10,000 petition to save Nevada University Farm

Save A University Farm from Development

The University of Nevada’s University Farm, a working farm used to teach college students about farming and agriculture, is under attack. The University’s Board of Regents recently voted to have part of the farm rezoned to a light industrial/commercial site. Unless the City Council or University Regents reverse this decision, the 112-year-old farm could be destroyed by commercial development.

The University of Nevada’s College of Agriculture is one of the few colleges in America where students can learn at a working farm on campus. With local, sustainable, urban farms just starting to crop up in cities across America, the country desperately needs collegiate agricultural programs like that which could be offered by University Farm.

As a Reno-based small farmer, I know just how important this farm is to the community. The 1140-acre University Farm is a living piece of history, a hub for agricultural research, and a learning center for America’s future generation of farmers. University Farm should be treasured as an invaluable community resource–not destroyed to make way for even more development in Reno.

America already loses more than one acre of farmland to development every minute. Let’s not let University Farm become another casualty.

This issue will go before the City Council on December 14, 2011, so it’s important to voice support now for conserving all of University Farm. Please sign this petition urging University of Nevada officials and the Reno City Council to protect University Farm.

Sign the petition here.

Nevada’s Farming Future In Peril?

One week from Wednesday, the Reno City Council could decide the fate of about 100 acres at the University’s Main Station Agriculture Lab. The land sits on a flood plane. The Reno Planning Commission approved re-zoning of the land for commercial development last month.

By Terri Russell
Kolo TV
Dec 7, 2011

Excerpt:

Welcome to Wendy Baroli’s world.

She works a small farm just inside the Nevada border and loves it.

“More than anything in the world what I wanted to do was to learn to feed people,” says Baroli

A native Nevadan she worked for a California representative for awhile, but later discovered raising turkeys, chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs was more her style.

You could say it’s in the blood, she comes from a long line of farmers, her great grandfather came to Reno from Italy to work this difficult land.

“Most people say we can’t grow things here. It’s not true. It’s harder, it’s certainly harder,” says Baroli.

Baroli sells the meat and wool to locals in Northern Nevada interested in buying local for their restaurants and businesses.

Read the complete article here.