How do you grow crops with no water? A rancher on the Gila River is trying an old approach

In Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council was formed after a severe drought to bring together federal, state and regional governments and bridge parochial concerns. It was meant to manage the basin as a whole and end overuse and salinization of farm land, leveraging new technologies to adapt to new realities.

Eradicating invasive species requires enrolling a community effort. Although quarantines and chemical treatments have not proven effective in preventing the spread of Popilia japonica, or the Japanese beetle, to farms on the US’s Front Range, the Colorado community of Palisade succeeded in eradicating the species through collective action. By combining pest control methods with a community program of reducing water use, Palisade farmers were able to push the beetles out of their farmland over the course of several years in the early 2000s.

In the arid Karnataka region of India, millet is largely replacing rice as a staple crop. Not only does this drought-resistant grain require far less water and pesticide, but it's also highly nutritious. Perceptions are also beginning to change. What was once viewed as subpar food is starting to look like a winner in an increasingly thirsty world.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.

Farmers and land owners in the Rio Grande del Rancho region are using a collaborative, community-based approach fostered by acequias to ensure better sharing of water resources in times of scarcity.

The effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and hotter global temperatures, are already having drastic impact on many communities, especially the rural, agricultural regions of countries such as Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Mozambique. Earthrise explores how people in these communities are learning new skills, implementing new techniques, and are striving in every way possible to adapt to these environmental changes while creating hope for sustainable growth in the future.

The Utah state government is offering grants to encourage and enable farmers to invest in water-saving technology amid a severe drought. A farmer who wants to install a better irrigation system, like drip irrigation, will pay for half of the upgrade and the state will pay for the other half.

A barley farm in southern Oregon transformed 70 of its 400 acres into a wetland sanctuary after it had spent years leaking phosphorus pollution into the Upper Klamath Lake. A team of scientists and advocates collaborated with the farmer to finance and construct the new natural ecosystem, which began to yield the farmer both environmental and financial benefits after only one year.

Cotton farmers in Australia are converting their fields to be bankless so the work requires less water and labor. That means they’re removing the mounds of soil that kept water contained in ditches and redesigning the fields so it flows from one side to the other in gated stages instead of siphoning water by hand.

Farmers in Utah practice no-till farming to improve soil health and water retention amid an ongoing drought.