Business Under Fire Sunshine Cereceda has been dry farming at California-based Sunboldt Grown since 2016. Courtesy Photo Dry Farming C onserving water has become increasingly important for cannabis farmers, particularly those in regions facing drought, water shortages and/or municipal restrictions. Many farmers have succeeded in reducing their water usage with rainwater-catchment programs and water-recapture and recycling systems. But a small number of cannabis farmers are going a step further by not watering 58 MJBizMagazine | August 2021 century and more of a necessity. By Omar Sacirbey From the Bottom Up The right location and soil structure make dry farming cannabis possible, cultivator says their plants at all using a practice called dry farming. Native Americans have used dry-farming practices for thousands of years, and more-modern dry farming dates to the 19th century. But with most of the Western United States experiencing a historic drought, dry farming is becoming less of a novelty in the 21st Necessities From Below On the surface, not watering your marijuana plants seems like a death sentence. But lack of irrigation is only one part of dry farming. The far more important part is making sure there is enough groundwater in the soil for your plants to feed on. " With dry farming, the water is down below. And you want to bring the water up the soil profile to the