Robert Vilada, age 12 of Cleveland, Ohio for his question:

CAN YOU EXPLAIN DRY LAND FARMING?

Dry land farming is a method of agricultural cultivation in dry regions usually receiving less than 20 inches of rainfall a year. Dry land, or dry, farming normally produces crops without any irrigation and depends mainly upon tillage methods that conserve soil moisture.

Moisture is conserved by various methods, such as fallowing, that allow cultivation every alternate year; by the destruction of moisture absorbing weeds; or by reduced seeding.

Loss of water is also minimized by such farm practices as wider spacing of furrows or by having the furrows follow the contours of the land instead of running vertically up and down hillsides.

Crops produced by the dry land farming method are grown extensively, not intensively, and include wheat, barley, rye, corn and potatoes.

Dry land farming is common in many parts of Africa, Asia and Australia and in the semiarid areas of the southwestern United States