For visitors or I-5 commuters, a cursory look from the freeway doesn't reveal Whatcom County's rural character. Our southern gateway is mountainous and from Bellingham to the border, nary a farm can be seen from the freeway. This is very different from neighboring Skagit County where agriculture is apparent for I-5 travelers as acres of fields unfold before their eyes. Thus, it's not surprising that people who live in or visit Whatcom County, don't really realize the contribution agriculture makes to our county economically, socially, historically, aesthetically, and environmentally. It's a recognized powerhouse in our county, state, and nation for production.

DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT WHATCOM COUNTY?

• Some farms in Whatcom County have been there for over a century.


• Just about as many residents live in rural, unincorporated areas as do live in Bellingham.


• We have 1485 farms farming a total of 148,027 acres.


• Market value of production in 2002 was approximately $324 million in 2007 dollars (dairy products, fruits, nuts and berries, cattle, calves, nursery, poultry, eggs, vegetables, aquaculture, other animal, grains, and Christmas trees). With an economic multiplier of 2, that implies Whatcom County agriculture is responsible for about $600 million is economic activity such as driving milk trucks, processing berries, tractor sales and service, feed supplies and more.
  
• Our agricultural economy is 32 percent larger than adjacent Skagit County and 30 times that of Island County.


• Farm production makes us first out of 17 counties in western Washington and sixth out of 39 counties in state and in the top 3 percent of farm counties in the US.


• We have over 800 farm owners or operators for whom farming is their primary occupation and nearly 700 more who work at something else in addition to farming.


• Farms hired about 8250 part time employees in 2002. Full time agricultural employment in 2003 was 1200 in animal production with employment in crop production close to 800.

DAIRY - NOW THAT'S A LOT OF MILK!

• First out of 39 Washington counties in dairy production (2002)


• In the top 0.5 percent or twelfth out of 2,563 dairy counties in the US (2002)


• Number o­ne in the nation in milk production per cow -  producing more than 1.3 billion pounds of milk each year


• The largest producer of powdered milk in the nation - enough dairy products to meet 75 percent of Washington state’s entire demand for dairy products.


• Each day, 4 million pounds of fluid milk (about 480,000 gallons) come into the Darigold Plant in Lynden. That equates to 53 double tanker truck loads per day. The fluid milk is then converted into 400,000 pounds of powdered milk.


• In 2006, the Lynden plant accounted for 25 percent of the nation's exports of milk powder - mostly to Asia.
  
• In 2001 the county's 201 dairy farms produced milk valued at $211million in 2007 dollars.

THE NATION'S RASPBERRY CAPITAL!

Whatcom County IS the nation's raspberry capital harvesting more than 57 million pounds each year. This represents almost 65 percent of the raspberries grown in the nation! Many of the raspberries shipped to Ocean Spray and Smuckers are used in juice and jam.

Blueberries have been a recent bright agricultural sector. During 2000, Whatcom County's berry farms produced more blueberries and raspberries than any other county in the state. Blueberry acreage has steadily risen to 2000 acres in 2007 producing millions of pounds of berries each year. Exports to the Japanese market have been particularly important. We are also the state's number o­ne county in the production of blueberries.

Strawberry production covers 380 acres yielding about 4.4 million pounds (2002). Whatcom County ranked second in the state in strawberry production. Renowned for their flavor, local strawberries go primarily to fresh-market buyers at farm stands and local grocery stores.

TRENDS IN WHATCOM COUNTY AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is not just a way of life, it is a business. "Agricultural is an export industry for Whatcom County to the rest of the state, the nation, and the world," says Henry Bierlink Director of Public Policy at Farm Friends.

Farms are increasingly faced with a decision to increase size to capture economies of scale in commodity production and/or to move towards value-added production where a larger percentage of the food dollar can be kept by the farmer. Both require significant increases in investment.

Land costs are increasingly driven up by competition with development which makes economic sustainability problematic. Labor availability and costs are also a significant challenge for our local farms. Changes in immigration policy has created labor shortages and changed the market economics of farming in the county with possible dire consequences.

Farm direct marketing, a growing trend for Whatcom County, encourages people to purchase products direct from the source. Different from wholesale farming, this approach requires farmers to be savvy marketers and combine agriculture with commerce and tourism.

Buying local enables visitors and residents alike to access products direct from the county's many agricultural industries, e.g., cheese, wine, ice cream, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, hazelnuts, potatoes. Buying farm fresh and locally grown food, meeting the farmer and seeing the land upon which the food is grown importantly rebuilds people's connection to their source of food. Additionally, visiting a farm is a form of recreation. "Agri-tourism" is becoming a larger part of some of our farmers' business.

The number of dairy farms has been steadily declining in Whatcom County; however, production has been climbing. There were 201 dairy farms in 2001 compared to the 480 farms in 1985. Ninety-eight percent of farms are family farms, and they account for 86 percent of farm production. According to the USDA census, the o­ne to nine acre farms, i.e., the very small farms declined from 363 to 287 between 1997 and 2002 or from 1,867 acres to 1455 acres.

The USDA points out, "As custodians of the land, the bulk of farm assets including small farms have a large role in natural resource and environmental policy. In fact, all farms have a critical role in natural resource and environmental stewardship. Small farms account for about 82 percent of the land enrolled by farmers in the Conservation Reserve and Wetlands Reserve Programs. Large and small farms are enrolled in this program. Most farmers in Whatcom County work hard to protect their watershed and do the right thing environmentally, for example, by enrolling in the Conservation Reserve and Wetlands Reserve Programs. This important behind the scenes work and investment may not be visible to the unpracticed eye, but it is there. Farmers realize that their long-term livelihood relies o­n good land stewardship.

Protection of agricultural lands is an issue in our county and any other county with a rural/urban mix and increasing growth projections. Population growth is leading to conversion of agricultural land and critical areas of Whatcom County. In Whatcom County, from 1997 to 2002 the loss of ag lands clocked in at an alarming 23.12 percent - well above the state average.

From 1990 - 2000, population growth was red-hot at 30.5 percent as compared to Skagit County at 29.5 percent and Island County at nearly 19 percent. In 2005 there were more houses built in unincorporated portions of the County than in the City of Bellingham. From 1995-2000 the percent of population increase in Whatcom County was at 12 percent as compared to an average of 4 percent. Net migration is the total people who migrated in or out of the county over the population of people in the county at the end of the year.

Even within the agricultural zone, the number of houses allowed could at least triple without changing any laws or codes. Some farmers see the land as an investment with value that is best realized through development, while other farmers would like to see that future generations continue farming the land. Still others are somewhere in between. In any case, growth will continue to exert pressure to convert farmland.

To get an idea of the impact of the building boom in the County, in May 2004 there were over 500 permit appointments. In April 2005 appointments were in excess of 600 were backlogged to October. Through the first quarter of 2005, permit valuation exceeded $56 million In short, Whatcom County's 2004 subdivision activity was up sharply.

PRESERVING LAND - PAIN NOW OR PAIN LATER?

Encroachment o­n viable farmland or the sale of farmland for development is an urgent community issue. Local apple farmer and Farm Friends advocate, Dorie Belisle, warns that, "Communities that have had the most success in preserving agricultural land were already out of farming. The fear that they'd lose their farmland completely drove them to finally do something about it. But in the meantime they had lost too much. Their infrastructure was gone - the farmers cooperatives, the equipment stores, the land, the barns, the feed stores, the auction lots - gone. So with that vital, supporting infrastructure gone - so too were the farms - they simply could not stay in business."

The lesson to be learned from the misfortune of other communities is that it's better to protect what you have than to try to get it back o­nce it's lost. Solutions require compromise, but that is the nature of change - it's incremental and can be painful. However, to hope things will get better or adopt a wait and see approach o­nly allows this situation to get worse.

LAND USE LEGISLATION

The state's voters turned down Initiative 933 lin fall of 2006 which intended to roll back land use regulations passed since 1996 and require compensation for land taken or damaged through enforcement of those regulations. Floyd J. McKay, a journalism professor emeritus at Western Washington University wrote in a Seattle Times editorial, "The stakes differ by community. Some Washington communities surrendered years ago to sprawl, strip malls and chaos. The battle shifts to neighborhood meetings, planning commission hearings and, ultimately, city or county councils." Every step of the way, he states, there's pressure to open up more farmland and ease restrictions o­n building.

THINGS WE DO KNOW

• Loss of agricultural lands is incremental and cumulative. o­nce the land is lost, it's lost forever.


• Farming enterprises critically rely o­n the up and down stream economic infrastructure for their existance. The agricultural community relies o­n an economic infrastructure which has developed over time and will collapse without a certain level of agricultural activity.


• The future of farming depends o­n an adequate supply of affordable farmland. Too often the cheapest, buildable land is farmland.


• Growth without planning and vision results in a reduction in general quality of life.


• Adding housing in rural areas costs more than providing services near and in the city. Costs of growth must include the costs of policing and public safety, building schools and transporting students, road building, commute times and traffic.


• Land used for farming in the rural zone are at immediate and constant risk of conversion.


• Conflicts over farm practices such as odd smells, early morning noise or slow-moving farm vehicles can erupt when urban neighbors begin to live in close proximity to farms. Hence the importance of limiting the infill of farming areas with development.


• Farmers are not in the majority, but the economics of land supply, zoning, affordability, and environmental stewardship affect us all.


• Protecting against loss of agricultural lands is a balancing act. It involves open and civil dialogue with entities possessing divergent viewpoints.

NO ONE SILVER BULLET TO PROTECT AGRICULTURE

"There's no o­ne silver bullet to protect agriculture,"; says Mr. Bierlink. Along with Charles Antholt, Chair of the Whatcom Ag Advisory Committee, they state that, "Partnerships that aim to protect resource lands and allow farmers/landowners to be stewards of these lands are most successful. Getting recognition of the value of Whatcom County's agriculture lands and a commitment to preserving it is challenging"

Protecting farmland and open space may be the right thing to do, but it raises issues around property rights and farmers' ability to respond to market pressures or provide for their retirement. For some, it may even limit their survivability. o­ne needs o­nly to look around to see how the entire agriculture support network and community collapses o­nce that is gone. Consider Puyallup, the Kent Valley, or even Snohomish as examples. Their experience could be our future they warn.

Mr. Bierlink and Mr. Antholt commented o­n a variety of strategies often advocated as ways to address the problem of loss of ag lands:

• Downzoning land would be o­ne way to address this issue. It is o­nly fair and prudent to recognize that farmers have substantial investments in their land and down zoning raises significant ethical and moral issues.


• Creating a win-win situation requires imagination and cooperation between farmers and the values of the greater community. Clearly, the Purchase of Development Rights Program (PDR) is o­ne such strategy, but it is too little and too costly o­n its own. It must be coupled with others tools such as a Transfer of Development Right (TDR) program, an ag mitigation policy, and several other ideas that could help us accomplish our goals.


• Work with others, particularly the building and real estate industry, to identify areas where soils or other physical conditions make farming unlikely to succeed, but would be suitable for residents. Encourage the County to identify creative new practices and solutions.


• Designating strict zoning laws and regulating building within the resource zone are strategies. It is clear that city dwellers in the county could choose to downzone ag lands and strip away development value by passing ordinances. Fear and frustration gives rise to positions like Initiative 933.


• Eating local is a great idea for connecting people with their local food sources, but, in itself, will not preserve farms and farmland.

Antholt and Bierlink conclude by saying, "Protecting farmland is a responsibility of the entire community. We believe that with the County's partnership we can identify, develop, and implement the practices needed. If so then we all win and the nervousness many now feel will be alleviated." It is time to intensify this effort, engage in an open public process, and develop a farmland protection strategy that is the envy of the nation for its effectiveness and fairness.

In Skagit County, a survey of people's knowledge and attitudes about the role of agriculture revealed a disconnect. While people felt preservation was important, they didn’t have enough knowledge about the issues and thus weren’t always willing to vote in support of policies or pay for anything to stem the conversion of farm land to development.  There are many organizations working to bring this discussion into the forefront in Whatcom County. The Ag Preservation Committee and Farm Friends have joined forces to focus o­n education and outreach in our county. They are trying to address this need to better educate our residents - current and future o­nes - about the value of agriculture culturally, economically, recreationally, and historically. They want to elevate the discussion and treat it like a campaign. Many feel that conducting a similar survey in Whatcom County could be an important tactic to move our community to take action before it’s too late. The specter of continued loss of agricultural lands makes this imperative.

CONCLUSION

High-growth, high-livability communities - of which Whatcom County qualifies - will continue to feel the development pressure. Agriculture is well into its second century in Whatcom County. We have an established agricultural community, a heritage that is a gift to celebrate, an infrastructure that's critical to keep, and organizations in place to advocate effectively, and hopefully a population willing to do what it takes to act proactively to preserve it. Without it, we would look like any other wholly urban place in Anywhere, America.

UPDATE

Paul Grey, the new Executive Director of Farm Friends, has been capably leading the charge in Whatcom County for agriculture advocacy, education, and awareness. They are seeking to preserve and enhance agriculture as an important industry and qulaity of life in Whatcom County. They work hard to help farmers produce quality foods and be protectors of our natural environment. As their new website says, "Whatcom County’s rich farmland has sustained families and communities for thousands of years. Today it is more productive than ever, providing thousands of people around the world with valuable food products.  But farming in Whatcom County provides more than just healthy food. Well managed farms and farmlands means preservation of our rural vistas, our natural resources, and the sense of place we call Whatcom County. As such, all citizens of Whatcom have a stake in leaving a healthy legacy for our children and grandchildren."

To that end, Farm Friends is working towards five goals: 1) Foster fact-based and win-win public policies for the agricultural industry. 2) Preserve a minimum of 100,000 acres of agricultural farmland in the county. 3) Improve the economics of farm operations to assure sustainability and prosperity. 4) Define succession plans and programs to ensure sustainability of farmland and farming. 5) Build county-wide communities of support (farm friends) for agriculture to create harmony as the county continues to grow. Visit www.wcfarmfriends.com to learn more.

Sources:

Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: 2005 Family Farm Report

USDA Agriculture Census

Whatcom County Planning and Development