Finding Fiber and Food Locally

If anyone knows what Island County's small farms can do it is Olivia Forte-Gardner. Her mission is to champion the rich diversity of local farms and help them succeed. In the process she has become an enthusiastic, walking encyclopedia on who grows what. She is passionate about Island County's rural heritage and lifestyle.

Forte-Gardner joined the Island County staff of Washington State University Extension in 2007 as its first Agricultural Sustainability and Land Stewardship Program coordinator. The title is a mouthful but her focus is clear. She quickly brought local farmers together in community meetings to hear their problems and form working groups to develop solutions.

Given the scarcity of both land and water on the islands, and with mainland farms growing ever more industrial in scale, it has been clear for some time that the future of farming in Island County lies in specialization. Forte-Gardner understands that today's island farms must succeed in smaller niches by capitalizing on the high value and quality the public assigns to locally-grown food and products. To do that, they need a strong local brand and creative marketing.

They also need access to processing facilities. Reporting on one of the meetings Forte-Gardner held, Kasia Pierzga, publisher of The Whidbey Examiner, had this to say:

In the United States, ensuring that the food we eat is safe has mostly focused on encouraging and then regulating industrial-scale production. But if a small grower wants to set up a commercial kitchen to produce small batches of jam, the requirements are so demanding and the cost so high, it's prohibitive.

At a time when a growing portion of the food we eat comes from countries where the safety of food production and processing is in question, it seems like state and federal authorities could find a way to make it easier for small American producers to handle their own processing and earn more from what they grow. There must be a way to loosen up the rules a bit and still make sure the food is safe for consumers to eat.

…The demand for Whidbey-based processing facilities might be small, but maybe by working with agricultural interests in neighboring counties, we'll find a regional solution that can create a foundation for an agricultural renaissance.

Keeping Whidbey Island's farms in operation is in the interest of everyone who lives here. And whether it's by lobbying for changes in state and federal food-safety requirements or just choosing to shop locally whenever we can, every one of us can lend a hand in the effort.