The future of agriculture in Nevada will need to be the focus of several upcoming discussions with the demand for water increasing.
We are all focused on inflation and the upcoming drought, as producers begin making their agricultural decisions. Depending on what basin in Nevada a producer is dependent upon, the story is bleak. Will there be a 70% allocation, 50% allocation, or no allocation? Will there be a reduction in AUMs?
This is not new to the Nevada producer. These management decisions exist every year based on our winter, the soil moisture and the ability to store water. Water is one of the main ingredients in production agriculture. The problem begins in that water is a limiting factor. The issues don’t seem that bad when we have more water than we need. However, when we start talking drought and limited reservoir storage, it becomes a hot topic item.
I should not be impacted that much by these issues, as I am getting ready to complete my 22nd year in the Extension service. The issues begin to cycle the longer I stay in the business, but something happened this last week that caught me off guard, and made me more aware of just how much we all need to protect our agricultural water resources.
The Nevada Ag Outlook was the third Wednesday in March and focused on two things – Mining and Economics. There was a presentation on the Lithium Mine going into Humboldt County and a Food and Agriculture Policy Institute update of current ag prices and current inflation impacts. The ag policy update was a bit depressing.
Agriculture will be impacted by global situations like war, drought, interest rates rising, inflation in inputs costs, and many other things. The producers know this and some have lived through this before from one situation to another. The younger consumer has not lived through this, and they will soon learn that it is going to not only cost them more to eat, but their options in what they eat may be limited.
In addition, we have a Nevada county facing the liquidation and selling off of large parcels of agricultural land and water rights. In the free market world, it goes to the highest bidder? What happens as large agricultural production companies are sold off piece by piece in an area impacted by an increased demand for development? This isn’t just a what if anymore, it is happening.
For years, I have heard about grow local agricultural not being sustainable. I see a lot of enterprise budgets where it is very difficult for the small producer to be sustainable. However, we better start thinking about what we want our agricultural future to be in Nevada. Do we want to have local food available, or are we going to be dependent on outside resources? Do local communities want to sustain and maintain their “rural” lifestyle? If the State of Nevada, Nevada Counties, and Nevada towns and cities are not thinking about it – they better make it a top priority.
We have major changes happening in Nevada that will impact agriculture. Mining and development need one thing to be successful, which is water. Water is taken from agriculture production, and this water rarely ever goes back to being used for agricultural production. The uncomfortable discussion is that the water may exist on paper, but doesn’t exist in reality; or the price per acre foot of water is so extreme that nothing else can compete.
We need to begin our statewide discussions, and we need to plan our agricultural future. Do Nevadans want to have food grown in their state? If they do, then there will have to be some planning and protections of agricultural water use. There will also have to be local, state and national support for our producers. We need to decide right now if we want to sustain the agriculture we have in the state.
My agriculture environment has already changed since I was a kid. The water resources that were there in the 1970’s and 1980’s no longer exist. My environment has a new normal with less access to water in 2022. Will agricultural water will even be available by 2050?
We better start planning now.
By Staci Emmn | Editorial