Published August 2004

Agriculture coordinator aims to grow awareness

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN “My grandfather was a wheat farmer in the Dakotas. I worked on farms as a child. I have a real affinity and appreciation for what does happen on a farm,” said John Roney, Snohomish County’s agriculture coordinator.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Sitting in his office in the Snohomish County Administration Building, John Roney is surrounded by a photo of an old, weathered barn standing against an azure sky and a black-and-white still frame of a dairy cow being milked. They are snapshots of rural life and, more importantly, evidence of agriculture’s deep roots in Snohomish County.

As the county’s agriculture coordinator, Roney is charged with enabling those roots to grow deeper and expand further, no small task given the challenges of increased urbanization — but one that the 16-year veteran of county government sees as brimming with opportunity.

“We need to bring awareness not just to the farm community but also to people in urban areas about what the impact of farmland is,” said Roney, appointed agriculture coordinator in March after nine years as the special projects coordinator for the Department of Planning and Development Services.

The ag post is new to county government, borne out of comments County Executive Aaron Reardon received during his 2003 election campaign from farmers and ranchers who expressed frustration with the maze of regulations and the need for a single point person at the county level.

“Just preserving Snohomish County farmland isn’t enough,” Reardon said upon announcing the new position. “I want to provide farmers and ranchers with new opportunities to increase their production, enter expanded markets and improve their bottom line.

“When I talk with agriculture people, they tell me they don’t know who they can turn to at the county. They say that in the past, they didn’t feel they received answers. John Roney’s appointment will change that,” Reardon said.

Roney has been working to keep that promise ever since.

Already, he has facilitated meetings among the county’s beef and chicken producers to address needs for a local USDA inspection facility and a processing center, respectively.

Working with the county’s Agriculture Advisory Board, Roney helped connect a group of Hmong refugee farmers with the county’s Parks and Recreation Department, which had low-cost land to lease.

In July, a Focus on Farming Web site was unveiled. Accessed through the county’s homepage, www.co.snohomish.wa.us, the site includes information on regulations affecting farming as well as business help for farmers. There is a message board and, in the future, there will be a section with direct contact information to county staff having special expertise in agriculture regulatory matters.

But Roney’s work isn’t all about the big picture; he has shared many a conversation with farmers and livestock producers about their individual concerns. And there was the time he went out to a farm to have a cup of coffee with a farmer wanting to build a new house on his land but uncertain of the regulations.

“I looked at the regulations and saw that since his old house was 800 square feet, he could build a 2,000-square-foot structure and keep the 800-square-foot structure as a detached mother-in-law-type unit,” he said.

His work, on issues large and small, has been met with kind words and gratitude from the agricultural community.

“In the months since he has taken that job, he has accomplished a lot in just coming up to speed (on the issues) and helping to bring focus to the industry. It’s been great,” said Keith Stocker, a Snohomish farmer and member of the agriculture board. “He has a lot to do yet. It’s not a small task. He’s charged with finding a way to keep agriculture viable in the county.”

An upcoming county-sponsored conference is expected to address just that issue, Roney said.

Scheduled for November, the Focus on Farming Conference is “designed to paint a picture of agriculture today — where is the industry heading and what are the challenges and opportunities,” he said.

Headed up by Reardon and County Council Chair John Koster, the conference will include leaders from government, farming, business and various agricultural agencies and institutions, and their discussions are expected to guide the development of an agricultural action plan for the county, he said. “I’m hoping this initiative can get the economic community in this region to see the dollar value in ag land.”

“Farming is a hard-working business,” added Roney, the grandson of a Dakota wheat farmer. “It’s really labor intensive, but from the people I’ve met, they love their farms; they love their jobs. ... There’s a richness in farming life. ... It’s cultural; it’s social; but above all, it’s economic.”

Back to the top/August 2004 Main Menu