Jim reminded the crowd that national unemployment problems are present in Kitsap, and the food industry might have a role in employing more local citizens, by shifting the money we spend to more locally sourced food products, services, and merchants. Next time you shop for local food, dine out, or plan a leisure activity, think of how you can connect with local agriculture to meet your needs and simultaneously improve the local economy.
PCC Executive Director Kathryn Gardow then took the floor…
April 2010 KCAA Meeting
…and led a presentation of the formation and early years of PCC Farmland Trust. PCC started as a cooperative food market in 1953 in Seattle. The cooperative was successful and now has 9 retail outlets in the Seattle Metropolitan area. From that successful cooperative, PCC Farmland Trust grew. PCC Farmland Trust secures, preserves and stewards threatened farmland in the Northwest, ensuring that generations of local farmers productively farm it using sustainable, organic growing methods. The new enterprise hoed its first row in 1999.
In 1999, a Sequim farmer, Nash Huber, needed more land to rotate his organic crops for his then-budding, now-hugely successful organic food production business, Nash’s Organic Produce. Nash had his eye on 97 acres of land, known as Delta Farm. Together with PCC, they saved Delta Farm (97 acres saved; 74 acres in organic farming; 23 acres wetland & conservation easement). Currently Nash organically farms 400 acres in the Sequim area, but Kathryn reported that he only owns about 10 acres of that amount, thus his land base is insecure. This is a problem that creates barriers to entry for new farmers, and barriers to growth for existing farmers. PCC hopes to play a larger role in breaking through the land barrier.
Ms. Gardow explained that while PCC Farmland Trust successfully purchased Delta Farm and it has no regrets, the more practical approach for the organization is to purchased the conservation easement on land owned by the farmers farming it. By shifting the focus in this way, PCC Farmland Trust can create more opportunities in more locations. The resources needed to purchase the land and the conservation easement would limit the effects PCC Farmland Trust would have on total acreage kept in organic farming or converted to organic farming.
How it works.
$$$(Value of Land at its Highest & Best Use) – $(Value of land as Organic Farm) = $(Price of Conservation Easement)
PCC Farmland Trust partners with a farmer in the equation represented above. PCC Farmland Trust pays the “Price of Conservation Easement” and the farmer pays the balance of the purchase price. Audience members clarified that PCC Farmland Trust could accept a Conservation Easement that is donated from a farmer who already owns her farmland. Ms. Gardow said this is true, and the tax effects would depend on a sackful of variables. She went on to include another example; a farmer who was backed by a private investor. The private investor made the land purchase in coordination with PCC Farmland Trust, and then leased the land to the farmer. Jim Freeman pointed out that there are many new programs and investors to help the farmers to cover that cost. The advantage to the farmer is a stronger connection to the land and an incentive to invest in the land.
This example is PCC Farmland Trust’s newest success story, Orting Valley Farms in Puyallup Valley. The 100 acres of farmland situated on the Puyallap River was extremely threatened with development. The family had farmed it as a dairy for almost five decades, making it suitable to conversion to organic farming (a condition of the easement is that the land is farmed organically, the trust monitors and stewards the easement property). Additionally, Ms. Gardow emphasized that the property has good access to markets and sufficient capacity for three separate farmers to have their own home, barn, and well. Two out of the three new farmers of Ortega Valley Farms bought their land, while the third is leasing from a private investor.
April 2010 KCAA Meeting
FUNDING.
PCC Farmland Trust uses county, state, and federal funding; But INDIVIDUAL DONORS are the most important source of funding.
PCC Farmland Trust Conservation Requirements:
o Limit subdivision, non-farm development and other uses that are inconsistent with agriculture
o Buildings to support farm products are allowed
Ø Certified organic production; working farms; stewardship & conservation planning; occasional access to the property for community events
Criteria Used to Select Conservation Easements:
Ø PCC prioritizes: Geography; Water; Farm-ability; Commitment to Organic Production; Timeframe; Cost
o Other meaningful criteria: growth of county populations; decrease in farmland acreage; supportive community policies; natural resources
Benefits of working with a land trust:
o increased visibility in the community; assurance the property will be stewarded in perpetuity
o Collaborative projects and access to funding sources
o Direct relationships with the easement holder
o Potential land-related assistance
April 2010 KCAA Meeting
Audience Questions:
Q from audience (about WA state farmland conservation fund) – What about the state’s requirement that the money go to a farm that is already set up and ready to go? Isn’t there more impact on a community when the farmland structure in the area has started deteriorating? Isn’t a conservation easement more meaningful in communities like Kitsap, where the farmland continues to become more fractured and scattered?
PCC responds: PCC says it is a work in progress and is a new state organization that is still developing its vision. PCC is limited by state criteria when using that funding source, but can establish its own criteria when using the individually donated funds.
Q from audience: What is “certified organic”?
PCC responds: PCC says it doesn’t matter which third party certifier the farmer uses, just has to be a valid certification.
Q from audience: What is smallest size required? 20 acres? Less?
PCC responds: PCC says 20 acres is the general range, but will consider anything as long as it is a commercial working farm. The state program, mentioned earlier, has a 20 acre limit.
Q from audience: How does Kitsap fit into the “other meaningful criteria” information?
PCC responds: PCC not prepped on the fine details; Kitsap is not in the top 5 fastest growing; Pierce and Whatcom are losing farmland acreage most rapidly;
Q from audience: How do you measure “loss of agricultural land”?
PCC responds: use the WSDA and USDA agricultural statistics; there is a lot of contention about how that info is gathered and reported. Recognize the limitations.
Q from audience: How do you find out about farmland?
PCC responds: o Sometimes attorney representing landowner will call PCC
o People contact PCC directly
o Considering more outreach through Tilth
o The decision to give up development rights & essentially a piece of cash, is a huge deal to a farmer
Q from audience: Farmers are not beholden to sell goods to PCC, right?
PCC responds: That is correct.
Drawbacks to conservation easements:
o Agricultural CE do not ensure that the land will continue to be farmed.
o Nomitoring and enforcing conservation easements requires a serious commitment on the part of the easement holder
o Subsequent landownersa re not always interested in upholding the terms of the CE
o CE are not immune to eminent domain.
Benefits of conservation easements:
o Permanently protect important farmland while keeping land in private ownership and local tax rolls
o Flexible documents that can be tailored to meet needs of individual farmers
o Tax benefits
o Decreased purchase price
PCC Farmland Trust – “Saving Local Organic Farmland Forever”