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Thurston County Farmland Inventory

by Jeff Fisher and Lea Mitchell

Along with water supplies, schools, roads, and other facilities, local farmland is a critical part of a community's infrastructure. Farmland provides local foods, local economies, and open space. Future plans for the county define how many new roads, sewers, and schools will be needed, but what about farmland? As Thurston County continues to grow, development pressure on farmland will only increase.

How much farmland is left in Thurston County and how can we work together to protect it? These are some of the questions that helped guide the Thurston County Farmland Inventory recently completed by South of the Sound Community Farm Land Trust. The inventory is a countywide Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis and database of farmland and its major features.

Farmlands at risk

The inventory results suggest that a majority of Thurston County's farmland is at risk of being converted to other uses. The analysis found that:

• Thurston County has lost over 90,000 acres of farmland since the 1950s. This loss is more than the total amount of farmland that is left.
• Seventy-five percent of the farmland is within three miles of an urban growth boundary.
• Only about 51 percent of the farmland is in the Open Space Tax program.
• The majority of farmland is not within Long Term Agriculture zoning.
• The average age of principal farm operators is 57 years old.
• The majority of the total land in farms is on rented land. -}

  Thurston County farmland and local farm economy

  Despite the risks facing farmland and local farmers, Thurston County has a significant farmland base and local farm economy. The inventory defined 68,247 acres of farmland represented by 3,338 parcels and 1,518 ownerships. Although the higher quality soils and larger tracts of farmland tend to be in the southern and eastern part of the county, farmland is dispersed throughout Thurston County.

  Among Western Washington's 17 counties, Thurston County ranks third - after Skagit and King - in the amount of certified organic acres - 2,900 - and the estimated value of organic goods sold directly from the farm. In overall sales of agricultural products, the most recent Federal Agriculture Census estimates that in 2007 Thurston County's farms generated $117 million in market value sales.

  Conservation values

  Along with defining significant amounts of farmland and associated local farm economies, the inventory analysis found that an estimated 50 percent of the farmland in Thurston County contains, or is adjacent to, areas that provide important fish and wildlife habitat. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge to local farmers. It suggests that their lands may qualify for various conservation benefit programs. It also indicates increasing pressure is likely on them to manage portions of their farmland as wildlife habitat. Together, these conditions call for preservation strategies that will mutually benefit farming and conservation goals.

  Preservation programs

  The inventory found that although some farms have conservation easements to protect fish and wildlife habitats, no farms are enrolled in the federal Farmland Protection Program and there are currently no local funds dedicated to farmland preservation. In terms of conservation easements on farmland, according to the most recent Federal Agricultural Census, 17 farms and 404 acres are enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve, Wetlands Reserve, Farmable Wetlands, or Conservation Reserve Enhancement programs.

  At the local level, Thurston County has created an Open Space Tax program that provides landowners the option of applying to have their property assessed at "current use" instead of "highest and best use." As a result, their property taxes are lowered if their application is accepted. These programs provide important incentives for conservation. However, with the exception of the federal Farmland Protection Program, they're not designed to protect farmland in perpetuity or to build local farm economies.

  Using the inventory

  The inventory will be used to:

  • Define priority conservation areas, partners, and viable preservation strategies.
  • Help develop local programs, policies, and financing to advance farmland preservation and expand local farm economies.
  • Improve, and advocate for, the collection of data regarding farmland conversions and other related data that could contribute to the inventory but is currently either not available, incomplete, or difficult to access.
  • Create public outreach and educational materials. More information from the inventory will be posted at the South of the Sound Community Farmland Trust Web-site http://www.communityfarmlandtrust.org -}

    Jeff Fisher is an MES student at The Evergreen State College currently writing his thesis on the topic of farmland preservation in Thurston County.

    Lea Mitchell is a Research Coordinator at the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development and a board member of the South Sound Community Farm Land Trust.

    
    

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