SNOHOMISH – Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon on Friday signed two new ordinances intended to boost farmers’ business options.
“There’s a focus to bring ag back,” Reardon said, adding that agriculture is a key part of the county’s heritage,
The ordinances make it easier for farmers to expand into retail businesses. They allow produce stands and food-processing facilities of up to 5,000 square feet on farms, and development of farmers markets and on-farm bakeries and kitchens to attract tourists.
The new code allows vendors to sell handmade crafts but requires that at least half the produce sold at farm stands or farmers markets be grown in the county.
The county might want to protect farmland from development, but that makes no sense if farmers can’t make a living on that land, said supporters of the ordinances, which grew out of four years of discussion by the county’s agricultural advisory board.
Without that, “you’ll end up with what you’ve got in some places in King County – farmland without farmers,” said Max Albert, Snohomish County Farm Bureau vice president and an ag board member.
Farmers face strong challenges, said Don Bailey, whose family’s produce stand on Springhetti Road was the site for the ordinance-signing ceremony.
Agriculture is becoming a more vertically integrated industry, dominated by massive companies that grow, process and market food to consumers. Smaller food processors are going out of business, leaving individual farmers fewer options for selling their crops, he said.
As a result, “you see fewer farms all the time,” Bailey said. “There’s no doubt.”
What the ordinance will do is make it easier for family farmers to market their produce directly to consumers, which an be more profitable, he said.
Albert called the ordinances “a good step,” and said they will send “a good message to the industry as a whole.”
“There’s a feeling that the county is not a friend to farmers,” Albert said. But the ordinance should make it easier to attract new investment in farmland and food processing, he said.
Reardon is expected to host a countywide “focus on farming” conference in November to discuss ways to improve the economic climate for agriculture. The conference will be at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
Mark, Anne, Elizabeth and Justin Bailey (from left) pick beets Friday at their family’s farm south of Snohomish.
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