The changing face of county agriculture
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
Agriculture in Klickitat County produces over $50 million a year in direct crop value and three times that figure in agricultural impact on local economy, according to figures from the American Farmland Trust (AFT). That's some $200 million annually from things that grow in the ground, money that ripples like waving wheat fields throughout the county, making agriculture a critical industry. Significantly, there are signs that agriculture in the county is relatively inconspicuous to many non-farming residents, whose awareness of it is often restricted to the views they pass each day.
A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report states there are 702 operating farms in Klickitat County with an average market value of production per farm of $74,680. These farms cover 607,000 acres (about one half the total land area of the county) and have an average size of 864 acres-roughly twice the average for the state of Washington.
For a county with a total population of about 20,000, this represents much more than just a highly significant industry. Agriculture drives the economy of Klickitat County.
In December of last year, the AFT, a national organization focused on slowing the disappearance of farmland across the country, presented a 176-page report to the Klickitat County Commission on the state of agriculture in the county. The Trust's report was prepared in conjunction with the Klickitat County Planning Department.
Among the Trust's findings were that agriculture also has powerful effects beyond economy. "Just by staying in agriculture," the report states, "farms are contributing hugely important environmental values like aquifer recharge, wildlife habitat and migration corridors, surface and groundwater filtration, flood water detention, etc. And this is not to mention their social/aesthetic values like open natural landscapes and access to local food and the cultural values like community stability, work ethic, or sense of history and place."
But the county also has forces working at cross-purposes to the economic and environmental benefits of agriculture, despite its clearly significant impact, according to many who base their livelihood in area agriculture. Gary Takahashi, whose family orchard and vineyard business has been on the Maryhill banks of the Columbia River since 1935, is one of them.
"The county don't like me," Takahashi says with a wry smile. "My family controls probably 80 percent of Maryhill here, and I'm dead against any development. My folks spent a lot of money keeping Maryhill the way it is, the flatland down here."
Takahashi has seen vast changes in farming over the years. "The farmers around Goldendale, they've all broke their land up, most of them," he says. "You used to have a lot more big farms; not so much now. You see a lot of 20-acres, five acres. You go across the river to Sherman County in Oregon, you don't see none of that.
"It's just a personal opinion, but I think the Klickitat government has forced a lot of farmers to go under. It's not real profitable land to farm, and the county wants better taxes, so they make it hard to keep a small farm. You can't compete against land that makes more money by selling to bigger and bigger farms, or by development. I'm in the same situation down here. We're just a mom and pop operation."
Some of Takahashi's observations are directly reflected in the AFT report to the county. It states, "There are growing issues about the increasing fragmentation of the agricultural land base, the rise in the cost of farmland above what farmers can generally afford to pay for it out of agricultural earnings, and the loss of agricultural lands to non-farm uses and the inevitable conflicts many of these new uses may create for agriculture. These emerging issues can (directly or indirectly) increase the burdens of operating a profitable agricultural business and threaten the future of the agriculture industry in Klickitat County along with all of the economic, environmental, social, and cultural values it provides-including the future uses of the land."
In response to these concerns, the county applied for and received a grant from the Washington State Office of Farmland Protection to find solutions. Among them, it was stated in the grant, was a serious need to educate the public on how the agricultural economy works, as well as the direct threats to it.
The years of Old West range wars between farmers and cattle barons, the stuff of many a stirring Western, are gone-but in their place, perhaps no more so than in Klickitat County, are quieter, slower, but no less dramatic struggles unfolding each day. Clashes occur between viewpoints on what works best for the county and its residents. On the one hand is the benefit of stronger tax bases and the services they can provide. On the other is the value seen in preserving a quality of life seen as fading all too rapidly.
Gary Takahashi points to the distance, where the Stonehenge War Memorial stands solitary on a sweeping landscape. "Right below Sam Hill's grave there's a fence that runs east-west," he says. "That's my property line. All that up there would be beautiful for home sites. And some people have said, 'Well, Gary, that would be a perfect place for a windmill. That's about the windiest place here, right below Stonehenge. You can get $3,000 a month for one windmill. You could put three up there.'
"Can you imagine a windmill right out in front of Sam Hill's tombstone? That can't happen."
In upcoming articles in this ongoing series, officials from various agriculture-related agencies and organizations in the Goldendale and Klickitat County area will present their views on the topic.
To USDA: please buy one million apples
U. S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been asked to buy one million apples-a lot of them from Washington state-as a bonus purchase to help apple growers.
The purchase request was made by two members of Congress representing major apple-growing states, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y.
"Washington harvests more than 60 percent of the apples grown in the United States," Hastings in a letter to Vilsack. "Many of our communities rely on the yearly apple harvest for their livelihood, and without this bonus purchase they would be forced to sell their apples at a loss. We are urging the Department of Agriculture to support our apple growers, while also providing healthy and nutritious snacks for American schoolchildren and seniors."
In the letter to Vilsack, the Agriculture Marketing Service was asked to make a bonus purchase of at least one million boxes of fresh apples for the National School Lunch Program and other domestic nutrition programs before the 2009 season begins. Because of an unusually strong 2008 harvest, apple stores are at record levels, and growers face per bushel prices below input costs.
County has flu cases being tested
The Klickitat County Health Department (KCHD) has confirmed four cases of influenza A. The flu samples were sent to the state for further testing to determine if they are H1N1 flu (swine flu) cases. One case tested negative for H1N1 flu, the other cases are still pending. As of May 11, 2009 Klickitat County has no confirmed cases of H1N1 flu.
Cases of H1N1 flu in Washington State continue to rise. A Snohomish County man in his 30s with underlying heart conditions died last week with what appears to be complications of H1N1 flu. This is the first death in Washington associated with the new flu strain.
"This death is tragic. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this man's passing." said Governor Chris Gregoire. "It's a sobering reminder that influenza is serious, and can be fatal. I know our public health agencies are doing everything they can to track and monitor this outbreak and to protect the people of our state."
While this marks the first death in this state related to swine flu, the case counts are expected to continue rising for some time to come.
The new H1N1 strain of swine flu has been similar to seasonal flu in symptoms, spread, and response to treatment. Typically, people with existing health conditions are at greater risk of serious health effects from influenza.
Flu symptoms often include fever, muscle aches, cough, and sometimes trouble breathing. It's recommended for people who are sick with flu-like symptoms to stay home or go to a health care provider if they become seriously ill.
The Klickitat County Health Department continues to recommend that people of all ages practice good hygiene, which includes: covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough, wash your hands frequently with soap and water, avoid close contact with people who are sick, and stay home from work or school if you have flu-like symptoms. |
