County residents want agritourism on ag land

In the ongoing discussion around whether and how to permit agritourism activities, Skagit County residents believe preserving the county’s rural character should be a top priority.

In a spring 2022 public survey on options for agritourism, 80% of respondents called this policy goal “very important” or “important.”

Other goals identified as important: that agritourism relate to onsite agriculture; that agritourism uses have adequate water, septic and parking infrastructure; and that traffic and parking not impact agriculture.

The survey wraps up a two-year process that included focus groups, Zoom meetings and two extensive surveys of stakeholders. “Skagit County Policy Concepts: Agritourism Intent, Scale and Use Options” was published in March. A new report containing all public feedback, “Agritourism Policy Options: Engagement Results” was published June 6.

Four years ago, Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland was leading community forums, polls and survey with large and small farmers and agritourism operators. All of its findings were turned over to the county.

“We’d like to think our work helped encourage the county to do a more comprehensive look,” said SPF Executive Director Allen Rozema. “The county did a really good job of trying to get out to as many stakeholders as possible.”

Greater La Conner-area residents Kim Good Rubenstein, Todd Gordon of Gordon Skagit Farms and Jennifer Schuh of Schuh farms were part of the eight small focus groups convened by the county in 2021.

Large-farm participants in these groups pointed out that seed crops and potatoes are only feasible with large tracts of land end-to-end. They want to see open areas kept intact, with minimum disruption from traffic or venues that might object to such activities as spreading manure and spraying.

Proponents of agritourism in the groups lifted up its economic opportunities and made distinctions between activities in various categories, pointing out, for example, that an on-farm tasting room is not the same thing as a full-fledged restaurant.

Many of the same people attended two March 2022 Zoom meetings on the proposed changes. Agritourism businesses like Tulip Town, Roozengaarde, Garden Path Fermentation and Bow Hill Blueberries were present. So were the potato-growing Hughes, Smith and Morrison families, the Dykstra and Vander Kooy dairies, the Schuhs and, from upriver, Double-O Ranch and Sauk Farm.

About 107 of the 235 respondents to the most recent survey were from Skagit County. Many lifted up examples of rural areas whose character was ruined by too much agritourism.

“My concern is the valley starts to look like Woodinville with faux farms set up as wedding venues,” said one respondent.

“Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a Disneyland of farming where there are restaurants lining every road and the farms are hidden, pushed out, or just for show,” said another.

Survey respondents declared farmstands and U-pick operations the most acceptable agritourism activity. Nearly everyone agreed on retaining current allowances and simplifying the permit process for small farmstands with few or no buildings.

Wedding venues were more controversial, as were rules that restrict tasting rooms to farms of at least 10 acres that grow ingredients onsite. Bow Hill Blueberries and Garden Path Fermentation are too small to qualify. Hop Skagit on Jungquist Road, the only commercial hops grower in the county, can produce enough hops for a small brewery’s annual needs on less than one acre – making it ineligible, too.

As for changing or adding new zoning regulations, opinions ranged from “keep your hands off my farmland” to “don’t make it too complicated!” and “keep everything the way it is.”

One group did not participate in focus groups, Zoom meetings, or the survey.

“I have looked and find little to no evidence that the interests, needs and opinions of farmworkers have been considered in the planning process,” said a survey respondent. “Nor do I see that farm labor is represented in the County’s ag planning and advisory services ... . Please find better ways to include these people in your planning process and consider their long-term needs in these policy proposals.”

This month, the Skagit County Planning Commission will develop recommendations and pass them along to county commissioners for more public discussion.

“Having read through the opinions in the Engagement report, it sounds like SPF and community that participated in the county process are largely in agreement on what we are hoping to see with the new agritourism update,” said Rozema.

“We’ve heard they might have a draft by middle or end of this month. That will be our first real crack at what the county’s thinking.”

Stay tuned for the next episode!

Download the report: it can be viewed at

skagitcounty.net/PlanningAndPermit/Documents/agtourism/Skagit%20Co%20Agritourism%20Policy%20Engagement.pdf.