Henry Bierlink, WFF Executive Director

Good Management Makes Good Neighbors 

Farming in and around neighbors presents significant challenges. Whatcom farmers have wrestled with complaints over smell, noise, dust, pesticides, water use, machinery on roads, and other farm practices. Farm Friends' consistent response to these complaints is that farmers have protection for good farm practices under the County's Right to Farm Ordinance. But it must be said that this is not a license to do whatever the farmer chooses.

The Right to Farm Ordinance protects farmers from complaints against farm activities that are judged to be good management practices. Failure to comply with good management practices removes protection of the Right to Farm Ordinance and allows law enforcement to cite farmers for disturbing their neighbors. The trick is knowing just where this line is drawn.

It has been nearly 20 years since Whatcom County's Right to Farm Ordinance has been substantially revised. We hear many stories from farmers and from farm neighbors about how misunderstandings can lead to fairly miserable neighbor relationships - for the farmer and the rural resident. The County recognizes that this issue is tied to the long-term strategy to protect farmland and the farmers that manage it. They understand that it is a joke to protect farmland from development and then not allow farmers to use commonly accepted management tools to farm that land.

County government is preparing to implement a recommendation from the Ag Advisory Committee to review the Right to Farm ordinance to see if it is possible to make it more effective at the farm level, including looking at strengthening farmers' recourse against those who bring repeatedly invalid complaints against them. Elements of this task will include:

• Public outreach to farmers and nearby residents to better understand the complaints and lawsuits filed related to farming
• Review of state and other local laws to ensure consistency  
• Development and public review of a revised Right to Farm ordinance

Farm Friends expects to help with this work and is encouraging you to tell us of your experiences with neighbor issues and Right to Farm protection. We believe that a full understanding of this issue will point us in the direction of an improved Right to Farm Ordinance that demonstrates that protecting farming includes protection for both farmland and farmers themselves.

Henry Bierlink 

WSU Extension provides research on plant development, animal health, pest control, good farming practices, and education for all aspects of living on the land. They teach young and old and create a life- long learning atmosphere. The Whatcom Conservation District builds the bridge between healthy farms and natural resource protection. They bring us the technology and the "know how" to conserve natural resources. The USDA Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service provide financial help so we, like any industry can meet the challenges of change. We also stay current within our own individual specialty areas through the various state boards, commissions and organizations such as the WA Red Raspberry Commission, the WA Dairy Federation, the WA Seed Potato Commission and the Washington Farm Bureau.

But we also partner with some, not so common, bedfellows. The Whatcom County Public Utility #1 has worked side by side with the Ag community for the last ten years providing funding for the Farmers Growing Trees for Salmon project to purchase small seedlings. Together we have grown over 100,000 trees to be planted along the river and streams for salmon habitat. They were leaders in watershed planning and they continue to work with us through the development and on-going activities of the Bertrand Watershed Improvement District and the North Lynden Watershed Improvement District. They explore water usage for irrigation, instream flows for farm and fish needs, drainage and habitat.

The PUD, City of Lynden, and the Port of Bellingham continue to work on the possibility of a centralized bio-digester to turn animal and municipal wastes to biogas for heat and fuel. Whatcom Farm Friends hosts a group that includes the Vehicle Research Institute and the College of Business and Economics at WWU, Darigold, the Port of Bellingham, the PUD, the City of Lynden, and Bellingham Technical College that work on agri-energy issues and the growing potential of anaerobic digestion for manure and municipal solid wastes.   

The agriculture community manages the greatest amount of acreage that is prime habitat for Salmon west of the Cascades. We recognize our responsibility to protect the health of our watershed. Partners in this endeavor are Washington State Department of Wildlife, the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA), the Washington Department of Ecology and Whatcom County Government. Many farmers know Steve Seymour, our Watershed Stewart. He helps us find ways to protect the waters that run through our land, while protecting our need to drain our land at times and to irrigate at other times. The staff at NSEA works closely with our farmers to plant buffers along their creeks. They too recognize the need for protection must be in balance with the needs of the farmer. The Department of Ecology has also been a good partner for us. Their mandate is to protect the waters of the state. They fully support our Watershed Improvement Districts and have financially supported this endeavor for the last twelve years.

Farming is no different than any other industry when it comes to the need for carefully thought out and comprehensive research. We could have no better partners than Washington State University, Western Washington University, and Bellingham Technical College. As the population grows and agriculture changes there will be adjustments in the way our industry operates. Climate change, natural disasters, fuel costs, labor issues, technical enhancements, growth of our populated areas, and transportation needs are issues that are being faced today and will continue to impact us into the next century. Our universities and colleges are at the forefront of this research and our link to creative solutions.

One of the goals of Whatcom Farm Friends is to protect a minimum of 100,000 productive acres. The Whatcom Land Trust is a partner in protecting these lands forever. Through tools like a conservation easements and Purchase of Development Rights we expect to be around for a very long time.

It is not just Whatcom Farm Friends that are concerned about sustaining agriculture in Whatcom County; our PARTNERS are as well.  We recognize them and thank them.

Whatcom Farm Friends Board

Tomorrow, Thursday, September 8 at 1:30 ET the House of Representatives, Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, will be holding a hearing on the American Specialty Agriculture Act. This is a proposal by the full Committee Chairman, Lamar Smith of Texas, to provide for a viable ag worker program to address the concerns raised by the specialty crop industry about the ramifications of mandating E-Verify without a companion ag worker initiative. As it stands, this bill would effectively eliminate the experienced workforce that growers nationwide rely on to produce valuable food crops without supplying a legal means to replace them.

Chairman Smith has indicated that he intends to hold votes in the Judiciary Committee on the ag worker proposal and on his mandatory E-Verify proposal, H.R. 2164, the Legal Workforce Act in September or soon after. The hearing tomorrow will provide interesting insights into how his ag labor proposal would work and whether it would meet the needs highlighted by the specialty crop industry.

The hearing information should appear tomorrow on the right hand side of the Judiciary Committee website.