Reno Food System’s five-acre urban farm is a work in progress. The farm’s manager, Lyndsey Langsdale, said that unlike her previous farm – Lost City Farm on Center Street, which closed in 2015 – Reno Food Systems is a nonprofit that aims to grow fruits and vegetables for local restaurants and customers.
It also serves to spread awareness about how such a property can serve as a model for growing elsewhere. The farm was originally intended to be one of many similar operations around the county, but Langsdale said five acres keeps her and the Reno Food System’s team plenty busy.
“Our original vision for the future was that this would be the first one,” she said. “I feel like that was maybe super ambitious because this one is very hard, just the one. Just the one is enough. It’s hard when you’re a big-picture thinker to just be satisfied with the thing that you’re doing currently.”
Reno Food Systems is also trying to spread agricultural knowledge and awareness to the Truckee Meadows community.
“Our focus isn’t selling the produce,” Langsdale said. “Our biggest intention is to show a good use for public land, and a good partnership with the county or municipality that has access to lots of open space.
“We tend to think that having open space that’s supporting the land, the creatures on the land [and] recognizing the original peoples of the land and the agrarian heritage of it … honoring all of the things that land can be beneficial for, for everybody – that’s what we like to do,” she added.
The five-acre farm on Mayberry Drive, near McCarran Boulevard, is on Washoe County property, but is managed by the nonprofit.
Langsdale said the farm relies on volunteers, donations and grants. It gets funding from the state department of agriculture and foundations, and Patagonia helps the farm with volunteers.
Local restaurants and the Great Basin Food Co-op purchase the farm’s produce. The Reno Public House uses farm products in craft cocktails, Langsdale said.
“Mostly we sell at our farm stand here,” she added.
A large solar panel powers the farm, including charging two electric bikes, which were also donated. Langsdale said the e-bikes are invaluable in getting people, and produce, around the property.
“I don’t even know how, for three years, I walked this five-acre property every day,” Langsdale said. “We can attach our wagon to it and move stuff around. They’re just really fun.”
Learn more: https://www.renofoodsystems.org/
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Business news briefs
DRI welcomes new STEM program manager. Emily McDonald-Williams is the new STEM education program manager. She brings experience as a 4-H Coordinator at Oregon State University, where she focused on developing and expanding STEM education opportunities. Prior to her work at Oregon State University, she worked with Montana State Parks and the Bureau of Land Management with a focus on integrating natural resource content with hands-on education throughout the community.
Nevada hunters generate millions in economic impact for rural communities. A new study by researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno shows hunting generates millions of dollars in economic impact in Nevada, especially in rural communities where wildlife is plentiful. Researchers worked with the Nevada Department of Wildlife to find out how much hunters spend on hunting licenses and tags each year. “More people want to hunt big game animals here in Nevada than there are available big game hunting tags,” said Michael Taylor, a co-author of the reports. “That’s what makes hunting kind of a recession-proof industry. There are so many people who want to go, that demand stays strong even during an economic downturn.”
Foundry and Red Square join forces to create Good Giant. With decades of combined experience in advertising, marketing and communications, Nevada-based Foundry and Alabama-based Red Square Agency have merged to create the largest gaming-focused creative agency in the country – Good Giant. According to Jim Bauserman, chief marketing officer for Good Giant, the new name is the embodiment of what the agency is and what it strives to be. “Our clients get all the perks of a large agency with the personal service and attention they’d expect from a smaller shop with something to prove. And for our team, we’re still us—good people who are giants in our field striving to make an impact,” he said.
DCG represents seller of 14 acres in North Valleys. DCG’s Principal Tom Fennell and Senior Vice President of Retail, Gary Tremaine, represented a seller in the sale of 13.52 acres located at the Red Rock Road intersection just off Highway 395. The Inland Group acquired the mixed-use land for $3,400,000 with plans for a 290-unit affordable housing development, expecting to break ground this fall, opening up the first units in the summer of 2023.
More than 34,000 cans of tuna were donated to the Food Bank. A record-breaking number – 34,769 cans – of tuna were delivered to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada during the month of September from Run on Tuna. Over 189,000 cans of tuna have been donated to the Food Bank over the past 12 years through Run on Tuna. “We are so excited about the spectacular results of this year’s ‘Run’,” said DeDe Rosene, organizer. “We love our community and the people in it who understand that together we ‘can’ make a difference against hunger one can of tuna at a time or 34,769 cans.”
Higher ed. system’s Fostering Success initiative celebrates donation. The Nevada System of Higher Education announced the recent growth of its Fostering Success Initiative that provides financial and wraparound support to students with experience in foster care. A fee waiver permits qualifying undergraduate students to register for classes without being charged course registration or certain laboratory fees. NSHE and two of its institutions received $1,025,000 in grant funding: $200,000 was awarded to UNR; $225,000 was awarded to TMCC; and $600,000 went to NSHE.
U.S. Treasury approves up to $113 million for small business capital. The Treasury today announced it has approved the funds for Nevada’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The program is overseen by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “This level of funding will greatly increase our ability to help small businesses access capital needed to invest in job-creating opportunities in Nevada, which is a priority for me and for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development,” said Gov. Steve Sisolak. “I’m deeply grateful to the Interim Finance Committee giving this program its unanimous support last month. We will continue to do all we can to support our small businesses and support Nevadans.”
