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Agriculture and Food
"When the planes still swoop down and aerial spray a
field in order to kill a predator insect with pesticides, we are in the Dark Ages of
commerce.
~ Paul Hawken
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USDA: Whatcom County agriculture seeing growth, challenges
Bellingham Herald - Dave Gallagher
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/602/story/783145.html
There's a bit of good and bad news mixed into a new, detailed federal report on Whatcom
County agriculture.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2007 Census of Agriculture on Wednesday, Feb. 4, containing a
vast array of information, including farm sizes, the value of what this area produces and other economic
characteristics. The agriculture census report comes out once every five years.
First, the good news: Whatcom County saw significant increases in the value of some of its products since the
last census in 2002. Leading the way were fruits and berries, which had a market value of $66.8 million, a 72.2
percent jump from five years ago. Overall the market production was valued at $326.4 million, up 13 percent from
2002.
Now the bad news, from an agriculture standpoint: The amount of local farmland shrank nearly 10 percent in 10
years. In the past five years, the number of family-size farms shrank by 55 percent, and the average amount of
net income a farm made dropped 19 percent.
"What we're seeing is the loss of the middle level, or the traditional family farm, in Whatcom County," said
Craig MacConnell of the Washington State University Extension Office in Bellingham, noting there has been some
growth of very small and very large farms. The total number of farms in Whatcom County stands at 1,483, about
the same as five years ago.
The decrease in family-size farms could be a result of the drop in net income, which averaged $45,071 annually
per farm, down from $55,675 in 2002, according to the report. MacConnell believes many of the family farms that
disappeared in the past five years were in dairy, which continues to have the highest total market value locally
at $186.5 million.
While an average individual farms' income was down, agriculture is seeing strong growth in terms of market
value. A big factor in the fruit and berry growth is blueberries, which have increased in popularity and
fetched a good price in 2007, said Henry Bierlink of Whatcom Farm Friends.
"There's been significant growth in blueberries, while other fruit such as raspberries has been relatively
stable," Bierlink said. "The overall increase in the market gate shows that agriculture continues to play a
bigger role in our economy and is not a relic of the past."
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