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Harney County growers test barley and other crops as groundwater limits loom
A community-led effort is testing crops that may need less water than alfalfa as Oregon moves to curb pumping from the Harney Basin aquifer. The trials also face a practical challenge: finding buyers and the equipment to get new crops to market.
HARNEY COUNTY, Ore. — Farmers and community members are testing whether crops such as barley, corn and squash can grow in the high-desert Harney Basin with less water than the alfalfa that has long supported local livestock operations.
The experiments, organized by the nonprofit High Desert Partnership, come as state regulators gain new authority to limit groundwater pumping. In December 2025, Oregon designated the Harney Basin a critical groundwater area, responding to decades of declining water levels in parts of the aquifer.
The basin covers about 5,240 square miles in southeast Oregon. Commercial agriculture accounts for roughly 97% of the groundwater pumped from it each year, according to the project’s organizers. Alfalfa, a water-intensive crop, is grown across thousands of irrigated acres.
The test plots are located on a field behind the home of state Rep. Mark Owens, a Harney County Republican and farmer, and on the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation in Burns. The project began with corn, winter squash and watermelon grown using drip irrigation. More recent trials included black barley, flint corn and fava beans. The beans did not succeed, but the barley grew.
“We have potential with the grains,” said Brenda Smith, High Desert Partnership’s executive director, noting that annual crops still need water but may require less than alfalfa.
The project is meant to explore options, not establish that the tested crops are ready to replace alfalfa across the basin. Smith said the team wants to determine whether small-scale trials can be replicated on a larger scale and gather more data. Some of the crops could potentially supply local food programs, such as farm-to-school efforts.
Finding a crop that grows is only part of the challenge. Bill Buhrig, a faculty research assistant at Oregon State University’s Malheur Experiment Station who advises the group, said the basin’s distance from markets makes it harder to sell new crops. Harney County’s agricultural infrastructure has largely developed around alfalfa, and local markets for alternatives are limited.
Growers may also need different harvesting equipment and processing capacity. Smith said the group is examining those needs alongside possible marketing approaches.
As the state reduces how much water irrigators can draw, farmers who depend on alfalfa will face difficult choices. The trials are an early effort to identify alternatives and help the community adapt while making more careful use of a resource Buhrig described as precious.