PAUL SCHRAG: SHITTY ECONOMY BODES WELL FOR FARMLAND PRESERVATION >>>

For local farmers, there’s a bit of silver lining to this economic crisis. It’s an opening of sorts, and a chance to plant a seed. For years, Pierce County has struggled with preserving farmland, trying to balance the need for good soil with the need for soil to pave and build upon. We haven’t done a very good job of preserving farmland, says Dick Carkner, one half of the team composing Terry’s Berries, which lies at the edge of Tacoma in the Puyallup River Valley. Terry, his wife, is the other half. Of the Terry’s Berries team.

Carkner knows this struggle well, as a farmer and as eight-year chair of Pierce County’s farm advisory commission. In the past, public policy has deferred to developers, which means a great deal of fertile soil that could have been used to grow healthy local produce and agricultural jobs has been lost. A lot of it. But the drying up finance markets and sudden halting of development plans opens a window to look at how we use land, and how we can preserve some of it for farmers, says Carkner. Now is the time to start building public and political will to preserve farm land.

“There’s a lot of local interest in local food, and farmers markets are all very busy,” says Carkner. “But we need to find a way to convert that into political support for preserving farmland. The economy is weak, and destruction of farmland isn’t on the front burner right now. No one can get financing to buy land. But once things crank up again, I’m not sure what the attitude will be in regards to protecting agriculture.”

In the past, Pierce County has lagged behind other counties in preserving farmland, and has allowed developers to pave over some of the best soil available for growing food. The sad fact is that we don’t have as much land to protect because we’ve paved over so much of it. But Pierce County has stepped its game up in recent years, creating a farming advisory board and hiring an ombudsman to help find ways to preserve what’s left, among other things. Carkner said he was pleased to see that the recent round of county budget cuts didn’t eliminate support for farmers. But there’s more work to do if we want to maintain local farmlands.

The state Office of Farmland Preservation recently released a group of recommendations about how to do just that.

Thirty-eight farmers, ranchers, and agriculture leaders from Washington and Oregon gathered to discuss concerns and barriers and to suggest ideas and solutions that would make it possible for various incentive programs to work successfully for farmers. The conversations revealed a number of issues. Farmers expressed a need for fair payments for goods and land, insurance against liability, flexibility in crops, and a reliable marketplace. Interestingly, participants said they would like to see more cooperation between farmers and environmental groups.

In the meantime, Carkner says he has more demand than he knows what to do with. There are a lot of people interested in eating healthy, locally-produced goods, he says. Now is the time to manifest public support and political will to make sure we have enough farmland to keep going.

“If we’re going to make progress in saving farmland, we need to have some public funds to do it,” he says. “There needs to be some public will. There needs to be some political will.”

PHOTO: Flickr/Tacomamama- www.tacomamama.com