Corn in the desert?

Farmers in Northern Nevada are all ears to proposals that they grow corn to diversify their crops and provide feed for Fallon-area dairy farms.

It's yet another way that a big dry-milk plant under construction in Churchill County is sending ripples across the region's economy.

Northern Nevada agriculture leans heavily on alfalfa production, the leading cash crop in the state. However, alfalfa fields must be rotated to prevent toxicity to the soil, and instead of planting wheat or other grains, some farmers are turning to corn, one of the hottest commodities in recent years.

Dan Knisley, owner of Great Basin Farms, a 1,900-acre farm in Lovelock, planted 180 acres in corn last year to test the market strength of the crop and also to diversify revenues that are dominated by alfalfa sales. Corn is harvested in late fall and allowed his field hands to focus on earlier cuttings of alfalfa fields, Knisley says.

"We are looking to diversify our farming a little bit more than conventional alfalfa and wheat grain crops, Knisley says. "With corn we can go with silage or grain or earlage corn (chopping the ears off and selling them as grain for dairy or beef cattle). It is a diverse market."

Demand for feed from northern Nevada dairymen is expected to increase with the opening of a dry-milk ingredients plant in Fallon in 2013. Fallon ranchers are expected to substantially increase their herds to provide up to 2 million gallons of milk per day to the plant, which creates additional opportunities for area farmers to sell corn feed and corn silage into Churchill County.

"The potential to grow more of that type of grain and sell into Fallon diversifies us by another 20 to 30 percent from what we used to do," Knisley says. "It is a different variety of crop and a different market financially."

Knisley expects to put 150 acres into corn this year. There are several obstacles, however, to overcome before corn can become an important crop in Nevada.

Growing corn a water-intensive crop in the desert might not work every year, says Steve Foster, extension educator in Pershing County for the University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension.

Lovelock-area farmers don't have wells and rely solely on Rye Patch Reservoir and the Humboldt River basin for their maximum annual allotment of 3 feet per acre of water. Wet winters, such as in 2010-11, allow for a full allotment, while drier winters, such as this most recent one, might mean there's not enough water for corn.

Some varieties of corn require between 20 and 30 inches of water a year, Foster says. Farmers will have to stay in alfalfa, wheat or possibly leave land fallow during years they are short on water.

The proximity of Lovelock and Fallon work to the benefit of regional farmers, Knisley says, because costs for shipping corn the 50 miles to Fallon can be worked out between farmers and ranchers.

"We are close to Fallon, and that is big advantage for the farmer harvesting and working the with the dairymen on freight versus shipping corn in on rail from the Midwest. Both parties would work well together because of our location."

Lovelock lacks crucial infrastructure, such as storage silos, grain elevators, loading and unloading and drying facilities, for large-scale production, Foster notes. Farmers also would need to purchase additional equipment, such as corn planters and combines with corn heads for harvesting.

Fertilizer costs for corn also run a lot higher, Knisley adds. And it's a riskier crop because corn is more susceptible to early-season frost damage due to its high water content. Without a commercial drying facility, farmers must let corn dry on the cob to extract water from the kernels.

Foster recently gave a series of workshops to about 10 Pershing County farmers interested in adding corn to their field crops. Nevada's heat and abundant sunshine provide more than enough of a window to bring a 90- to 95-day variety of corn to maturity, Foster says. The short maturity may result in fewer bushels per acre, but it would be a necessary tradeoff to beat the fall freeze, he says.

"This is a big opportunity for us because now we have a market," he says. "This gives us a good cash crop alternative if we get enough water."