Published January 2005

Ag summit focuses
on challenges, opportunities
for farmers

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

If agriculture is to survive and thrive in Washington state, there needs to be greater cooperation and collaboration among food producers and regulators — that’s the message that came out of the recent Washington Ag Summit.

The fifth annual event, held in December in Puyallup, featured officials from Pierce County and the state as well as the Cascade Harvest Coalition. Charles Kuperus, New Jersey’s secretary of agriculture, also was on hand to share the story of New Jersey’s successful initiatives to keep farming viable in the Garden State.

All agreed that while agriculture faces challenges, from an aging work force to the tightening of markets in a consolidated food industry, opportunities also exist to grow the industry. And with an increased focus on national security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, growing the nation’s agricultural industry — and domestic food supply — is essential.

“Control of our own food supply is especially important following 9/11,” Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg said, likening the need for food self-sufficiency to oil and energy self-sufficiency. “If you become more dependent on the rest of the world to grow our food, we’ll be in a worse position.”

In the past few years, marketing and economic development initiatives across the state have been implemented to increase consumer awareness and market opportunities for locally grown agricultural goods.

Branding programs such as the Heart of Washington and Puget Sound Fresh have made their way into television and print ads, grocery stores and farmers markets, said Mary Embleton, executive director of the Cascade Harvest Coalition.

Such programs educate consumers that there are fresh, local products in the marketplace, and “consumers have indicated that they will buy Washington products,” said Shannon Hitchcock, program director for the Heart of Washington.

Farm-to-school cafeteria programs advocated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Lunch Pilot Program and the state’s Small Farm and Direct Marketing Program, which recently published “Farm to Cafeteria Connections: Marketing Opportunities for Small Farms in Washington State,” have opened up additional markets for farmers, Embleton said.

As have farmers markets, which have grown to number 100 across the state, offering not just a community gathering place but also an opportunity for consumers to meet the farmers growing the produce sold.

Innovative farmers and livestock producers also have been busy cultivating a market niche for themselves, Embleton noted, from one Snohomish County farmer who worked with the county to begin offering fresh produce to jail inmates to a group of Snohomish County beef producers working to develop a regional brand to market their high-quality meat.

“Our farmers have always been incredibly innovative; they’ve always been doers,” agreed Bill Brookreson, deputy director of the state Department of Agriculture.

It’s through their innovations that agriculture represents a $5.75 billion economic impact in Washington. In Snohomish County, that economic impact totals $126.9 million, Brookreson said.

The related food-processing industry has an additional $12 billion economic impact in the state and a $261.5 million impact in Snohomish County, including the employment of 1,469 full-time equivalent employees, Brookreson said.

“There are thousands and thousands of jobs (dependent on) keeping agriculture viable in Washington state, and most of that agriculture is in the form of family farms,” Brookreson said.

Unfortunately, the farming population is getting steadily older, as the younger generations are leaving the farm for better-paying careers elsewhere. According to the 2002 U.S. Census of Agriculture, the average age of a farm’s principal operator in Snohomish County is 55.2. In 1992, the average age was 52.9.

“One of our big concerns is that most farmers have hair the same color as mine,” Brookreson said, pointing to his gray locks. “We need to get younger people in agriculture.”

Kuperus, the head of agriculture in New Jersey, agreed, noting the importance of protecting farmland, educating the next generation of farmers, welcoming new farmers into the fold and addressing obstacles to their success.

“I would argue that if we don’t do it in our generation, we’re going to miss the boat,” said Kuperus, noting that in his state, a five-component in plan, which includes farmland preservation and economic development initiatives, is in place to save — and invigorate — agriculture.

“There’s a new sense of urgency in having to deal with these issues, because if we don’’t, who will?” he said.

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