to cultivate crops, like tomatoes. Katie Frankowicz//EO Media Group Teresa Retzlaff, left, shows off zucchini plants in her dry bed on 46 North Farm during a presentation last August. with the project in May under professor Alex Stone and alongside Garrett. Their research is ongoing. Davis visited both North Coast farms in May, where he installed plants and soil moisture monitors. The monitors are inserted and left in the ground, where the small white rods and green cords help scientists and farmers know how much moisture is being held in the soil below. “Dry farming doesn’t mean that no water is used by the plant,” Davis said. “Water is stored in the soil, it’s held there.” The farm’s soil type con- trols how much water is held. On the coast, moist soil and a high water table, coupled with the cool, damp climate is the reason both farms have seen success. “The plants are less stressed, I think, in the coastal environment,” Gar- rett said. “Teresa was kind of our pioneer there.” Quality, not quantity Retzlaff got involved with the project in 2016, and has dry farmed a por- tion of her plants ever since. This year, she is dry farming eight rows of produce for the trial’s research and 10 addi- tional rows on her own. Dry farming is not a yield-maximization strat- egy. In order for dry farming to work, plants are plotted more sparsely to decrease competition and help ensure each plant’s roots have access to enough water. “You can’t plant as densely as you would if you are irrigating,” Retzlaff said. “Because all the moisture they have is just what’s in the soil.” But for Retzlaff, her main goal isn’t the quantity of produce, it’s the quality. Dry-farmed produce typ- ically has a stronger flavor and a firmer texture. Retzlaff strongly prefers the taste of her dry-farmed crops. Oregon State’s small farms collaborative con- ducted blind taste tests, where consumers and farm- ers preferred the dry-farmed produce over the same vari- ety that was irrigated. “They have a very intense flavor because they’re not watery,” Retzlaff said. “Because you’re not water- ing them.” Last year, 46 North Farm sold their dry-farmed pro- duce to local restaurants. The Astoria Golf and Coun- try Club’s kitchen bought more than 80 pounds of dry- farmed zucchini and squash. “They had a really nice, concentrated flavor,” said chef Gehrett Billinger, who used the produce on spe- cialty dishes, to create kim- chi and to flavor beverages and meat marinades. “It’s a really really delightful flavor.” “And,” he said, “I like that it uses less resources.” Resource conservation is one of the aspects that ini- tially sparked the dry-farmed trial, and it’s a theme that keeps farmers and research- ers coming back year after year. As the climate changes, summer water availability has become a pressing issue. “It’s of more interest now because of drought and decreased summer water availability,” Garrett said. “A lot of people are looking at alternatives to irrigated crop production in our dry season.” The farmers that partici- pate in the trial meet annu- ally to discuss how specific crops weathered the dry season and exchange ideas to improve the next year’s yield. “I think that this collab- orative approach of adapt- ing to a changing climate is super important given the predictions for summer water availability into the future,” she said. “We’re going to see a lot less of it.” Coastal farmers, whose summer season is cooler and wetter than in the Willa- mette Valley, are still paying attention to summer water access. “Water is one of those resources, I feel like espe- cially out here on the coast, we really take for granted because it feels like it’s so abundant,” Retzlaff said. “Just because you have a lot of it doesn’t mean you have to use all of it. “If you’re a farmer and you’re irrigating with that water or you’re pulling that water out of a creek or a stream in August, that’s water that’s not being left in a waterway to help fish habitat and wildlife habi- tat. I think the more we can Hailey Hoffman/EO Media Group Winter squash grows in a dry bed on LaNa’s Conscious Farm and relies on rain and moisture within the earth to survive. share with wildlife habitat, the better.” Inherent risk Retzlaff recognizes that not all farmers can practice dry farming. There is inher- ent risk with the technique. It requires fertile, moist soil and more land to produce the same amount. For some crops, dry farming is not a profitable practice. “Part of the learning curve is finding out which crops you can break even on,” she said. “The zucchini has more than paid for itself already,” as have some of the squash varieties. Other products, such as the dry beans, won’t make it to the public market, but will feed the 46 North Farm team throughout the upcoming season. Retzlaff will likely harvest just one or two mel- ons per plant this year. But even without the high yield, she saved time and money by not paying for water or labor to irrigate the plants for months. “I feel like that’s profit- able,” Retzlaff said. “There’s also the knowledge. To me, that’s a huge return on investment.” There is also an eco- nomic incentive. On the Nelsons’ farm, their winter water bill is typically around $35 a month. In the summer, that bill can be up to $250. “I am fascinated in grow- ing things without water because water is a big expense,” Nelson said. “The dry farming for me is just another aspect of the farm- ing itself. It’s another tool in the tool shed that we can uti- lize to grow some things less expensive.” Both farms still irri- gate the majority of their crops, but they are hope- ful to continue transition- ing and evolving their dry farming for many seasons to come. “The more that I can do dry-farmed, the more that I will do,” Retzlaff said. “It’s less of a resource that we’re pulling on, and I honestly feel like the plants are bet- ter for it.” Pear Bureau Northwest plans tariff relief spending spokesperson. It will be the focal point to raise aware- ness of USA Pears as the premium pear in the market. In the UAE, the bureau will feature eight TV adver- torials for two seasons on “Al Moultaqa,” a show that reaches over 8 million view- By DAN WHEAT Capital Press imported 1.5 million boxes worth $38.3 million. Israel imported 141,150 boxes at $4.2 million, UAE imported 130,850 at $2.9 million, Colombia imported 124,800 at $2.7 million and India imported 109,300 worth $2.7 million. Let 'er Buck Seed Dan Wheat/Capital Press Maria Gutierrez packs Bartlett pears at Blue Star Growers, Cashmere, Wash., on Nov. 2, 2018. Pear Bureau Northwest is planning to spend $2 million in federal tariff relief to help exports in the next two years. to ramp up television and social media advertising, Correa said. The bureau is setting aside $300,000 of the ATP money to help restart its China market, anytime in the next three seasons, if China reopens to U.S. agri- cultural goods and tariffs diminish, Correa said. “It would be a reset, sim- ilar to our first access with kick-off events,” he said. Once envisioned to be a large market, China opened to U.S. pears in 2013 and peaked at 204,750, 44-pound boxes in 2014 worth $4.8 million, only to dwindle to 2,450 in the 2018-19 sales season because of Chi- na’s own pear production, imported pears from Bel- gium and the Netherlands and then the 50% tariff imposed a year ago. A variety of activities will be conducted in the var- ious markets. In Mexico, the bureau will spend two seasons work- ing with social media influ- encers and partnering with Pictoline to develop USA Pears-themed infograph- ics to enhance social media engagement with extended reach into Central and South America. This will be sup- plemented by two years of TV advertorials on the Dis- covery Home and Health channel. All of these activi- ties will boost the effective- ness of the current consumer outreach activities in Mex- ico, Correa said. The bureau will utilize Nielsen retail data in Can- ada to identify opportunity gaps and develop custom- ized plans and promotions with individual retailers to improve pear sales. The bureau will also expand social media outreach and consumer events in Canada. In India, a two-year bill- board and advertising cam- paign will be supported for one year by a celebrity Soft White Winter • • • • • • UI Magic CL+ SY Ovation SY Assure SY Dayton WB1529 OSU Bobtail Hard Red Winter • • Grass • • • • PGG Pasture Mix PGG Timber Mix CRP Blends Custom Grass Blends Our seeds meet the highest standards of quality and consistency. LCS Jet LCS Fusion AX Forage Products • • Triticale Forerunner Austrian Winter Peas Cover Crop Canola • Amanda Joe Young Club Wheat • USDA-ARS Cara cell: 541-612-2302 email: jyoung@pgg.ag McKennon Seed Plant 4600 NW Mckennon Rd. Pendleton Or. MON- FRI: 7AM to 5PM SATURDAY: 7AM to4PM SUNDAY: Closed 35-1/101 PORTLAND — Pear Bureau Northwest is plan- ning to spend $2 million in federal tariff relief to pro- mote pear exports to top for- eign markets over the next two seasons. USDA awarded $200 million in Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) fund- ing last January to dozens of organizations and $100 million on July 19 to help relieve losses from higher tariffs resulting from the trade wars. The Pear Bureau, the promotional arm of the PNW fresh pear indus- try, was awarded $580,000 in the first round and spent $57,000 of it in Canada. It received $1.54 million in the second round for a total of $2.12 million. It is planning to spend the money over the next two season in Mex- ico, Canada, India and the United Arab Emirates. “ATP funding will help boost the USA Pears promo- tional program in markets that have the best growth prospects for the industry in light of the tariff impacts the industry is facing in China,” said Jeff Correa, the Pear Bureau’s international mar- keting director. The money is in addi- tion to approximately $2.8 million the bureau receives annually from the USDA Market Access Program (MAP). MAP money largely goes for point-of-sale pro- motions in grocery stores and ATP enables the bureau ers. The advertorials will be a mix of recipe demonstra- tions, health and nutritional benefit discussions, and rip- ening education. In 2018-19, Mexico imported 3.9 million boxes of PNW pears valued at $83.7 million, and Canada
