Spring 2024 | Cover Story

Cultivating Farmers

Nevada Farm Network helps farmers thrive with networking and resources.

Imagine a social media site, such as Facebook, just for Nevada farmers: a free, user-friendly, interactive social media platform through which they can connect, share resources, edify themselves, and exchange generational agricultural wisdom. You’d have the Nevada Farm Network, a recently launched pilot program created with the success of The Silver State’s specialty crop farmers in mind.

In geographically diverse Nevada, with its wide-open spaces, it’s not easy to pop your head over your fellow farmer’s fence and ask for advice. Peer-to-peer connection can be limited for those in rural areas. Now, when the agricultural community faces issues of concern, members of the Nevada Farm Network can hop on the nonprofit Hylo social platform that hosts the network and easily source solutions from those who have already successfully navigated many agricultural waters.

This grower-led initiative is meant to reduce barriers to entry for new farmers while also providing access to high-quality, location-specific information for people farming specialty crops in Nevada. The United States Department of Agriculture defines specialty crops as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture) — not commodity crops such as hay or alfalfa.

For instance, if a rural Nevada farmer is struggling to grow tomatoes and does a general web search for assistance, results likely won’t come from fellow Nevadans facing similar climate or soil struggles. Here, they will.

The Nevada Farm Network is the result of years of effort by a team comprised of members of Reno’s Desert Farming Initiative, NEON Agency media and marketing company in Reno, and the University of Nevada, Reno. A USDA grant acquired in 2021 helped spearhead NFN’s creation and cultivate a vested leadership committee made up of farmers and agricultural experts statewide.

This team can assist farmers with completing the surveys that delve into their operations and get them registered for the network, a process that takes only a few minutes. Once registered, members can find state-specific, peer-provided resources on dozens of topics ranging from seed saving and soil health to bees and business planning.

The Nevada Farm Network is intended to help farmers thrive.

“Nevada farmers have expressed their hopes for more connection, and we’re so excited to see just that with the full launch of this network,” says Anna Miller, project coordinator for the Nevada Farm Network.

For details or to register, visit Nevadafarmnetwork.com.