On Thursday, April 30^th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new Farm Bill on a 224 to 200 vote.  Congressman Mark Amodei was the lone Nevada representative to cast a “Yea” vote on the bill, which now heads to the Senate.

Following the passage of the bill, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented on the House of Representatives vote to pass the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 by saying, “Farmers and ranchers applaud the House of Representatives for passing a new, modernized farm bill.” 

“We appreciate Chairman G.T. Thompson’s leadership to get this done.” Duvall continued, adding,  “After three years of extensions and eight years since a farm bill was passed, we’re grateful the House found a bipartisan path forward. Important updates to research and conservation, as well as increased loan limits and clarity on interstate commerce, will help farmers survive today’s challenges and give them the tools to thrive in the future.

“We urge the Senate to follow the House’s lead and move this important bipartisan legislation forward. Food security is national security, and investing in America’s farmers and ranchers is an investment in America’s families. We all benefit from a reliable and affordable food supply.” 

The 2025 Legislative Session was a difficult challenge.  A particular issue of extreme concern dealt with legislation – SB 172 sought to take away the current exemption that agricultural employers have from paying overtime as well as provisions of every bit as much as damage to agricultural employers’ ability to afford to have employees.  The defeat of SB 172 came more as the result of running out the clock as it did in defeating the measure…a late amendment in the process prevented the bill from getting a needed vote as the legislative expired.

If candidate Aaron Ford is elected Governor and the Democrats take control of the Legislature…things could get difficult as reported in the Nevada Independent, Ford has made it known, that if he is Governor and the Legislature sends him a bill to get rid of Nevada’s Right To Work protection, he will sign it.  How this might be carried out isn’t clear, but it does demonstrate that labor issues could be a priority issue in the 2027 Legislative Session.

The Division of Water Resources is proposing to amend portions of NAC 533.390 through 533.The proposed changes deal extensively with the determinations on whether extensions of time will be granted and the degree of evidence provided to show progress in support of actual use for water rights.  Under regulation NAC 533.500 the Division is required to review these regulations every three years.

The public hearing will be held on May 19 and start at 10 a.m.  Participants will be able to offer input to the agency in person (Nevada Division of Water Resources, Bryan Building, Tahoe Conference Room (2^nd Floor) – (901 S. Stewart St., Carson City, NV)  or by using the Teams link at:  https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/265973723532618?p=ntoRaJ6XYw9WfLFMk1  

There is also a phone call in option of (775) 321-611 Conference Phone ID 158 224 081#

Those who have an interest in learning more of upcoming changes for business enterprises that are Cottage Foods or Farm To Fork…you will need to go online, using this link https://nsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/5076 Monday, May 4 for the virtual meeting.   The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and will run to 7:30 p.m.  There have been several in-person meetings that have been held since the changes to state law were made in the last session.  This will be the second virtual meeting.

The purpose of the meetings has been to share the changes from the 2025 Nevada Legislature for Cottage Foods and Farm to Fork activities and where regulations going forward will involve the Nevada Department of Agriculture.  The changes will need to be completed by July 1, 2027, and the meetings have been gathering input from those who already do Cottage Foods or Farm to Fork events or those who are working to learn more in order to begin such ventures.

Discussions about Data Centers have become very frequent with more and more of the consideration that goes into whether a proposed Data Center would be a welcome neighbor.  This is especially a consideration when placement of a Data Center is on productive agricultural land.  American Farm Bureau Federation’s Director of Government Affairs, Autumn Lankford Higgins and Economist Bernt Nelson teamed to pen this Market Intel piece speaking to the need for Balancing Data Center Growth With American Agriculture.  An interesting point in the article is the map of the United States and the numbers attributed to where Data Centers are active and under construction…Nevada is thought to have 98 in this tally.

The key takeaways they pointed out:

• Farmland conversion is generally permanent, making site selection and land-use policy critical for long-term agricultural viability.
• Data centers create both economic opportunities and resource pressures, particularly around land, water and energy.
• Data centers represent multi-billion-dollar investments that can bring jobs, tax revenue and infrastructure improvements to rural communities.
• Balanced policy and local engagement are essential to ensure rural communities benefit without undermining agriculture.

Because of concerns over the loss of agricultural land and the negative impacts of Data Centers, voting delegates at the 2025 Annual Meeting adopted this language:

Data Centers: 182

Because of our strong support for continued productivity of agricultural lands including federally-managed lands for traditional uses, we are concerned over efforts to convert agricultural lands to uses such as data centers.

If data centers are established in rural areas:

• We support data centers paying for their utility use directly and we oppose the data center power grid costs being passed on to individual consumers in any way;
• We support a ban on industrial water-cooling systems that require massive amounts of water to be used to cool; 
• We support waterless cooling systems for data centers; and,
• We oppose data center activities that will taint water in any way. This includes dumping waste in ways that will impact the quality of water that is needed for agricultural and drinking uses. 
• We oppose tax rebates and incentives to be granted to data center facilities.

After holding their first meeting of the interim period on April 24^th, the Legislature’s Public Lands Committee will hold their second meeting on Friday, May 15, starting at 9 a.m.  The meeting will be held at the Winnemucca Convention & Visitors Authority building.

The Joint Interim Standing Committee on Natural Resources will hold their next meeting on Wednesday, May 27.  Their meeting location (aside from the Legislature’s virtual places you can view the meeting) is Room 4100 of the Legislative Building in Carson City.  This will be this committee’s four meeting for the interim.

Neither committees have agendas to share at this time.