Strong beef, hay prices buoy Nevada's agricultural outlook

Farmers and ranchers in Nevada can expect another good year.

"We've had strong prices for both crops and livestock.

The coming year also looks very positive," says Doug Busselman, executive vice president of the Nevada Farm Bureau.

Cattlemen should see strong prices through the year, says Jay Davidson, an area specialist for northern Nevada with the University of Nevada Extension Service.

"With beef prices higher, ranchers are now retaining heifers to rebuild the herds.

It's a normal cycle, which should head into a rebound next year."

He credits that partly to an advertising campaign "Beef: It's what's for dinner" sponsored by the National Beef Council.

Another factor: the low-carb diet craze that prompted many to eat a meat-heavy diet.

Plus, cattle exports to Japan will resume next year because the Asian nation will lift a ban enacted to guard against mad cow disease, says Dr.

Thomas Harris, director of the University Center for Economic Development and State Extension Specialist with the Cooperative Extension Service.

In Nevada, 90 percent of all crops are forage, for which Harris says "Prices should remain the same as last year." Much of the alfalfa is exported to California dairies and to Japan.

"Japan buys as much as they can have," says Ed Foster, regional manager, plant industry division of the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

The grass also is shipped to the horse farms of Kentucky and Tennessee.

"Everybody loves Nevada hay," says Foster.

Near Yerington, onions and garlic are king, and buyers come from South America to import the orbs.

In Gilroy, Calif., famous for its annual garlic festival, the dirty little secret is that Gilroy can't grow garlic after white rot got into the ground.Not here.

"We are on white rot like a dog on a bone," says Foster as he describes the state department of agriculture's effort.Nevada garlic seed is also exported overseas.

But who is growing all these good things? Bussleman sees the agricultural middle class shrinking while large commercial enterprises are growing larger.And in northwest Nevada, hobby farms are appearing.Young people, while working day jobs, are buying ranchettes and growing produce for farmers markets.