Nevada Agriculture -- Water Is Pretty Darn Important
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Although much of rural Nevada is watching closely the unfolding water appropriations process in Eastern Nevada and the hearings connected with determining the amount that the State Engineer will authorize for the Southern Nevada Water appropriations request – the University of Nevada’s project to obtain water rights from willing sellers in the Nevada portions of the Walker River Basin also should be of critical concern.
This was the fundamental unease leading up to the policy charge given to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, by the board of Agriculture -- keeping water for agricultural production needs to be a priority.
Through the policy they adopted, the Board of Agriculture directs the Nevada Department of Agriculture to:
In addition to these action items the Board of Ag is also emphasizing that the Water policy spelled out above will be given “the highest possible priority”. The Department of Ag is directed, by the Board of Agriculture, to create a position of “Agriculture Water Analyst” with funding and legislative authority being sought to move forward with the position.
Much of this same thinking and concern over the loss of agricultural water is identified in Nevada Farm Bureau’s policy…
Relocation: 282
Unprecedented urban growth and the never ending desire of bureaucracies to bring about the removal of agriculture water for both urban growth as well as the creation of wetlands has the potential to create soil erosion, noxious weed invasions, wild fire and atmospheric particulate matter at a level never before witnessed in Nevada, if left unchecked.
Nevada Farm Bureau strongly supports the concept that if/when water, through purchase or other mechanism, is removed from a site and transferred to another site that the parties involved in the transfer must put into place sufficient reclamation procedures to ensure the establishment of permanent (perennial) vegetation to minimize the eventual environmental impacts that invariably occur when irrigated lands are retired from production.
We direct the Nevada Farm Bureau to take immediate and appropriate steps to educate landowners, county commissions, Nevada’s Executive branch of government, including but not limited to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its appropriate subdivisions, and the Nevada State Legislature on this extremely important subject.
In a land of bounty and with a citizen base of many who don’t understand the details of how food finds its way to the grocery stores, where some believe food comes from – it’s important that attention is drawn to what it means to have the necessary resources for food production…especially water.
Although much of rural Nevada is watching closely the unfolding water appropriations process in Eastern Nevada and the hearings connected with determining the amount that the State Engineer will authorize for the Southern Nevada Water appropriations request – the University of Nevada’s project to obtain water rights from willing sellers in the Nevada portions of the Walker River Basin also should be of critical concern.
This was the fundamental unease leading up to the policy charge given to the Nevada Department of Agriculture, by the board of Agriculture -- keeping water for agricultural production needs to be a priority.
Through the policy they adopted, the Board of Agriculture directs the Nevada Department of Agriculture to:
- Monitor and report to the Board in a timely fashion any and all proposed reallocation of any Nevada water for any use other than for its historic application to agriculture production.
- Develop suitable economic models to predict the economic and environmental effect of any proposed reallocation of agriculture water to the rural economy.
- Prepare suitable position statements to be used at appropriate State water hearings, State legislative activities, Federal bureaucratic actions, Congressional actions or any other governmental action, proposed or otherwise, that could or would impact Nevada’s agricultural waters.
- Prepare an annual report for the Board, summarizing the state of Nevada’s agriculture waters.
- Take appropriate steps to insure all agriculture producers that may potentially be impacted by any water transfers, that statistically defensible ground water monitoring be established. Such monitoring procedures must be established if deep water removal is proposed for such aquifers as the carbonaceous aquifer, or any similar aquifer.
In addition to these action items the Board of Ag is also emphasizing that the Water policy spelled out above will be given “the highest possible priority”. The Department of Ag is directed, by the Board of Agriculture, to create a position of “Agriculture Water Analyst” with funding and legislative authority being sought to move forward with the position.
Much of this same thinking and concern over the loss of agricultural water is identified in Nevada Farm Bureau’s policy…
Relocation: 282
Unprecedented urban growth and the never ending desire of bureaucracies to bring about the removal of agriculture water for both urban growth as well as the creation of wetlands has the potential to create soil erosion, noxious weed invasions, wild fire and atmospheric particulate matter at a level never before witnessed in Nevada, if left unchecked.
Nevada Farm Bureau strongly supports the concept that if/when water, through purchase or other mechanism, is removed from a site and transferred to another site that the parties involved in the transfer must put into place sufficient reclamation procedures to ensure the establishment of permanent (perennial) vegetation to minimize the eventual environmental impacts that invariably occur when irrigated lands are retired from production.
We direct the Nevada Farm Bureau to take immediate and appropriate steps to educate landowners, county commissions, Nevada’s Executive branch of government, including but not limited to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its appropriate subdivisions, and the Nevada State Legislature on this extremely important subject.
In a land of bounty and with a citizen base of many who don’t understand the details of how food finds its way to the grocery stores, where some believe food comes from – it’s important that attention is drawn to what it means to have the necessary resources for food production…especially water.
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