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Plant materials center at Newlands ag center awaits final approval from UNR chancellor
July 27, 2005, 12:05 AM
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By BURKE WASSON
LVN Staff Writer
By 2007, Fallon should become a key site for extensive alternative crop research in northern Nevada. All that needs to be done to make it official is University of Nevada, Reno Chancellor Jim Rogers' signature.
The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service has had plans in motion to construct the state's first-ever plant materials center in Fallon for a few years. More than 25 such centers are located across the United States, yet Nevada has none.
According to NRCS State Resource Specialist Gary Brackley, the center would be built on the Newlands research farm on U.S. Highway 95 just south of Fallon city limits.
Brackley said the plant materials center would be a site for Nevada to have an opportunity to research and develop native seeds that could prosper in the region - even in over-grazed, scorched or weed-plentiful lands.
With Newlands Project water rights becoming harder to acquire, native seed crops are becoming more attractive to farmers who may want to use less water over more land.
But before any of these benefits happen, however, the university has to come through.
Plans for the NRCS to take over control of the 160-acre Newlands research farm by this summer have been on hold while officials wait for the UNR Board of Regents to transfer the property.
Brackley said the board has approved a lease agreement for the NRCS to establish the center at the Newlands farm, but Rogers still has to sign off on the deal.
"Everything's kind of on hold," Brackley said. "Until we actually receive a signed document from the University of Nevada, Reno's chancellor, we really can't obligate any funds that have been made available for the establishment. All the assurances we've been given is that it's just a matter of time waiting for those signatures to take place."
According to Brackley and NRCS official Rod Dahl, the plant materials center should be open by June 2007.
Besides waiting for university approval, NRCS officials will also be going through the hiring process for the plant materials center.
Brackley said the site would require a farm manager and a professional horticulturist or agronomist to be the plant materials center manager.
While he said the NRCS would appreciate as many applicants as possible, Brackley believes someone who is familiar to the native seeds of northern Nevada would be the best choice.
"It's kind of an unusual position, and they don't come along very often," Brackley said. "The idea there is if there's somebody local in the Fallon, Yerington and Lovelock area that is farming 80 acres on the weekend and could work for the plant materials center and do the same job, then their experience and background would qualify for them for the position. It would make a big difference."
An ideal farm manager would require someone who is not only experienced in intensive agriculture like hay farming and row crop farming, but also knows a thing or two about modern, specialized equipment.
"A lot of the equipment that we would be using to make it a fully operational center would be customized," Brackley said. "It's pretty specialized as far as the crop and these native plant species and bringing them into a common garden so to speak."
Brackley also said the NRCS would like a professional horticulturist or an agronomist to be the plant materials center's manager. This position would involve doing greenhouse studies, completing statistical analysis and evaluating the plants and plant attributes they will try to develop.
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
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