BIOAg Campaign

Overview

Farmlands in Washington are threatened. More than 23,000 acres of farmland are converted each year in this state—equivalent in size to Lake Washington. Based on the quality of the soil and the rate of development, the Columbia River basin is the country's 16th most threatened region in farmland loss. Puget Sound ranks 5th. Modern possibilities for long-distance commuting, a growing and wealthy retirement community, and a rising demand for recreational second homes is causing this problem to reach beyond cities into what used to be rural, agricultural areas. The impact of this is to further fragment land uses and to make it increasingly difficult for farmers and ranchers to do business.

Rural communities in Washington are established around natural resource-based activities such as agriculture, ranching, fishing, and timber. Agriculture plays a critical role in determining the health and vitality of our communities in Washington State. This role becomes more critical as development pressures, costs of production, regulations, and fuel costs increase and farmland disappears. The way we grow, process, and distribute food is paramount to the health of the environment and our families, and it is key to the social and economic fabric in our rural communities as well as our urban areas.

The past emphasis over the last 60 years on chemical-based, single crop farming has left a hard legacy for future generations of people and wildlife exposed to a polluted environment. Additionally, our groundwater and surface water has been severely polluted as a result of decades of pesticide and commercial fertilizer use. Large-scale mono-cropping has destroyed much of the biodiversity that once existed. Waste resulting from the proliferation of huge "factory farms" has contaminated soils, streams, lakes and groundwater. Additionally, emerging technologies such as transgenic (genetically-modified) foods pose unknown threats, yet are being introduced rapidly into our food supply. Corporate consolidation continues to accelerate through globalization, leaving bankrupt family farms in its wake.

Finally, the costs for farm inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, fuel, and machinery continue to rise, while prices paid to farmers for the crops they sell are increasingly unstable due to the uncertainties and manipulation of new global economic and trade policies. All of these factors often make life on the family farm, ranch, or orchard a constant financial struggle. In Washington State, we have watched 4,174 farms disappear between 1997 to 2002. Solutions to these challenges need a larger state-wide vision.

The Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network envision a sustainable future for agriculture in Washington State. Our Sustainable Farming Practices Program works to support and promote production and marketing methods that are humane, environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. We envision and work toward a sustainable food and farming system, supported by state policies and programs that encourage good stewardship practices and a closer connection between producers and consumers.