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What's New
2011 has been an exceptionally busy year in the Pacific Northwest. It has been a year of building and strengthening relationships to help protect farmland, provide fresh healthy food throughout the region, and support innovative ways for farmers and ranchers to safeguard our natural resources.
As we look toward 2012—including work to forge new partnerships throughout Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho—read about our accomplishments from the last year and see a snapshot of what lies ahead.
 There's not much good to say about the economic downturn, but it has brought a welcome lull to farmland conversions in the Pacific Northwest. This may be coming to an end. In Pierce County, Washington, a proposal to convert 180 acres of prime farmland to a new shopping mall and subdivision was recently approved. While the County Council expressed support for farmland protection, the lure of construction jobs was overwhelming with a final 7-0 vote in support of the proposed urban expansion. There are two similar proposals in Skagit County, Washington, and we’ve joined with other farm and smart growth organizations in opposition to the projects. We are also preparing economic and jobs arguments for preserving farmland in anticipation of the next "land rush" as we slowly come out of the recession.
 We are a month into our study of the Puget Sound Foodshed with the assistance of a dozen University of Washington graduate students and a top-flight advisory committee. The study is looking at food production and consumption in the 17 counties west of the Cascade Range using models such as our Think Globally, Eat Locally: San Francisco Foodshed Assessment. The study will identify the potential of local farmland to produce additional food for the region and the changes in production, processing and distribution needed to link local farmers to local consumers.
 The Pacific Northwest office is also in the midst of an analysis of the most endangered farm and ranch landscapes of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana. Using land use data, a media scan, interviews, and other research, we are evaluating farm and ranch landscapes throughout the region to determine which areas are most at risk from urban sprawl, rural estates, competition for water, and water and soil pollution. Initial results of county-level analysis in Washington shows there are areas in need of improvement as farmland continues to disappear. We will reach out to local groups in the second phase of the analysis to confirm the issues and offer support in addressing the threats.
A foodshed
study of the Puget Sound region is underway to research what is produced and eaten
within 100 miles of Seattle.
The study will also look at how food travels from the farmer to the consumer
and how to reconnect the two to produce more food locally. Our goal is to make
a stronger case for the need for local farmland and to identify opportunities for
increased local production of food. Look for early results in December and the
completed study by March.
Montana-hayfield.jpgWe're identifying the farm landscapes of the Pacific Northwest that are most affected by urban sprawl, second home development, water pollution and other threats. Our hope is to develop alliances with local groups to address the issues and protect farms and farmers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana.
salmon-in-river.jpgThanks to a recent grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, we'll soon offer grants through the Pioneers in Conservation program to support conservation projects on farmland in Washington. The program awards small grants to farmers to leverage other sources of conservation incentives and targets conservation efforts to high-priority rivers and wetlands. Look for announcements later this year.
 Twenty leaders from Northwest nonprofits met on the Hood Canal at a workshop we sponsored on environmental markets in mid-June. The workshop was very successful at building a common strategy for coordinating work on market development. Moving forward, small groups will continue to meet on market opportunities in the 2012 Farm Bill; transferable tools for credit valuation; and engagement of Washington regulators in market approval. As we continue to work on farmer-friendly approaches to environmental markets, this collaboration will help us move markets forward in the Northwest.
We are completing work on a strategic plan for the Skagit Farmland Legacy program, which purchases development rights on farmland in the Skagit Valley. The new plan fine-tunes procedures for soliciting, reviewing, and ranking proposals from area farmers and identifies potential funding sources for increasing the scale of the program. The revised plan will be presented to the Skagit County Commissioners on June 22.
Along with the Willamette Partnership, we will co-host a workshop for nonprofit leaders involved in conservation market development in the Northwest on June 15 and 16 in Union, Washington. The focus will be to develop a common strategy to overcome challenges and accelerate the development of conservation markets in the region.
 Governor Gregoire has invited nominations for outstanding work by local governments and their partners on community planning and development. The values and priorities of each community are apparent from their individual plans for how they want to look and function 20 or 50 years from now. For one community it may be an emphasis on supporting agriculture, another on prioritizing their downtown redevelopment—but it all adds up to shared vision, tough decisions and partnerships. Though we often hear about the controversies and debates, neighbors, farmers, business people and public officials are not only planning, but putting their plans into reality to make communities vibrant and livable.
The awards have been an annual event since 2006. Nominations are being sought in the following categories: Smart Vision Award for Comprehensive Planning, Smart Choices Award for Implementation of a Comprehensive Plan, and Smart Partnerships Award for Development Project to Implement a Comprehensive Plan.
Nominations are being accepted through May 4, 2011.
 At a March 17 meeting with the county's farmland protection leaders, we presented two different strategies for their property-tax-funded purchase of development rights program. The first would concentrate purchases on the edge of the existing towns and the Interstate 5 corridor in order to halt sprawl into farm areas. The second focused funds on large blocks of contiguous farmland away from developed areas. The decision was made to try to craft a hybrid of the two. The Skagit County program is the most active in the state and has protected more than 7,000 acres of farmland to date.
 We are following up on the publication of the Guide to Environmental Markets for Farmers and Ranchers with several projects to open markets to agriculture. Recently, we joined a group of community organizations led by Climate Solutions to consider ways to move forward with cost-effective, farmer-supported carbon sequestration projects despite the national stalemate on climate policy. Now we are beginning work on a first-of-its-kind cooperative to organize farmers to participate in emerging environmental markets. We will soon be hosting a meeting of environmental market leaders from across the Northwest to discuss how to cooperate on establishing farmer-friendly markets in the region. And speaking of the Guide, we have a pretty good supply of them in our office. Call us (206) 860-4222 if we can send you some copies. At the moment, we can handle orders up to a box (75 copies).
 We are working with the Skagit County Farmland Legacy Program to prepare a strategic plan for their purchase of conservation easement program. The Skagit program is a Northwest leader, providing $1 million per year to protect farmland with conservation easements. We are using a GIS analysis to evaluate several strategic options, including reinforcing the urban/rural boundary in the developing Interstate-5 corridor and protecting a core of highly productive farmland in the central valley. The Skagit Valley is the most intact and productive farm landscape in western Washington; protecting this land is of great significance to the region.
The Washington State Office of Farmland Preservation recently published two helpful new products of its work and of the work of the Washington Farmland Preservation Task Force. The first is their 2009 Report to the Washington State Conservation Commission, which nicely lays out the state’s challenges in protecting agriculture and the resources available to address them. The other excellent publication is a new "Washington State Farmland Preservation Indicators" booklet, which provides an excellent, up-to-date list of measures that indicate how well we are doing in preserving agriculture.
 American Farmland Trust is helping create markets for ecosystem services provided by agriculture. Farmland can provide environmental services such as carbon sequestration and wildlife habitat; however, farmers are not always compensated for the benefits their conservation efforts provide. This project seeks to create markets for these services so farmers and ranchers can supplement their farm incomes while providing much needed services to the rest of society at a reasonable cost. We have worked with the agriculture community to create the “Guide to Environmental Markets for Farmers and Ranchers,” as well as a series of workshops, presentations, and best practices for agriculture.
Read: How Conservation Markets Can Transform Agriculture and Protect the Environment [PDF]
Project Update
After a year of work, several Washington Counties are one step closer to developing plans for the encouragement of local farms and ranches and the preservation of agricultural lands. Last January, our State’s new Office of Farmland Preservation announced eight grants to counties to help them begin creating farmland preservation programs. Klickitat County, among others, received $25,000 for various projects. Now, the Office of Farmland Preservation is assembling the product of these efforts and is expected to make them public over the coming months – including our new report for the county, Keeping Farmland Available for Klickitat County Agriculture.
“No Farms No Food” is a message understood by nearly everyone, but farms provide more than just the food that sustains us. They also safeguard our natural resources. A recent feasibility study [PDF] by American Farmland Trust found that Washington farm and forest lands provide carbon sequestration, protect water quality and safeguard other environmental resources. The study suggests that ecosystem markets for agriculture could become a Washington reality in the next few years. These markets would encourage farmers to adopt the best conservation practices—and reward them financially for their stewardship. Given the positive results, Washington legislation charged the Washington State Conservation Commission to develop two conservation market pilot projects by December 2009.
Focus on Washington
On the outskirts of Wenatchee, a city in he heart of central Washington where golden hills surround endless miles of fruit orchards, a large apple-shaped sign reads, "Apple Capital of the World." In a region that ships over 100 million boxes of apples a year around the nation and the world, education has been the key to helping growers—especially the valley’s many Latino orchard employees and managers—reduce their use of pesticides. Grower Jesus Limón, who worked his way up the ranks at a fruit company in order to purchase his own Wenatchee Valley orchard, participated in an American Farmland Trust-supported and EPA-funded program that teaches growers in Spanish about integrated pest management. "You get hooked on it," Limon says about the natural techniques for identifying and eliminating orchard pests.
Our blog, The Farmland Report, ran a feature on Washington farmer Jay Gordon. Gordon uses his farmland as a protected habitat for endangered trumpeter swans. Gordon has also been profiled in our Farm and Food Voices section for his groundbreaking work for ecosystem markets in the region.
Contact Us
Pacific Northwest Office
Dennis Canty, Pacific Northwest States Director
1335 N. Northlake Way, Ste. 101
Seattle, WA
98103
(206) 860-4222
dcanty@farmland.org
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Uncovering the Network of Farms and Food in the Puget Sound
What Are the Most Endangered Farm Landscapes in the Pacific Northwest?
Pioneers in Conservation Program
Upcoming Workshops on Conservation Markets 
Ecosystem Markets for Farms Could Flourish in Washington
