Alfalfa’s Potential in Dryland Crop Production

Alfalfa is a nutrient rich forage crop that is productive and beneficial agronomically and envi-ronmentally in the Inland Empire. There are adapted varieties for all but the driest areas, and alfalfa performs even better under irrigation. Because most alfalfa literature and variety testing done in the West pertains to irrigated alfalfa, this article attempts to extrapolate that information in order to estimate alfalfa’s potential as an alternate or longer term rotation crop in the three-year rotation, dryland grain producing area of the Inland Empire. Here, yields range from one to three tons of alfalfa per acre in areas receiving 14 to 17 inches of precipitation. One cutting is the rule except on good soils in the higher end of the precipitation range where a second cutting can occur in wet years. Multi-cutting alfalfa production in sub-irrigated meadows, or in the higher rainfall area of northeastern Washington near the Washington-Idaho border, is more akin to production under irrigation and is not the topic of this article. History. Alfalfa is an ancient crop. Charred seed has been found in archeological sites in Iran dating back 8000 years, and charred seed from small seeded legumes and grasses collected by people 12,000 years ago in present day Syria has also been unearthed. It is speculate