The short-term outlook for agriculture
in Nevada depends on water. The long
term forecast may depend on wine, weeds
and native seeds.
"If you look at next year, it is entirely
dependent on this wet stuff we get," said
David Thawley, dean of University Nevada,
Reno's College of Agriculture,
Biotechnology, and Natural Resources.
"Another dry winter and it will be very
severe."
Thawley said both the Humboldt and
Walker Rivers were low this past season.
Farmers depending on the Humboldt
received about a third of their normal allotment
of water while farmers along the
Walker River received about half, said
Thawley.Truckee River was at full capacity,
he said, but now reservoir levels are low.
"Normally alfalfa requires four acre-feet
of water. Anything less than that and you
will get production losses. Half the water,
half the production," said Thawley.
Fortunately, hay prices were healthy, he
said. The Nevada Agricultural Statistics
Service hasn't yet calculated the average
2002 hay prices, but Martin Owens, state
statistician, is confident they'll be above last
year's prices. In 2001, the average price was
$113 a ton, which was 22 percent above the
previous year's price of $92.50 a ton.
Alfalfa hay is the state's number one
crop, said Owens, and demand has been
increasing in recent years due to a boom in
the dairy industry in the West. In fact, one
of the largest dairies is in southern Nevada
- Armagosa Valley's Ponderosa Dairy,
which is now doubling in size to 25,000
cows.
Other crops include onions and garlic.
"They're increasing acreage in onions and
that will continue to be a higher value crop,
mostly in Washoe and Yerington," said
Owens. "Garlic is down somewhat. They've
been adversely affected by imports into
California from China."
The state's number one commodity,
though, is cattle. "Cattle prices were down
this year, but there should be a turnaround
this spring," said Owens. "Economists have
forecasted a rise globally in prices in
spring."
The Nevada Cattlemen's Association is
optimistic that it can get some regulatory
changes made to benefit ranchers.
"The Bush administration is pretty
friendly, so we're going to take advantage of
that," said Rachel Buzzetti, executive director
of the association in Elko. "We're working
with Interior [Department] on rangeland
management."
The association hopes to get revisions
made to several provisions. Right now if a
rancher makes a so-called ownership
improvement on a public land then the
improvement is half owned by the Bureau
of Land Management even though the
rancher paid for the improvement. The
association wants to see that changed so
the rancher pays for and owns the improvement.
Another regulation requires the BLM to
send out notices to "interested public"
when a rancher files for a temporary grazing
permit or an extension to an existing
one. If anyone objects, the permit isn't
granted, said Buzzetti. The association
would like to see those notices sent on a
more limited basis so that minor changes
can be made without public comment.
"Interior has told us those revisions will
be made the first of year," said Buzzetti. "It
will make ranching a little more viable."
In 2003, ranchers will be busy starting
up programs to put country of origin labels
on beef, now mandated by federal law.
"The ranchers are happy about that,"
said Buzzetti.
In the long run, the association is looking
into land management opportunities
for ranchers. "We're constantly working on
that," said Buzzetti. She cites a sheep
rancher in California who is being paid to
graze his flock in the Los Angeles hills to
cut down on the undergrowth that provides
the fuel load for fires. That's an example of
the kind of work that the group is trying to
cultivate for Nevada ranchers, she said.
The future for farmers, said UNR's
Thawley, may be in cultivating more
drought-resistant crops.
"There is real push on to look at crops
that use significantly less water," said
Thawley.
One such crop is wine grapes. UNR has
been growing 10 varieties of grapes for the
last seven years in a pilot study to determine
if they're a viable crop for Nevada.
The climate, apparently is, said Thawley,
since grapes grow best in areas with hot
days and cool nights.
Thawley said the jury is still out, and
part of his job he said is to throw some
caution out there. "But it looks very promising,"
said Thawley.
Another promising crop may be native
seeds for replanting after fire damage here
in Nevada, said Thawley. Currently, most
native seeds are grown somewhere else,
usually in climates much wetter than
Nevada's.
For now, though, a wet climate is exactly
what the farmers and ranchers of Nevada
are hoping for.
