University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Herds and Harvest Program has been awarded a $692,000 grant to use for educational programs for Nevada’s beginning ranchers and farmers. The grant, made available through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program administered by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will allow the program, which began in 2011, to continue and expand.The Herds and Harvest Program provides Nevada’s ranchers and farmers information on financial management, entrepreneurship and marketing, basic farming and ranching skills, and the slaughter and processing of meat through the Wolf Pack Meats Program.
“The continuation of the Herds & Harvest Program is a collaboration of 11 University faculty from Cooperative Extension and the College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Biotechnology,” said University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Educator Staci Emm, who directs the program. “This collaboration allows us to bring on-the-ground training and knowledge to Nevada’s beginning agricultural producers, while expanding the Wolf Pack Meats certification program and offering classes in viticulture and hops.”
Emm said there will also be a continued focus on basic farming and ranching skills, while continuing the Great Ideas for Growers forums and the mentoring program that assists producers in creating individualized enterprise budgets.
Over the past three years, the Herds & Harvest Program has reached more than 600 farmers and ranchers across the state, and three-quarters of surveyed participants reported that what they learned from Herds and Harvest had benefited their operations. The program has provided 128 trainings on 10 different topics, attended by 1,530 producers. It has also provided one-on-one assistance to producers and built a network among Nevada’s farmers and ranchers, now 4,000 strong.
For more information on the Herds and Harvest Program, visit http://www.unce.unr.edu/
