Skagit Ag Summit looks at growth, water, mental health

“In 1960, all the people in Washington (state) could fit into King County today. That’s how much we’ve grown.”

Director of Skagit County Planning and Development Services Hal Hart was addressing the 50 participants in the sixth annual – and first virtual – Skagit Ag Summit. The Jan. 29 event’s 16 presentations focused on water, opportunities and threats facing agriculture and economic viability and development.

Threats first. While the pressure of growth and development on agricultural lands is real, Hart said the county has a good system of laws and ordinances to keep the threat at bay.

David Bauermeister, executive director of the Northwest Agriculture Business Center, is concerned about what he calls “ag in the middle.” The number of farms under 10 acres is growing, but 50 to 499-acre farms are decreasing. NABC technical assistance aims to “keep farmers on farmland” by helping middle-sized farms scale up to provide a living income for a family without requiring an off-farm job.

A “seismic shift” lies ahead, said Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County Executive Director John Sternlicht: a huge transfer of wealth between generations that will include farm land. Smaller farms that want to purchase more land may play an important role here.

Three Skagit farmers have taken their own lives since 2016. Through the Washington State Universit Agriculture Suicide Prevention Pilot Program, Extension Director Don McMoran seeks to prevent that from happening again. Caring Contacts, a text-based intervention that research shows actually prevents suicide, is one tool he offers.

Water supply problems surge each summer, when the Skagit River level drops and irrigation district pumps are shut off.

Calling the water supply scene “complicated,” Jenna Friebel, executive director of the Skagit County Drainage and Irrigation Districts Consortium, discussed studies looking at instream flow rules that govern how much water farmers can draw from the Skagit. Some are correlating information on current and projected water supply and demand with climate and population growth.

Interest in capturing and storing rainwater for use by irrigators is growing, she said. WSU staff have evaluated the irrigation systems of 88 farms to ensure equipment “is as efficient as possible,” said McMoran.

Through “drought transfers”, farmers can tap into the Skagit Public Utility District’s unused water rights, said newly elected PUD Commissioner Andrew Miller, also an owner of Tulip Town. He urged farmers to contact the PUD (public utility district) before a drought gets serious, and to consider using water from bulk transfer stations in Bow, Conway and Sedro-Woolley. “That is suboptimal, but better than no supply,” he said.

Gary Jones of Pleasant Ridge asked whether the PUD could make non-treated water available for agriculture. General Manager George Sidhu said if the PUD could develop the infrastructure with La Conner Wastewater Treatment or the Swinomish casino’s treatment plant, it could be a viable option.

Friebel said Seattle City Light has been asked to evaluate storing water for irrigation supply as part of its application to renew its 50-year license to operate the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.

Senior prosecuting attorney Will Honea, who represents Skagit County in the relicensing process, said tribes and the county have asked SCL to study fish passage to mitigate the dam’s negative impacts on salmon.

City Light spends much less than the average Northwest hydro operator on salmon. “Puget Sound Energy rate payers are paying 66 times more than SCL customers,” Honea said. “Seattle should invest as much as locals in the river.”

Two speakers shared data-driven tools that let farmers gather data about on-farm weather, soil and moisture, nutrients, and irrigation to create models to improve productivity.

There was plenty of good news about opportunities and economic growth. The Island Grown Farmers Cooperative, which serves Mesman Farms and other small meat processors, will move to a new, larger building at The Port of Skagit in 2022.

The Genuine Skagit Valley campaign’s new “Farmstand Fresh” identity campaign is for vendors like Schuh and Hedlin Farms. Former county commissioner Ken Dahlsted introduced Buy Washington, his initiative to develop a label identifying Washington-made goods.

An agritourism study is uncovering the significant role u-pick, farm tours, and other activities play in Skagit County – the first step in the process of developing policies and county code for agritourism businesses.

“Political support for water and other issues needs to come from outside Skagit, from places like Seattle,” said County Commissioner Lisa Janicki.

“Our water future for agriculture depends a lot on our public relations through agritourism.”