Henry Bierlink, WFF Executive Director

More Than Shovel Ready  

Berry season has just peaked and corn and seed potato harvests are looming. It is not hard to be impressed with the amount of jobs that are created this time of year and how dependent our farmers are on a reliable labor pool. Can you imagine what would happen to local farms if laborers disappeared? Do consumers have any concept of the necessary rise in food costs and abandoned rural communities that a loss of labor would ensue?

The risk is very real and farmers around the nation understand they are one stupid act of Congress away from losing their businesses. The move to adopt an Electronic Verification System (E-Verify) for job applications may be just such an act.

No one likes or benefits from the illegal immigrant labor system we currently endure. We don't defend the current system. We believe that it is high time we fix our broken immigration and labor policies so that local farms can have a reliable labor force, that we can provide fair, safe, and legal opportunities to guest workers, and that our borders and laws are respected.

What crucially matters is just how we "fix" the current problems. Farm Friends has long advocated for comprehensive labor and immigration reform that addresses:

• Earned amnesty for existing workers who have demonstrated reliability to employers and contributions to the community.
• A guest worker program that facilitates the timely movement of workers into the United States and their safe and orderly annual return to their homes.
• Enforcement at our borders for national security requirements.
• Synchronized implementation of these elements.

Adopting E-Verify alone short circuits this comprehensive approach. It literally asks our farmers to "bet the farm" that they will be able to fill their significant labor needs with local seasonal laborers. That is not a bet anyone would willingly take. Experience with local labor has clearly demonstrated that the nature and seasonality of the work and the need for upward of 5,000 short term employees in the berry industry alone is not going to be reliably filled by local labor.

Some will disagree with this assessment. We understand that. The only way to find out if the local labor pool can fill this demand would be to try it. Let's assume that our farmers will not be able to hire any migrant workers or even local residents that are screened out by E-Verify. Berry crops have 4-6 week seasons where all the revenues that sustain the business are generated. Would you be willing to simply "hope" that 5,000 local, hardworking, reliable residents would show up and work seasonal and very difficult jobs for moderate wages? Can anyone argue that this is a wise business risk?

Our farmers are risk managers. They already have to factor in weather, fluctuating prices, and even changing government regulations in their management decisions. Must we ask them to risk a dramatic loss of labor too? All of us are food consumers and we have grown accustomed to a reliable, low cost, and safe food supply. That is something to be thankful for and we ought to think carefully about creating disruptions that will destroy the system that delivers such abundance.

It is far past time that we design a set of fair labor and immigration policies that work for our farms and communities, treat seasonal laborers with the dignity and respect they deserve, and eliminate the mockery of the law we are currently enduring.

Henry Bierlink

For more on this issue, see www.saveamericasfood.org 

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Technology... a Path to Sustainable Agriculture in Whatcom

How do farmers feed the growing population in the world when their land base is static, or in some cases shrinking? How does a farmer maintain or improve their production levels when new diseases and pests threaten their crops? Answers to these problems are partially found in the use of the latest technology and lean practices. In agriculture this is referred to as precision farming. In many respects, farmers are constantly seeking improvements to their operations, no different than a manufacturer or a service business. Here in Whatcom County, where our agricultural land mass is constantly threatened, it is especially urgent that our local farmers are actively seeking new ways of improving their productivity.

Dairy is the largest segment of our farming activity ranking Whatcom County 2nd in the State and 29th in the U.S. according to the most recent census by the USDA. Mark De Jong of Eaglemill Farms uses manure injectors, also known as drag hoses, to directly apply manure where it is needed while reducing the risk of runoff or spraying manure where it's not needed. Mark says "By directly injecting and mixing the manure into the soil our ammonia loss and odors are reduced. We also use irrigation guns and tank spreaders depending on the field location, crop, and weather conditions to efficiently apply our manure."

And you thought just us humans used pedometers to track activity.  Some dairy operations use these devices to monitor how much a cow is walking.  Each cow establishes a norm.  Debbie Vander Veen of Veen Huizen Farms observes "If she, the cow, comes in with elevated walking, she is likely ready to be bred.  If she comes in with below normal walking she needs to be checked for illness - an early heads up."  More timely information = better management = a more sustainable Whatcom dairy farmer.

Dairy and greenhouse operations are forging new ways to help each other be more efficient. The second manure digester within our county was installed last fall and located next to a new greenhouse to provide by-product heat. Mike Van Wingerden comments "Thanks to the digester we burned 10% less natural gas this spring heating our 4 acre greenhouse. That amounts to 12,600 therms of gas which is more than a million BTUs of green energy."   "All of our greenhouses are controlled by environmental computers. They measure light and temperature inside and outside including wind direction and speed, rain or snow. The automated system saves labor and heating costs by closing vents before the inside temp starts to drop, and saves electricity by turning grow lights on and off by measuring light intensity".

Whatcom is the center of North America's frozen berry production. Our share of the berry market is certainly a result of productive soils, a perfect climate, and generations of berry growing knowhow. But innovative technology is at work here too. Mechanical berry harvesters have lowered the cost of harvesting, fields are planted using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology with an eye on future reliance on robotics, processing plants make use of color sorting technology and coding technology that tracks the source of berries to the field and row in the event of any food safety questions.

The Northwest Plant Company, a local raspberry plant nursery, is partnered in a breeding program with Plant and Food Research from New Zealand and has released, and is currently developing, new varieties more suited to mechanical harvesting with higher yields and disease resistance. The combination of better varieties and clean plants will hopefully result in fields lasting longer and requiring less fumigation helping the industry become more sustainable and profitable.

Potato grower Greg Ebe uses the latest in GPS technology to add precision to his farm operation. Greg says "the GPS guided system we use for planting minimizes overlaps and skips in our fields resulting in lower seed and fertilizer costs. We achieve pass-to-pass accuracy of less than an inch in seeding and tillage."

BelleWood Acres, like other Whatcom farmers, rely on intensive scouting, heat units, and up to date weather information to time protective chemical applications. John Belisle states "We are fortunate to have four AgWeatherNet stations in operation in our county. The sites offer timed models to help with disease and pest control. We have found using technology we can reduce our cost, increase the effect of protective applications, and be confident of our decision making process. "

It should be noted that much of the research and innovation we have discussed is a credit to our land grant universities across this country and in particular Washington State University. The WSU Research Center in Mt. Vernon and the WSU Extension Service in Bellingham are able partners in pursuing the challenge of feeding the world from the bounty of Whatcom and U.S. agriculture. They are valuable contributors to sustaining Whatcom agriculture.

Whatcom Farm Friends Board of Directors 

This year will mark new changes for Farming for Life as ownership of the exhibit moves out of the Whatcom Farm Friends' hands into the Northwest Washington Fair's. However, the exhibit at the Fair will likely see little change in the eyes of the general public. The primary goals of raising consumer awareness about agriculture and the origin of food and fiber products as well as demonstrating the economic importance of the agriculture industry remain the same. To reach these goals, we will continue to provide hands-on agricultural experiences, showcase local farms, and celebrate agriculture.

 To continue to support this award winning program, contact:

Northwest Washington Fair

 Attn: Cheryl DeHaan

 1775 Front Street

 Lynden, WA  98264

 (360) 920-5452

 agvocacy.dehaan2011@gmail.com