Whatcom farmers wrestle with high costs and regulations
Mary Louise Van Dyke
Fred Likkel, executive director of Whatcom Family Farmers, doesn’t wear rose-colored glasses when discussing the state of farming in Whatcom County.
“Overall, the reality of farming is that we compete on an international scale, which means that often times, we have to compete against those who can raise their food significantly cheaper,” Likkel said.
Whatcom County has about 100,000 acres of agricultural land, and the number of mid-sized farms is decreasing while the number of large and small farms is increasing. This info was shared by Chris Benedict, a professor of agriculture at Washington State University’s Whatcom County extension, at the May 8 Whatcom County Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting, using data from a 2022 survey from the United States Department of Agriculture.
County farmers are having to deal with a number of thorny issues at present,
Likkel said.
Wages
Farm labor costs have risen significantly alongside inflation and increases in the minimum wage. Whatcom farmers pay their agricultural employees more than farmers who live in lower-cost areas do. The state also now stipulates that farmers must pay overtime, a requirement unique to Washington and a handful of other states, Likkel said.
“That requirement has created a significant stress for farmers and their bottom line,” Likkel said.
Equipment costs
Inflation also has increased the cost of purchasing equipment. A tremendous amount of capital expenditures are necessary in agriculture, and farmers must compare the costs of labor and machinery. A dairy farmer, for example, could choose to purchase an automated milking system in which minimal human interaction is needed.
“So, you’re looking at some big investments to achieve labor savings — if the farmer has decided to continue operations,” Likkel said.
Water adjudication action
Whatcom farmers who work in the Nooksack River and Sumas River watershed areas (as well as residents in those areas) are facing a water rights adjudication action filed in May by the Washington State Department of Ecology, according to the Whatcom County website. The action exempts people who receive water from a city or other water provider.
“For farms, water is the most critical component to survival,” Likkel said. “Without water, you don’t have a business, especially for those who are raising crops.”
The adjudication has created a situation of enormous water insecurity. Determining who possesses water rights — or who doesn’t have water rights — could take 20 or 30 years, Likkel predicted.
“You could end up where you thought you might have water and you don’t have it anymore,” he said.
Likkel doesn’t think anyone living in areas covered by the adjudication can take a hard look at this issue and say it won’t impact them. There are a limited amount of water rights out there.
As a result, farmers are again pressed to explore hard choices. They will need to hire water rights experts and attorneys to defend what rights they may or may not have, which will be expensive.
The process already has been delayed, and uncertainty and the prospective high costs are leading some people to make tough decisions. Is this the last straw, or can they envision themselves still raising raspberries and blueberries or seed potatoes in the future?
“We are seeing some people who are getting out of farming because of that,” Likkel said.
Environmental concerns and audits
Water isn’t the only thorny environmental issue that farmers face.
Farmers, not just in Whatcom County, are required to run audits to show compliance in their operations, according to safeagsystems.com.
Likkel, a former agricultural environmental consultant, said farmers go through audits, sometimes right in the middle of their busy season, to ensure crops meet the marketer’s (such as Costco) standards for food safety practices to reduce chances of spreading listeria infections, for example.
“Our farmers are doing really well,” he said. “We can make a really good case that we’ve done really well on what we’re doing to protect the environment, but it does add a significant cost.”
Fuel costs
“The Climate Commitment Act considerably jumped our fuel prices,” said Likkel.
That law, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2021, established the state’s cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the news website Washington State Standard. The law is currently being challenged by Initiative 2117, included on the November 2024 ballot in Washington state.
Initially, farmers were supposed to be exempt from the requirement to cap their exempted emissions, including those from fuels used for agricultural purposes, but the Department of Ecology failed to secure that exemption.
The matter is mostly resolved, but there are still places where it’s an issue.
Farmers’ future plans
“There’s a lot of hard questions being asked about if farmers want to continue to farm,” Likkel said. “Do their children want to take over the farm? Or is it more realistic to sell land to a developer for houses? Whatcom land prices are high.”
The county’s prime location has made that question all the more difficult.
“We feel a lot of pressure on land prices from the north and south (Skagit County) borders,” Likkel said. “Canada has some very high prices for farmland. So that’s leading again to the hard questions people are asking if they want to continue farming or not.”
Despite higher land prices, the quota system in Canada has helped keep more farmers farming, Likkel said. British Columbia
farmers are responsible for producing stipulated amounts of eggs or milk, for example, to ensure a continuous and safe supply of food, according to the British Columbia
government website.
“Canada, regardless of how you feel about the system, protects their farmers more. They give them quota,” Likkel said. “They protect their agricultural land more, but
Canadian agricultural land is also worth considerably more.”
As this spills over into the United States, it becomes an issue for Whatcom
County farmers.
“So, [what happens] if a Whatcom County farmer, who may be a second or third generation or fourth generation, knows their son isn’t interested in continuing to farm?” Likkel said. “The land becomes available for sale, and a Canadian farmer who feels the pressure, who wants to grow crops and can’t afford an acreage in Canada, may be interested in purchasing the lower-priced Whatcom farmland.”
This has been happening.
“I’ve even seen in one case this past year where a couple hundred acres of Whatcom farmland is now owned by an investment firm,” he said. “I would not be surprised to see that happening more. For them, if they’re strictly looking at land as an investment, agriculture land values continue to rise.”
Knowing the local farmers, though, Likkel remains hopeful.
“Our farmers are a resilient bunch,” he said. “They love farming, and they love to be here. A number of us say we plan to be here. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have that optimism.”
They can do it, but they’ll need help.
“We need to continue to work with our partners and our local and state governments,” Likkel said, “to ensure farming is viable here.”