Farming is in Don Bailey’s blood.

For nearly a century, his family has plowed, planted and harvested land in the Snohomish River Valley, a tradition that spans 14 generations. Over the years, Bailey has seen considerable change in the county’s agricultural landscape.

Higher production and urban development cutting into arable land have affected the traditional model of the family farm.

“We have already lost a lot of farmland,” said Bailey, who with his family runs a 400-acre farm of mostly Holstein dairy cows and vegetable crops. “We are losing farmland now. It’s time that the county takes an active role rather than paving over it.”

To this end, Snohomish County government is working with farmers and others to protect the county’s fertile farmable land, while identifying economic opportunities to sustain a robust agricultural industry for the next 100 years and beyond.

Last October, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon unveiled the Agriculture Sustainability Project, a grass-roots initiative to strengthen and grow the county’s agricultural economy, ensure a quality and thriving food supply and support existing farming operations.

“We have some of the most fertile farmland in the state,” Reardon said.

A series of public meetings is planned starting this month to solicit views on the project, which will be managed by the county’s Agricultural Advisory Board. The goal is to define priorities to preserve and bolster the county’s agriculture base.

The board will outline a comprehensive inventory of land use outside the designated farmland that may be viable for agricultural development, examine environmental regulations and recommendations that may hinder the long-term sustainability of agricultural development, look at what measures are in place to protect the county’s farms, and identify new agribusiness opportunities.

Feedback from the public will be used to create a business plan for agriculture that will be finalized in the coming months.

The public’s role is crucial in the decision-making, Reardon said, to address issues relevant to farmers as well as urbanites – such as impacts to the environment, wildlife and urban development.

“We want to have a thoughtful conversation between rural voters and urban voters around farming,” he said. “The dialogue is critical because the conversation is so wide-reaching.”

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2004126846_farming16n.html