It’s the farmers who are forgotten

The Herald’s advice to Snohomish County to change its floodplain development rules was timely, (Dec. 20 editorial,”Seek reasonable fix for flood-plain businesses.”) The Herald understandably wants the county to “treat more fairly” the 30 businesses already established on county floodplains before federal FEMA rules intervened.

County management should also consider rule changes on behalf of the thousands of farmers whose best farmland lies in the same floodplains. Equally so, they should fairly consider the hundreds of thousands yet unborn who will need to farm there in their own times. Special reference is made to the county’s Comprehensive Plan. Its current revision at 10-year intervals creates a state of constant flux when viewed in the context of farmland’s intergenerational stewardship.

Much has already been done to guide today’s leaders faced with a dwindling farmland base and surging population growth. More than 60 years ago, the USDA Soil Conservation Service began surveying and classifying the soils of all counties nationwide. Of several hundred soils found in Snohomish County, some 21 were classified as “USDA-PRIME,” all having highly superior potentials for farming. Most of these needed drainage, were of less than 8 percent slope, of silt, sand, clay or organic composition, and located on floodplains.

A decisively fair change in the county’s Comprehensive Plan would be the permanent, non-negotiable exclusion of all non-agricultural projects from floodplain soils ranked by the USDA as “USDA-PRIME.”

The many thousands of future farmers cannot yet vote, cannot be heard, and cannot be seen. But their coming is as certain as tomorrow’s sunrise.

ALEX G. ALEXANDER

Everett