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The Carrizo Plain stretches 50 miles between the Temblor and Caliente mountains, a grassy plain and drainage basin where Chumash, Yokuts and other Indigenous peoples hunted and traded before settlers tried their hand at dryland farming.

For generations, families like the Mahoneys have practiced “dryland farming,” which means they rely on rain, not irrigation.

Dryland farming has a long history in the arid West, including among Indigenous peoples such as the Hopi, who today carry on their ancient traditions of growing corn, beans and squash relying on the rains.

As farmers ran out of water, they increasingly switched to what’s called dryland farming, relying on rain alone.

Unfortunately, they did not apply dryland farming techniques, or agricultural methods that protect the soil from wind erosion when farmers must do their job without irrigation.