Question of the Day - 02 October 2025

Nevada is known more for its ranches, mainly sheep and cattle, than for its crops. But as we wrote in the News item and you wrote in the question, the state still boasts more than 3,000 farms. 

Being mostly desert, Nevada's agriculture is concentrated in valleys and basins and clustered around dams where irrigation water is available. The average farm size is about 1,800 acres, though the median size is 42 acres (half are smaller, half are larger), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Roughly five percent of the farms, 150 total, are larger than 5,000 acres.

Alfalfa is the number-one crop by a long shot, 80%-85% of all cropland in the state and $220 million worth out of the $960 million market value for all agricultural products. Those include cattle, calves, sheep, and hogs ($395 million), milk and dairy products ($171 million), chicken eggs ($17 million), and turkeys ($8 million). The remainder consists of potatoes, onions, garlic, and other row crops. 

Many of the largest farms are located in northern Nevada along the Humboldt River basin, which roughly follows the Humboldt River from northeast of Elko all the way to around Lovelock 300 miles west. These are the big alfalfa, grain, and alfalfa-seed operations. 

The northwestern part of the state is also well watered by the Truckee River, which runs through Reno, and the Carson River, which runs through Carson City. Truckee water irrigates the Fallon region and the Lahontan Valley, known as Nevada's "oasis," growing onions and garlic and famous for Hearts of Gold canteloupes and other melons. The nearby Smith and Mason valleys host mostly smaller operations growing farm-to-market vegetables. 

In southern Nevada, primarily Pahrump and Moapa, the historically grown crop was cotton, but now the farms produce alfalfa, grapes, sod, and specialty vegetables.