Water, wine, weeds on minds of agriculture

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.