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Dryland Farming in the Northwestern United States: a Nontechnical Overview

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Dryland Farming in the Northwestern United States: a Nontechnical Overview MISC0162E DRYLAND FARMING IN THE NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES A Nontechnical Overview Proper citation: Granatstein, David. 1992. Dryland Farming in the Northwestern United States: A Nontechnical Overview. MISC0162, Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Pullman. 31 pp. About the Author and Project David Granatstein is Project Coordinator for the Northwest Dryland Cereal/Legume Cropping Systems Project, based in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Wash- ington State University, Pullman, Washington. Work for this publication was conduct- ed there with cooperators from Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah, under project numbers 3481 and 4481. This material is based on work supported by the Cooperative State Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 88-COOP-1-3525, with funding from the Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publica- tion are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture or Washington State University Extension. Permission to reprint Figure 1 granted by the American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI. All photos except the cover were provided by David Granatstein. Cover photo: An artistic display of wheat sheaves at an agricultural exposition in the early 1900s. Photo courtesy of Historical Photograph Collections, WSU Libraries. Contents Introduction . 1 What Is Dryland Farming? . 2 What Is Sustainable Agriculture? . 3 History of Dryland Farming in the Northwestern States . 5 The Columbia River Country. 5 The Oregon Trail and Northern Plains. 8 Dryland Farming: Principles and Practices. 11 The Semiarid Environment in the Northwest. 11 Cropping Systems of the Region . 13 Rotations in the wheat-fallow area. 13 Rotations in the annual crop area. 15 Government programs. 16 Organic farming . 16 Tillage and Equipment. 17 Conservation tillage. 18 Fertility Management . 18 Organic matter management. 19 Nitrogen. 19 Other nutrients and soil amendments . 20 Improving management. 21 Pest Management. 21 Weeds . 21 Diseases . 23 Insects . 23 Resource Conservation. 24 Energy . 24 Soil conservation . 25 Water conservation. 26 Atmospheric conditions. 26 Human resources . 26 Prospects for Sustainable Dryland Farming. 28 References . 30 Acknowledgments . 31 Tables 1. Wheat acreage and average yields in the Northwest, 1987-1989. 1 2. Dryland moisture characteristics. 3 3. Number of Montana farms . 9 Figures 1. Major dryland farming areas of the United States and Canada . 2 2. Mean annual precipitation (inches) in the western United States . 12 Dryland Farming in the Northwestern U.S.1 INTRODUCTION Most of the region’s grain is exported The staff of life. Our daily bread. Amber are raised on over 10 million acres of land waves of grain. All these references evoke im- using dryland farming techniques (Table 1; Fig- ages of wheat, the most prominent grain in the ure 1). Dryland farming generates significant American diet.Yet images of the Dust Bowl, de- economic revenues for the region and provides serted farm houses, and silt-choked rivers are large amounts of food and feed commodities also associated with wheat farming, especially for both domestic and foreign markets. Farm- in the drier, more marginal farming regions. ing activities also greatly impact the land, air, Today, more people than ever through- water, and biological resources of the region. out the world rely on American wheat farmers to provide a steady and affordable supply of grain. At the same time, public concern about Table 1. Wheat Acreage and Average Yields the viability of our food system is growing as in the Northwest, 1987-1989. part of an expanding environmental aware- Includes irrigated Acreage. ness. Many people feel that the enormous successes of farm productivity have not come Planted Area Average Yield State (1000 ac) (bu/ac) without a cost. In the brief history of farming in our nation, more soil has been eroded than Montana 5322 25.2 in many civilizations a thousand years old. Washington 2457 55.3 Rural populations and communities have dis- Idaho 1297 69.1 appeared because of changes created by using Oregon 865 64.1 new technology and by the world marketplace. Wyoming 268 25.4 The loss of prairies and wetlands has reduced Utah 195 38.9 biological diversity. Thus, sustainability is Source: USDA, 1990 crucial to agriculture to maintain food produc- tion and the natural and human resources that support it. In 1988, a group of researchers, exten- In the northwestern states of Washing- sion workers, farmers, and private agricultural ton, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyo- organizations initiated the Northwest Dryland ming, wheat and other drought-tolerant crops Cereal/Legume Cropping Systems project to 2 Dryland Farming in the Northwestern U.S. explore sustainable dryland farming options in ern United States, contains detailed research the six-state region. This publication provides information on moisture management, crop an overview of sustainable dryland farming in rotations, and soil quality. It is intended for use the region. It defines and presents the history by growers, researchers, and other agricultural of dryland farming and the concept of sustain- professionals. It also has a resource guide to able agriculture. A companion publication, sources for technical information and assis- XB1025 Amber Waves: A Technical Sourcebook for tance about dryland farming in the six states. Sustainable Dryland Farming in the Northwest- What Is Dryland Farming? Most rain fed dryland agriculture oc- Dryland regions are those geographic curs in semiarid and subhumid zones. These areas in which biological productivity is nor- are typically grassland ecosystems in their mally limited by available moisture. They oc- native state. The moisture characteristics of cupy an estimated one-third of the earth’s land drylands, as reported by UNESCO (1977), are surface. Through irrigation, the moisture limi- presented in Table 2. tation has been overcome for many dryland Land resources in dryland regions may sites. But for large geographic areas, limited suffer irreversible losses of productivity if water resources prevent irrigation develop- careful management is not practiced. In much ment. Thus, Strategies that improve moisture of the world, poor management has led to conservation will continue to be crucial to desertification, which poses a growing threat agriculture in dryland areas. to the livelihoods of people reliant on dryland Dryland Farming in the Northwestern U.S. 3 farming. Canadian researchers estimated the management. The variability of the dryland annual cost of soil degradation in their prairie environment often makes it difficult to ex- region to be 622 million dollars in lost agricul- trapolate research results or farmer experience tural productivity in 1984 alone (Dixon et al., from one location to another a short distance 1990). Thus, sustaining the resource base is a away. Many dryland farmers rely on their own crucial issue for drylands in developed as well experimentation and innovation to develop a as developing countries. successful management system. Government farm programs have played a large role in shaping dryland agri- Table 2. Dryland Moisture culture during this century. Price supports Characteristics. for wheat help keep many dryland farmers in business during periods of depressed grain Semiarid Subhumid prices. At the same time, the programs have in- fluenced farm management in ways that often MAP/PET 0.20-0.50 0.50-0.75 contradict resource conservation goals. Thus, MAP range (in.) 12-32 s 20-32 8-20 w -- in addition to climatic uncertainties, dryland Rainfall variability 25-50% <25% farmers have had to cope with policy issues more than most other farmers. (MAP=mean annual precipitation; PET=potential evapo- transpiration; S=summer rainfall regime, W= winter rainfall regime) What is Sustainable Agriculture? Source: UNESCO, 1977. The Northwest Dryland Cereal/Le- gume Cropping Systems project explored pros- Dryland wheat farming has been prac- pects for sustainable agriculture on the region’s ticed in many parts of the world for centuries, dryland farms. Sustainable agriculture is best but it is only about 100 years old in the north- understood as a concept or goal, rather than a western United States. In that short period, specific set of farming practices. It focuses on dryland farming techniques have undergone agriculture’s long-term viability, particularly much change due to a steady flow of new concerning the use of natural resources. Ideally, equipment, research, and farmer experience. a sustainable agriculture is profitable, environ- A number of practices and tools are unique to mentally sound, and socially beneficial, both in dryland regions. The widespread practice of the short and long term. Presently used indica- summer fallow stores moisture from two years tors of agricultural success, such as crop yields for use by a single crop. Farmers alternate a or annual profits, do not accurately measure crop and noncrop year, and control weeds the sustainability of our farming systems. during the noncrop year with tillage and/or The current interest in sustainable agri- herbicides. The desire to conserve as much of culture is the result of public concern about the the moisture as possible has spawned creative environmental impacts of modern agriculture, technology. For example, the rodweeder is a and grower concern about farm profitability.
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