Locally produced food is essential to the health, security and economy of our community. However, the same rapid growth that has impacted our ecosystems, salmon and water quality has also resulted in the loss of over 70% of Pierce County’s farmland since 1950. Today we’re losing roughly 1,000 acres of valuable farmland each year and with it, some of the most productive soils in the country. By working to preserve farmland and helping agricultural producers manage their farms in an ecologically sustainable way, we also help increase the productivity of their soils, providing a multi-benefit approach that improves both the local economy and local ecosystems.

For over 70-years, we have worked with farmers to help improve soil health and keep farming an integral part of our local food system, economy and culture, a core part of our mission that we remain dedicated to. In addition to development pressures, farmers also face challenges with drainage in the spring, when too much rain floods their fields and prevents them from planting their crops; increasing drought in the fall when not enough rain is forcing them to irrigate more; and major infrastructure challenges that impacts distribution and therefore local food access for consumers.

The challenges facing farmers and agricultural lands are complex and intertwined. Those same challenges present opportunities though, not just to make farming more viable for our community, but to implement multi-benefit approaches that can also help address climate change, flood risk and salmon habitat restoration. We’ll develop a holistic approach by “collaborat(ing) with partners to development and implement a strategic plan for Pierce County agriculture”. This plan will identify infrastructure needs as well as conservation needs and we will work with partners to support efforts outside of our scope, while addressing issues that fall within our purview, such as “evaluat(ing) community needs for shared farm equipment” and helping create a tool library to reduce the capital costs for local farmers.

While not the sole cause of the challenges facing local agriculture, the local impacts of climate change are rapidly exacerbating issues such as drainage and drought. To improve soil health and water storage capacity, while mitigating the broader impacts of climate change, we will “develop the District's best practices for implementing carbon storage and other climate adaptation measures on farms and apply those practices throughout Pierce County.” These efforts include, “bringing our cover crop and direct seeding programs to scale across Pierce County,” which help reduce stormwater runoff during the winter months, improving local water quality, and by building organic matter back into the soil, both store carbon and improve drainage. We will also “develop and implement an irrigation efficiency program,” which will help farmers reduce costs associated with irrigation, while also helping keep water in the streams in fall when salmon are returning. 

Coupled with our ongoing efforts, the key actions we’ve identified in our plan will help us keep agriculture viable in Pierce County, yet all of these efforts are for naught if there’s no one to farm the land. The average age of a farmer in Pierce County is nearly 60-years old, and so we must also focus our efforts on helping the next generation of farmers be successful. In these efforts we will, “further develop a Farm Incubator program to train the next generation of farmers and give them the skills, resources, and connections they need to be successful; and “continue to develop the Latino Farmer Outreach Program so that the Latino agriculture community trusts and looks to PCD for assistance and resources.” Working with partners to give these new farmers access to land, business training to be successful, and training in ecologically friendly practices will help ensure farming continues to play a vital role in the health and well-being of our community long into the future.

The work is never done though, and towards the end of this 5-year plan, we will renew our prioritized efforts and evaluate our progress, starting with a “reassessment of the 9-priority sub-basins to determine impacts and future focus areas.” Taken collectively, these key actions will help us Advance Agricultural Systems, leading to outcomes that get us closer to our goal: “by 2040, Pierce County’s farmers are part of a thriving and sustainable local agriculture community, both economically and ecologically. They are valued partners in protecting natural resources, providing healthy food to local communities, and maintaining market share for generations to come.”

Key Measures:

• Geographic area (priority sub-watersheds) of land user outreach, education, planning and conservation implementation
• Number of land users implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• Health of the local agricultural economy - number of farmers in business, land in farming, economic viability