Survey Says -- Growing Nevada Agriculture A Worthwhile Pursuit
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
The idea of expanding Nevada agricultural opportunities is an idea that Silver State farmers and ranchers think is something worth making an effort to achieve, according to a survey of Farm Bureau members. 93 percent of those responding to the survey indicated that they believe that planning for expanded opportunities should be carried out, with 100 percent sharing their perspective that this project should be a collective effort of themselves and their fellow producers.
Respondents to the survey focused much of their attention for expanding agricultural opportunities by concentrating on existing operations and current agricultural products. In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, 73 percent noted their agreement of using the criteria of “individual farmers/ranchers being more profitable”. 77 percent said they agreed with using “increases in sales of existing agricultural products” as a measurement for success.
In their evaluation of approaches to take to achieve profitability, 74 percent of the participants said that the emphasis should be placed on lowering production costs. Two other methods of profitability (“increasing prices received for agricultural products” and “increasing production levels of existing agricultural products”) drew nearly equal levels of agreement with the approach of increasing prices drawing a higher ranking in head-to-head comparisons of various options.
Expanding Nevada agricultural opportunities through the sale of new agricultural products and using the expansion of agricultural production into new areas as an emphasis for increasing profitability obtained agreement by more than half those who offered their feedback through the Farm Bureau survey, although the degree of agreement was less than the expansion based on existing production. 62 percent of the respondents said that they agreed with using “expanded agricultural sales of new agricultural products” as a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture. 56 percent marked their agreement to using “expanding agricultural production into new areas of production” as a way of increasing agricultural profitability.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Understanding that there is an interest in developing plans and having the preliminary framework of what Nevada farmers and ranchers consider to be foundational elements for increasing opportunities are starting points for making progress. The unanimous agreement that agricultural producers, themselves, need to be involved in charting the course is also a noteworthy consideration to factor into future steps.
The challenge is finding and implementing a workable process to engage agricultural producers in carrying out the objective of planning for expanded opportunities for Nevada agriculture. Possible methods include the use of a planning model which assesses communities for economic development. Additional planning methods should also be examined for their capabilities to deliver results.
Survey Results For Growing Nevada Agriculture
The idea of expanding Nevada agricultural opportunities is an idea that Silver State farmers and ranchers think is something worth making an effort to achieve, according to a survey of Farm Bureau members. 93 percent of those responding to the survey indicated that they believe that planning for expanded opportunities should be carried out, with 100 percent sharing their perspective that this project should be a collective effort of themselves and their fellow producers.
Respondents to the survey focused much of their attention for expanding agricultural opportunities by concentrating on existing operations and current agricultural products. In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, 73 percent noted their agreement of using the criteria of “individual farmers/ranchers being more profitable”. 77 percent said they agreed with using “increases in sales of existing agricultural products” as a measurement for success.
In their evaluation of approaches to take to achieve profitability, 74 percent of the participants said that the emphasis should be placed on lowering production costs. Two other methods of profitability (“increasing prices received for agricultural products” and “increasing production levels of existing agricultural products”) drew nearly equal levels of agreement with the approach of increasing prices drawing a higher ranking in head-to-head comparisons of various options.
Expanding Nevada agricultural opportunities through the sale of new agricultural products and using the expansion of agricultural production into new areas as an emphasis for increasing profitability obtained agreement by more than half those who offered their feedback through the Farm Bureau survey, although the degree of agreement was less than the expansion based on existing production. 62 percent of the respondents said that they agreed with using “expanded agricultural sales of new agricultural products” as a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture. 56 percent marked their agreement to using “expanding agricultural production into new areas of production” as a way of increasing agricultural profitability.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Understanding that there is an interest in developing plans and having the preliminary framework of what Nevada farmers and ranchers consider to be foundational elements for increasing opportunities are starting points for making progress. The unanimous agreement that agricultural producers, themselves, need to be involved in charting the course is also a noteworthy consideration to factor into future steps.
The challenge is finding and implementing a workable process to engage agricultural producers in carrying out the objective of planning for expanded opportunities for Nevada agriculture. Possible methods include the use of a planning model which assesses communities for economic development. Additional planning methods should also be examined for their capabilities to deliver results.
Survey Results For Growing Nevada Agriculture
- 93 percent of those responding believe that efforts should be made to develop plans for expanding opportunities for Nevada agriculture
- 100 percent of those responding believe that the planning effort for expanding opportunities for Nevada agriculture should be a collective effort involving farmers and ranchers
- When asked whether the planning effort for expanding opportunities for Nevada agriculture should involve non-agricultural producers, 46 percent said that they agreed – 13 percent said that they disagreed – 41 percent were neutral.
- In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, the metric of individual farmer/ranchers being more profitable drew a 73 percent agreement. In a ranking of the proposed possible measurements, this approach for determining success was rated as the top option, although in totaling the first and second rankings for the options of success measurement…individual farmer/rancher profitability slipped narrowly to second place, behind increased sales for existing agricultural products.
- In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, the metric of there being an increase in the number of farmer/ranchers drew a 45 percent agreement. 24 percent indicated that they disagreed with this measurement of success. 31 percent were neutral in their assessment on this being a worthy measurement.
- In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, the possible measurement of increases in sales of existing agricultural products brought a response of 77 percent agreement. In a ranking of the proposed possible measurements, this approach for determining success was ranked second, although in totaling the first and second rankings for the options of success measurement…it drew ahead of individual farmer/rancher profitability..
- In determining what would be a meaningful measurement for determining success of an effort to expand opportunities for Nevada agriculture, using the basis of expanded agricultural sales of new agricultural products received a 62 percent agreement.
- Profitability can be achieved in a variety of ways, when asked to determine whether the emphasis should be placed on lowering production costs – 74 percent indicated that they agreed with this approach. In ranking this approach with the other offered options, it also drew the highest level of being the top choice for being the emphasis to focus on.
- Achieving profitability by putting an emphasis on increasing prices of agricultural products received 64 percent agreement. In ranking this approach with the other offered options, it ranked second as the highest level of choice for being the emphasis to focus on.
- Increased profitability by putting the emphasis on increasing production levels of existing agricultural products received 65 percent agreement. This emphasis finished third in the rankings of the options provided for approaches to focus on for increasing profitability.
- Expanding agricultural production into new areas of production as a way of increasing profitability drew the lowest level of agreement of the provided options with 56 percent agreement.
Posted by Doug Busselman at 5/25/2009 9:18 AM 
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Expanding Agricultural Production Nevada
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: Expanding Agricultural Production Nevada
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