Number of Beginning Farmers and Ranchers in Nevada
is Above the National Average and Soil Health is a Priority
Agriculture demographics and priorities in Nevada are changing and evolving to include an increasing number of beginning farmers and ranchers along with an expanding interest in soil health.
Last month, I wrote about our Extension risk management program and the upcoming conferences in March: An Urban Agriculture Conference in Las Vegas, a Small Agriculture Conference in Fallon, and a Bee-Garden Conference in Gardnerville, Nevada. I also wrote about 2022 Census of Agriculture data. We are currently debriefing from all our trainings, workshops and conferences in that included the Cattlemen’s Update and the three conferences we just finished in March.
We are seeing some changes in our demographics and in producer wants and needs. I will tell you that all of our “Climate-Smart” or also known as “Regenerative Ag” seats were sold out and attendance was, by far, greater than I have ever seen. Conference evaluations specifically stated that more soil-health education was wanted. I was particularly surprised to walk into the Fallon pre-conference workshop to see how many farmers were attending and participants left saying it was one of the best workshops they had ever attended. It was just a week before that we were in Las Vegas, where there was not a seat in house during the educational programming. I told myself to pay attention!
During this time, I continued to analyze 2022 Agricultural Census data as I have some grant proposals to get ready. My retired colleague Tom Harris sent me an email saying, “Have you checked this out?” When I opened the file, I honestly did not see this coming. Nevada is above the national average of beginning farmer and rancher producers. He even created Table 1, which lists the producers and beginning farmer and rancher producers by county. I told myself to pay attention!
We will begin debriefing, as a team, our 2024 risk management programs that included Cattlemen’s Update, Urban Agriculture, Small Agriculture, and Apiculture. We will compile all evaluations, data, comments made to team members, and situations that occurred or did not occur. We will then begin planning for 2025. We, as a team, need to pay attention!
I now encourage “You” to “Pay Attention.” What is happening in Nevada is that we have movement like we have not seen before. We have producers that are managing for soil health. We have beginning farmers and ranchers that can’t get enough knowledge and continue to grow in numbers. While this is exciting to see, it is also a little scary for a woman that grew up on a hay and cattle farm/ranch. This is different from what I have seen overall in my last 20 years in Extension. It was 20 years ago that I could not get five people to participate in a soil health workshop. Soil health is so important and it is exciting to see how many farmers and ranchers are embracing the discussion.
Let us all “Pay Attention.” There is some pretty cool management happening out there and some really great beginning farmers and ranchers doing incredible things. If we “Pay Attention,” we will recognize it!
By Staci Emm | Editorial