Photo by Ron Kunkel

Agriculture has always been and continues to be a vital part of the economy of the Greater Ruby Valley. Cattle, rangeland, hay and small grains are the staples of the agricultural community.

Close on the heals of the fortune seeking gold miners came the farmers and ranchers, seeking to put down roots and capitalize on the demand for food created by the booming population. Water rights and irrigation ditches dug in 1863 are still in use today, some of them by the direct descendants of the original user.

Something about the land gets in a persons soul and an unbreakable bond develops. Farmers and ranchers love the land in a way that few others can understand. Most of the western United States is harsh and unforgiving and it takes resilience and determination to survive in the agriculture business with its high demand for labor and capital and its narrow margins.

Those in the business have long survived on and been admired for their “rugged individualism”, their ability to get things done for themselves and develop innovations to improve productivity. Agricultural people are also known for their sense of community, the ability to pull together for the greater good. The Ruby Reservoir and its associated irrigation canals are good examples of both of the above. Constructed in the late 1930’s, the stored water in the reservoir serves to irrigate previously dry bench lands and to supplement irrigated acres while maintaining a viable riparian corridor the length of the valley that serves as habitat for countless species of game and non-game wildlife.

Farming and ranching families have been on these lands for 140 years. Its imperative to their survival that they maintain the land’s productivity. Good stewardship ensures a future for the generations that follow. It also sustains the valley’s second vital industry, tourism. Visitors to the valley marvel at its beauty and open space. They are captivated by the rural nature, the romance of the cowboy and the artisanship of the farmer with his straight plow rows, green meadows and grain fields waiving in the fall breeze.

Agriculture sustains the businesses and services in the small communities in the valley. It provides jobs, pays taxes, purchases goods and services and supports the schools and hospitals. Rural people are friendly and charitable and the Ruby Valley is no exception. Agriculture is what maintains the west and draws people to it. Many farm and ranch families have diversified their operations with other on-ranch enterprises such as recreation, specialty crops or organic produce. Other families supplement their income with off-farm employment, but they all remain dedicated to the principal of land stewardship, of leaving the land better than they found it. Agriculture has indeed left a footprint on the land, but the land has forever changed the lives of those that work it.