As life changes after COVID-19, how do we embrace urban agriculture and plan for our water rights future, while sustaining the foundation of Nevada agriculture?
My Extension team and I just finished the Small Agriculture Conference in Las Vegas on August 25-26, 2023, and we will be setting the date soon for the 2024 Urban Agriculture Conference in Las Vegas. As a part of our program, we created “Southern Nevada Agriculture Roundtables.” The Roundtables were organized to discuss what agriculture production (vegetables, meat, spices, cottage foods, etc.) looks like in Southern Nevada.
We held our first Roundtable on July 26 with about 12 people. We asked each of those 12 people attending to bring two other people for the second Roundtable held August 8. They were successful, and attendance increased to about 20 people. Our third Roundtable was the evening of August 25 at the Small Agriculture Conference, and we had over 70 people in the room.
The third Roundtable stirred a lot of emotion. We had one attendee in particular that broke down in front of the group asking for help for his community. He and his wife are retired and his wife’s passion is helping military veterans, and his passion is helping kids. They live in the Historic Westside of Las Vegas. He had been utilizing his own money to put in school gardens for the kids in his neighborhood schools. He said with the increased costs of living, that he and his wife were struggling and he needed help. He was also quick to ask what was the difference between horticulture and agriculture?
The Historic Westside is a 3.5 square-mile area located northwest of the Las Vegas Strip and the interchange of 1-15 to US 95, and is primarily an African-American neighborhood. We had several individuals attending the conference who are growing food in their neighborhoods for their communities. One farm had over 50 fruit trees and boxed gardens to support their neighborhood with food access. The question then becomes, is this agriculture?
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition of an agricultural producer is the ability to produce and sell $1,000 or more in product. It also can get more complicated as seen in the definition below off the USDA website that if the farm can’t sell, there is a point system. The basis is the potential sales of $1,000 or more. Traditionally, those of us involved in agricultural in Nevada have not recognized the very small grower that has about $1,000 in sales of an agricultural product. We have always categorized them as a gardener and viewed it as horticulture.
While working on the Roundtables, I have had to do a lot of research into different USDA definitions. Actually, USDA sees horticulture as a branch of agriculture. What I am still struggling with, and need to work through, is the idea of what “Urban Agriculture” looks like, and the water and/or “water rights” that accompanies this growing movement in Nevada’s largest city.
Our University of Nevada, Reno Extension Director recently sent out an email to our Master Gardener Coordinator in Las Vegas because she was asking about the differences between what her Master Gardener programs do and this term called “Urban Agriculture.”
While our leadership agrees that there are more questions than answers, it is also believed that an “Urban Agriculture” program is complex and multi-faceted, and program development may be challenging. But, it is believed Extension is uniquely positioned to engage, facilitate and lead. One of the simple things that we have found out through these Roundtables, is that Extension needs to be better connected to their own programs in the state. We are working on that issue to assist small beginning farmers and ranchers.
It is not hard for me to embrace, growing up in a cattle and hay operation, that people with orchards and/or vegetable gardens are considered agricultural operations. In fact, I see these individuals working very hard every day. It is also not hard for me to personally consider a brewing company, an ag product distributor, or a marketer to be an agriculture business. My biggest issue is how we embrace the different kinds of agriculture in Nevada and how we preserve the water rights to do it.
We are going to continue our Roundtables, and have established working group topics. The 70 attendees at the conference will be able to select which working group topic they were most passionate about. There are going to be agriculture education groups that work to bring the “Farm Fest” back to Horseman’s park where thousands of elementary school kids experience what agriculture is, there will be a working group to access where and what kind of farmers markets are needed, and one group has a passion for a local food cooperative grocery store. There is passion, and where there is passion, there is usually action to follow.
While I am excited about the individuals and their passion, I am also nervous. Nervous because of the number of people growing food, or involved in the processing and distribution of food, that are coming forward. We knew they were in Southern Nevada, we just did not know where. After three Roundtables, we have found enough individuals meeting the USDA definitions to hold tours and collaborate on educational activities.
I am also nervous that we need to keep water use in mind. We have some very creative individuals, but water is Nevada’s most precious resource. I am hoping as we keep moving forward, that we will be able to build collaborations through water conservation and new technologies that allow people to have their small farms. I am not yet sure what water rights looks like for “Urban Agriculture,” but I have a feeling that we are going to educate ourselves very quickly.
By Staci Emmn | Editorial