Poultry relocations wouldn't be chicken feed to Lovelock

Business leaders in Pershing County are wooing agricultural producers from California as the result of a voter-approved measure in the Golden State that may negatively impact the state's poultry industry.

The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, a ballot measure that passed with 63 percent of the California vote a year ago, calls for expanded cages for egg-laying chickens. Proponents say the larger cages will allow chickens enough space to move without bumping into other animals or cage walls.

California's poultry industry is estimated at nearly 20 million egg-laying hens, and although the law doesn't go into effect until 2015, it has caused much consternation among the state's poultry farmers.

And that has folks in Pershing County making a pitch for poultry farmers to relocate or expand operations to Nevada.

Kathy Johnson, economic development director for Pershing County, Tom Moura, a Lovelock-area alfalfa farmer, and Steven Foster, extension educator for the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension in Pershing County, recently touted the advantages of northern Nevada to a convention of California poultry farmers.

The Lovelock area, they say, provides wide-open spaces, lack of stifling regulations, and availability of infrastructure to easily transport eggs to market and of course Nevada's lower tax structure remains a constant business benefit.

"Our biggest advantage here in Pershing County is population density," Foster says. "There is controversy when a poultry farm is located too close to the non-farming public or gets surrounded by urban sprawl. In Pershing County there is less than two people per square mile, and most are located in Lovelock."

The Lovelock Greater Pershing Partnership circulated a brochure among California poultry farmers highlighting the reasons to relocate. But some farmers have questioned Nevada's ability to keep in check initiatives similar to the California measure.

"Their biggest concern is that we haven't had issues of animal care come up in Nevada, Foster says. "The same thing could happen here unless we amend the state constitution to say that amendments need to be approved through a board of experts rather than having the public decide what can be done on farms."

Johnson says the additional regulations may make it economically unfeasible for California poultry farmers to continue operations. And although relocation costs would run high, land prices in Lovelock are a farmer's dream compared to prices in California.

"If they have to change their whole mode of caring for animals and comply with new legislation, they aren't going to be profitable," Johnson says. "That would be bad for everybody. All we are doing is giving them an option."

A desire to plant the germ of an idea about Nevada locations led to the presentation to California's troubled poultry farmers, Moura says. They encouraged producers to give Nevada a thought before going bust or looking to other states to establish a farm.

Johnson says it's too early to judge the results of the presentations made by the Pershing County team. Alfalfa currently is Pershing County's main agricultural crop, and the county also is home to some sheep ranches.

For any farming operation, a key issue is an adequate supply of water and it's an issue that Central California farmers are struggling mightily with, as years of below-average snowpacks have left reservoirs and watersheds depleted.

Earlier this year, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and the Kern County Water agency filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service over water-pumping restrictions.

Although Lovelock is hardly water-rich, the area is adequately fed through the Humboldt River and local aquifers, Foster says. Although the quality of the water, which contains a great deal of minerals and salts, won't sustain most crops, he says it is adequate for poultry or pig farming.