what is dryland agriculture

Dryland Agriculture

refers to farming entirely dependant on rain conditions and without secure irrigation facilities. Dry farming is divided into three categories based on the amount of rainfall received: Dry Farming: Cultivation of plants in areas with less than 750 mm of rainfall per year

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What is the dryland farming method?

Dryland Farming encompasses specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultivation of crops in arid areas that are prone to water scarcity & drought using dry farming methods of producing crops during dry seasons using the moisture stored …

What is arid or dry land agriculture?

Dryland farming is a special case of rainfed agriculture practiced in arid and semiarid regions in which annual precipitation is about 20–35% of potential evapotranspiration. Conditions of moderate-to-severe moisture stress occur during a substantial part of the year, greatly limiting yield potential, and in which farming emphasizes water conservation in all practices throughout …

What is dryland farming in the Interior Plains?

Drylands are characterized by a scarcity of water, which affects both natural and managed ecosystems and constrains the production of livestock as well as crops, wood, forage and other plants and affects the delivery of environmental services. For millennia, drylands have been shaped by a combination of low precipitation, droughts and heat waves, as well as human …

What is dryland farming?

 · Dryland refers to the non-irrigated parts of the land, and Dryland Farming is a technique of farming or cultivation of crops on such lands. People who stay in the water-scarce or drought-prone areas use this agricultural technique to grow crops for consumption. It is also called as Dry Farming, Dry Agriculture, or Dryland Agriculture.

What is the meaning of dryland agriculture?

dry farming, also called Dryland Farming, the cultivation of crops without irrigation in regions of limited moisture, typically less than 20 inches (50 centimetres) of precipitation annually.

How is dryland agriculture?

Dryland agriculture refers to cultivation of crops entirely under natural rainfall without irrigation. It is a form of subsistence farming in the regions where deficit of the soil moisture retards the growth of water consuming crops like rice (Oryza sativa), sugarcane etc.

Who defined dryland agriculture?

According to Hegde (1995), Widstoe defined dry farming as “the prof- itable production of useful crops without irrigation on lands that receive annually rainfall of less than 500 mm.” Widstoe said the definition could be extended to include areas receiving up to 750 mm annual rainfall if distribution of rainfall was …

What is called dryland?

Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical and temperate areas with an aridity index of less than 0.65.

What is the advantage of dry farming?

Given the description of dryland farming, the primary benefit is obvious – the ability to grow crops in arid regions without supplemental irrigation. In this day and age of climate change, the water supply is becoming increasingly precarious.

What is the difference between dry farming and dryland farming?

Dry Farming: Cultivation of crops in areas where rainfall is less than 750 mm per annum. Dryland Farming: Cultivation of crops in areas receiving rainfall above 750 mm.

What is dry land soil?

Dryland soils are defined as having low organic matter (limiting microbial processing of nutrients for plants), weak structure and high salt content, and limited moisture retention capabilities (see Laity, 2008).

What is a dryland environment?

Drylands are ecosystems, such as rangelands, grasslands and woodlands, which occupy over 40% of the terrestrial surface, and are characterised by high temporal and spatial rainfall variability. Drylands are dominated by grasslands, which cover more than one fifth of the planet’s terrestrial surface.

Why is it called dryland?

Any exercise that is performed out of the pool for the intended purposes of improving swim speed is considered “dry-land” training; you are dry, and you are on land, as opposed to in the pool.

What is the effect of dry land?

Low precipitation and prolonged dry seasons in drylands can lead to water scarcity, and limit agricultural productivity and output. Drylands biodiversity maintains soil fertility and moisture to ensure agricultural growth, and reduces the risk of drought and other environmental hazards.

How is dryland agriculture different from agriculture in other areas?

Answer. Answer:Dryland agriculture totally depends on rain and if the rain is irregular the farmer may suffer. In dryland agriculture a farmer has only one season to do agriculture whereas in irrigated agriculture a farmer may grow crops throughout the year.

What is dryland farming?

Simply put, dry farming is a method of producing crops during the dry season by using the moisture stored in the soil from the previous rainy season .

What is a dry farming system?

Dryland Farming encompasses specific agricultural techniques for the non-irrigated cultiva tion of crops in arid areas that are prone to water scarcity & drought using dry farming methods of producing crops during dry seasons using the moisture stored in the soil from the previous rainy season.

What is the biggest use of water in agriculture?

Agriculture is among the biggest users of water by irrigation. Unfortunately. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some 80% of consumptive water use goes to agricultural irrigation. That amount increases to around 90 percent in some western states. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that as much as 60 percent of that water used in agriculture is wasted through runoff into waterways or evaporation.

What is the best time to dry farm?

Some crops are more tolerant during the initial stages of farming than others. Winter and spring, for instance, when rainfall is not as much of an issue and local produce might be notably in shorter supply, is a great time to dry farm.

Where is dry farming practiced?

It is practiced all over the world in places like India, Australia, and American Southwest where crops can be cultivated in the dry seasons for that region. In California. Colorado and Oregon Dry Farming has been practiced for years and especially today where existing draughts are a problem. Crops include wheat corn beans and even watermelons are some of the crops that are cultivated. Native Americans have practiced Dry Farming for hundreds of years in the dryest parts of North America.

How does dry farming work?

Dry farming works by conserving soil moisture during l ong dry periods primarily through a system of tillage, surface protection, and the use of drought-resistant varieties of crops and plants.

Why do farmers use dry farming?

Dryland Farming is used to combat the overall lack of precipitation in the regions that don’t provide enough natural rainfall or can’t afford the cost of irrigation while others use Dry Farming methods because the crops they grow don’t need a lot of water to cultivate and produce. What is Dryland Farming?

What is dryland farming?

Dryland farming is agriculture dependent upon the vagaries of weather, especially precipitation. In its broadest aspects, dryland farming is concerned with all phases of land use under semiarid conditions. Not only how to farm but how much to farm and whether to farm must be taken into consideration.

How does dryland farming work?

Dryland farming is frequently defined as crop production in areas with less than 500 mm of annual precipitation, but this definition omits a critical component of the equation, evaporation potential. Operatively, dryland farming is practiced where annual potential water evaporation exceeds annual precipitation. The example for the Central Great Plains of the United States in Fig. 1 illustrates this. Note that the deficit between precipitation and potential evaporation is large and is at its peak in the middle of the summer crop growing season. As the water deficit increases (i.e., the difference between annual precipitation and potential evaporation becomes more negative), the difficulty of producing crops increases proportionally. Worldwide dryland farming areas are characterized by deficits between precipitation and potential evaporation, but differ in the size of the deficit and the time of the year it occurs. For example, in Morocco in northwestern Africa the deficits are so large in the summer that no dryland crop production can occur. Overall dryland farming productivity is inversely related to the size of the deficit between annual precipitation and annual potential evaporation. A large deficit indicates more plant stress and lower yields.

How to improve water use efficiency in dryland farming?

Improving water-use efficiency in dryland farming requires measures to increase infiltration ( avoiding runoff losses) and to prevent water losses. Such measures include the following: 1. Maintaining a well-structured, aggregated, and porous topsoil, so as to prevent surface crusting and runoff; 2.

How does triazine help the Great Plains?

Dryland farming in the Great Plains of the United States is undergoing a revolution that is based firmly on the role that triazine herbicides play in reducing or eliminating mechanical tillage for weed control during fallow periods. Soil dries out to the depth that is tilled, so reducing or eliminating tillage conserves soil moisture. Because of the unique nature of the Great Plains, the impact of triazine herbicides extends well beyond simply controlling weeds. The burndown and residual weed control that can be achieved with triazine herbicides, especially atrazine, enhances soil water accumulation, which allows fallow periods to be shortened and crop rotations intensified. These benefits result not only in increased short-term profits for farmers, but also in crop production systems that maintain and even increase soil organic matter, decrease soil erosion, and enhance the long-term sustainability and productivity of dryland agriculture in the Great Plains.

Why is it important to understand the processes of water supply and demand in dryland crop communities?

Therefore, it is critical to understand the processes of water supply and demand in dryland crop communities and the role of adaptation in mitigating the detrimental effects of drought on crop yields. Crop plants require a continuous supply of water to their transpiring organs to meet the evaporative demand.

Why is avoidance important in dryland farming?

Avoidance of crop failure has been the primary management objective over the years, a fact that explains the conservative nature of many of the practices adopted by dryland farmers. Management practices designed with the objective of avoiding crop failure tend to leave resources unused in the good years because they do not fully exploit the favorable conditions that periodically arise due to weather or soil variations. Nevertheless, risk avoidance strategies are needed to minimize threats to the sustainability of the system; thus, there has to be a balance between the measures aimed at increasing productivity and those designed for ensuring sustainability. Analyses of many traditional dryland farming systems tend to suggest that there is often room for increasing productivity, while enhancing, not threatening, sustainability.

Is dryland farming inversely related to the size of the deficit between annual precipitation and annual potential

For example, in Morocco in northwestern Africa the deficits are so large in the summer that no dryland crop production can occur. Overall dryland farming productivity is inversely related to the size of the deficit between annual precipitation and annual potential evaporation.

How do drylands affect the environment?

Drylands are characterized by a scarcity of water , which affects both natural and managed ecosystems and constrains the production of livestock as well as crops, wood, forage and other plants and affects the delivery of environmental services. For millennia, drylands have been shaped by a combination of low precipitation, droughts and heat waves, as well as human activities such as fire use, livestock grazing, the collection of wood and non-wood forest products (NWFPs), and soil cultivation. Dryland soils tend to be vulnerable to wind and water erosion, subject to intensive mineral weathering, and of low fertility (due to the low content of organic matter in the topsoil).

What is the aridity index of a dryland?

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines drylands according to an aridity index (AI), which is the ratio between average annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration; drylands are lands with an AI of less than 0.65. Drylands are further divided, on the basis of AI, into hyper-arid lands, arid lands, semi-arid lands and dry sub-humid lands.

Why is dryland farming important?

Since healthy topsoil is critical to sustainable agriculture , in particular within arid areas, its preservation is generally considered the most important long-term goal of a dryland farming operation. Erosion control techniques such as windbreaks, reduced tillage or no-till, spreading straw (or other mulch on particularly susceptible ground), and strip farming are used to minimize topsoil loss.

Where did the Dryland farming originate?

Dryland farming was introduced to southern Russia and Ukraine by Ukrainian Mennonites under the influence of Johann Cornies, making the region the breadbasket of Europe. In Australia, it is widely practiced in all states but the Northern Territory .

What is the best crop to grow in the summer?

For example, winter wheat is more suited to regions with higher winter rainfall while areas with summer wet seasons may be more suited to summer growing crops such as sorghum, sunflowers or cotton.

Why do farmers need to be in a dry zone?

Dryland farmers must evaluate the potential yield of a crop constantly throughout the growing season and be prepared to decrease inputs to the crop such as fertilizer and weed control if it appears that it is likely to have a poor yield due to insufficient moisture. Conversely, in years when moisture is abundant, farmers may increase their input efforts and budget to maximize yields and to offset poor harvests.

How much moisture is needed for wheat farming?

In regions such as Eastern Washington, the average annual precipitation available to a dryland farm may be as little as 220 millimetres (8.5 in). In the Horse Heaven Hills in central Washington, wheat farming has been productive purportedly on an average annual rainfall approaching 6 inches. Consequently, moisture must be captured until the crop can utilize it. Techniques include summer fallow rotation (in which one crop is grown on two seasons’ precipitation, leaving standing stubble and crop residue to trap snow), and preventing runoff by terracing fields. “Terracing” is also practiced by farmers on a smaller scale by laying out the direction of furrows to slow water runoff downhill, usually by plowing along either contours or keylines. Moisture can be conserved by eliminating weeds and leaving crop residue to shade the soil.

What crops can be grown in a dryland?

Dryland farmed crops may include winter wheat, maize, beans, sunflowers or even watermelon. Successful dryland farming is possible with as little as 230 millimetres (9 in) of precipitation a year; higher rainfall increases the variety of crops.

What are dry farmed crops?

Crops. Dry farmed crops may include grapes, tomatoes, pumpkins, beans, and other summer crops. Dryland grain crops include wheat, corn, millet, rye, and other grasses that produce grains. These crops grow using the winter water stored in the soil, rather than depending on rainfall during the growing season.

What is the process of dryland farming?

Final Words. The process of dryland farming includes: wider spacing between plants so that each should have enough moisture to capture. very less tilling of the land to plant crops. strict weed control to ensure only useful plants get the moisture. effective use of the moisture by mulching and other techniques.

How much rainfall does dryland agriculture receive?

Generally, dryland agriculture is divided into 3 types on the basis of the amount of natural rainfall received: Dry Farming: farming in areas with less than 750 mm of rainfall each year. Dryland Farming: farming in areas with more than 750 mm of rainfall each year.

What are some dry farming techniques?

Dry Farming Techniques. Mainly, there are 4 dry farming techniques which reduce the evaporation process and hold the moisture for a little longer: Image: Plantix. 1. Mulches. More than 75% of rain is lost due to evaporation, and mulching is the perfect solution to hold the moisture in the soil.

Why is dry farming important?

Due to climate change, groundwater scarcity, species extinction, and heavy droughts, etc. have hit the agriculture sector hard. And, dry farming is one of the best techniques to farm in those areas.

What is a dry farm?

Dryland refers to the non-irrigated parts of the land, and Dryland Farming is a technique of farming or cultivation of crops on such lands. People who stay in the water-scarce or drought-prone areas use this agricultural technique to grow crops for consumption. It is also called as Dry Farming, Dry Agriculture, or Dryland Agriculture.

What can hold water in the soil?

Mulch can be plant leftovers, straws, plastic materials, etc. which can hold the water in the soil for longer. Plastic mulches have the best ability to hold water.

Why is dryland farming important?

Given the description of dryland farming, the primary benefit is obvious – the ability to grow crops in arid regions without supplemental irrigation. In this day and age of climate change, the water supply is becoming increasingly precarious. This means that farmers (and many gardeners) are looking for new, or rather old, methods of producing crops. Dryland farming might just be the solution.

What crops were produced using dryland farming?

Research is being done on (and some farmers are already utilizing) dry farming of dry beans, melons, potatoes, squash, and tomatoes.

How to keep soil dry?

Water deeply and infrequently using drip irrigation or a soaker hose. Dust or dirt mulch to disrupt the soil drying process. This means to cultivate the soil down two to three inches (5 to 7.6 cm.) or so, which will prevent moisture from being lost via evaporation.

How to keep a dry farm from crusting?

Cultivate the soil lightly after every rain even to prevent crusting. Space plants farther apart than normal and, when needed, thin plants when they are an inch or two (2.5-5 cm.) tall. Weed and mulch around plants to retain moisture, repel weeds, and keep roots cool. Dry farming doesn’t mean using no water.

Where are dryland wines grown?

Grains grown in the Pacific Northwest region of the Palouse have long been farmed using dryland farming. At one point, a variety of crops were produced using dryland farming methods.

What are the benefits of dry farming?

While these techniques do not produce the largest yields, they work with nature with little to no supplemental irrigation or fertilizer. This means that production costs are lower than traditional farming techniques and more sustainable.

How does dry farming work?

Dry farming crops are a sustainable method of crop production by using soil tillage to work the soil which, in turn, brings up water. The soil is then compacted to seal the moisture in.

What does dryland farming mean?

Dryland farming is agriculture dependent upon the vagaries of weather, especially precipitation. In its broadest aspects, dryland farming is concerned with all phases of land use under semiarid conditions.

What is dry farming in agriculture?

Dry farming is cultivation of crops in regions with annual rainfall less thsan 750mm. Crop failure is most common due to prolonged dry spells during crop period. These are arid regions with a growing season (period of adequate soil moisture) less than 75 days.

What is dryland farming and its types?

Dryland Agriculture refers to cultivation of crops entirely under natural rainfall without irrigation. Dryland agriculture is important for the economy as most of the coarse grain crops, pulses, oilseeds, and raw cotton are grown on these lands. Dryland areas receive rainfall between 500 and 1200 mm.

What are dry land farming methods?

The practice of dry farming utilizes stored winter rains to supply moisture throughout the growing season. At the beginning of the season, soil is prepared to encourage infiltration — compost and cover crops are used to enrich the soil and improve its ability to store moisture.

Is dry farming sustainable?

They choose more drought tolerant strains of crops and space the crops adequately so they don’t compete with one other for water. If planting is done right, most dry farmers will go the entire dry season without having to use any additional water.

Which soil is good for dry farming?

Black soil is suitable for dry farming as it (A) is formed in heavy rainfall region. (B) has less moisture retention capacity. (C) has high moisture retention capacity.

What is the difference between dry farming and dry land farming?

Dry Farming: Cultivation of crops in areas where rainfall is less than 750 mm per annum. Dryland Farming: Cultivation of crops in areas receiving rainfall above 750 mm. Rainfed Farming: Cultivation of crops in regions receiving more than 1,150 mm.

What are the main crops grown in dryland areas of India?

Dryland zones constituting more than two-thirds of total arable lands in India are the chief contributor of pulses, oilseeds, coarse grain crops, and cotton. Drylands too contribute essentially to wheat and rice generation. Hence, it is the need of the hour to receive and practice the available dryland innovation to the most extreme degree for the upgrade of agrarian production in these regions which would not only boost the nourishment grain generation of the nation but would too improve the financial status of agriculturists in these areas.

What is the distribution of precipitation amid the trim period?

The distribution of precipitation amid the trim period is uneven, receiving a high sum of rain when it isn’t required and lack of it when crops require it .

What is dry farming?

Dry farming is often described as crop production without irrigation during a dry season, usually in a region that receives at least 20 inches (50 cm) of annual rainfall, and utilizes the moisture stored in the soil from the rainy season.

How does dry farming help the climate?

Farmers globally are exploring adopting dry farming methods as a climate resilience strategy to cope with less water available for irrigation. Dry farming and various techniques associated with it have deep historical and varied cultural roots. Desert farmers and indigenous peoples around the world have developed techniques for farming with minimal irrigation or rainfall (Nabhan, 2013). Dry farming differs from traditionally irrigated cropping systems in that farmers do not irrigate (e.g. land without water rights or access to irrigation), or only irrigate once in situations where that is an option. Dry farmers try to select a site with deep soil and good water-holding characteristics and then utilize a suite of practices to conserve soil moisture for crop growth. Some of the practices that support dry farming include: early soil prep and planting; selecting drought tolerant, resistant or early-maturing cultivars; lower planting density; cultivation or surface protection to prevent crusting and cracking of soil surface; diligent weed control; and improving soil health and water-holding capacity with practices such as cover cropping, rotation, and minimizing soil disturbance.

How does dry farming differ from traditional irrigated cropping systems?

Dry farming differs from traditionally irrigated cropping systems in that farmers do not irrigate (e.g. land without water rights or access to irrigation), or only irrigate once in situations where that is an option.

Overview

Arid-zone agriculture

Process

Locations

Crops

Other considerations

See also

Further reading