By Megan Messerly, Las Vegas Sun

Food grows in unlikely places — sometimes in the middle of a desert.

Nevada had 4,137 farms and ranches in 2012, 1,000 more than in 2007. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture counted 4,200. Most are in the north, but 792 were in Southern Nevada.

State officials, chefs and many residents would like to see those numbers increase.

“When you look at food security, if the borders were sealed off for some reason, we have 2 percent food security,” Nevada Department of Agriculture Director Jim Barbee said, meaning that Nevada grows only 2 percent of the food needed to feed residents. The rest is trucked in from California and elsewhere.

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