By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Wiard Groeneveld says he’s tried but can’t get a permit to fix a section of his Monroe farm where he fears a flood could one day wash away the topsoil where he grows feed for his cows.
Without that topsoil, the spot would be a gravel bed. And none of Groeneveld’s 180 dairy cows eats gravel.
"Under this present climate, farmers will be defeated through no fault of our own," Groeneveld said.
Snohomish dairy farmer Don Bailey fears giving up 25 percent of his land to create a buffer zone between his cows and a salmon-bearing stream would be a disaster for agriculture in the county.
"If the buffer idea is instituted, there will be no more agriculture in Snohomish County," Bailey said. "Forget it — farms will go away."
Bailey and Groeneveld are among the many farmers in Snohomish County struggling to maintain their farms while living next door to ever-encroaching urban neighbors, competing in difficult markets and balancing the increasing costs of complying with environmental rules while still paying the bills.
And many farmers have already lost the battle. Between 1987 and 1997, 21,195 acres of farmland in the county was lost and 334 farms went out of business.
Bailey and Groeneveld were among several farmers, city and county leaders, and conservationists who spoke during the Snohomish County Farm-City Forum at Everett Community College.
American Farmland Trust developed the forum model as a way to start a dialogue between competing factions within the agricultural community. The forum received funding from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and was held in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Thursday’s meeting was the first gathering of its kind of rural and urban leaders in Snohomish County. The goal is to put together strategies and implement them over the next three years to ultimately improve the long-term viability of agriculture.
And those strategies could be applied to areas such as zoning codes, permitting and the buffer issue.
"The perception with buffers is, it’s easy," said Mark Craven, a Snohomish farmer. "But our ground is just as important to us as Boeing’s parking lot on the Duwamish River is to them."
Arlington Mayor Bob Kraski said it would seem county, state and federal agencies are "working hard to put the farmer out of business."
"We need to undo the damage," Kraski said. "We need to stop, or there won’t be any farmland left on the west side of the mountains."
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097 or send e-mail to
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