January is a perfect time for farmers to reflect on the recent year and prepare for the 2012 season.  Much of this planning is very farm specific but there is also a need to think about the larger farm economy and how it may affect each farm. 

Farm Friends is presenting an opportunity to engage with local farmers to identify and discuss the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of Whatcom's farms.  Agreement on these becomes the base for the priorities and action plans of groups like Farm Friends. 

Farm Friends is hosting two of these discussions at our office January 17th and 31st, 10 am. 

We expect these discussions to be an opportunity for you to voice your opinions on the future of our farms as well as examining how well Farm Friends' action plan addresses your needs and hopes for 2012. 

Our board has outlined some of our ideas on our current state and what we see as the opportunities and threats in the future.  We expect you will provide much more information to help us develop this further.  We also hope for your questions and challenges to our draft. 

This tribal action may be a full court press to gain clear authority over all water use in the County  (and by extension all land use), an effort to gain legal leverage to use for financial support, or simply a means to keep pressure on local government and landowners to make substantial gains in salmon habitat protection.  It is likely all of the above to various degrees. 

Farmers have dealt with this and other threats in one of five ways:

1. Deny there is a problem.
2. Hope the problem doesn't come to a head before they retire and sell their land.
3. Elect politicians that will fund legal challenges to tribal claims. 
4. Work together with other farmers to build solid legal arguments questioning the extent of the Tribal claims while taking reasonable steps towards habitat protection.
5. Obtain their own lawyers and consultants to defend their individual water rights, development rights, etc. 

Farm Friends believes #1 reflects willful ignorance, #2 discounts the effect that uncertain water rights has on property values, #3 has merit in that challenges must be made to claims that expand tribal rights beyond the intent of the treaties but we should not rely solely on this hope, #4 has been our strategy for 20 years and deserves increased support, and #5 is a prudent option for those prepared to pay the significant costs. 

Water rights are but one example of threats that farms need to confront as they plan their futures.  One has to question the wisdom of building a multi-million dollar business on the bet that water law will not be enforced. 

We call attention to water rights because we believe this remains the most significant long-term threat to the future of Whatcom's farms.  But we also realize that there are many other threats and opportunities that should be addressed.  We hope to use these next weeks to identify them, discuss what is being done to address them, and recommit Farm Friends and our partner ag groups to do what we can to make farms more stable and sustainable in 2012 and beyond.