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The Loss of Farmland In Whatcom County: Purchase of Development Rights Program Is Not Enough


May 2010

The Loss of Farmland In Whatcom County: Purchase of Development Rights Program Is Not Enough

by Oliver Lazenby

Oliver Lazenby is an environmental journalism major at Western Washington University.

When Chris Paul’s son died in 2003, he left the 160-acre family farm and all the work to her and her disabled husband. They were in debt and couldn’t farm the land on their own. They saw little choice but to sell their land to developers, who would likely build condos and houses over the fertile, Lynden-area soil.

Instead, through the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program, they made enough money to get out of debt and ensured that their land would always be green, open space, regardless of who owns it.

The Purchase of Development Rights program, which Whatcom County started in 2002, allows farmland owners to sell the right to develop their land. This gives farmers, who are often cash-poor but land-rich, the difference between the farmland value and the development value of their land.

Whatcom County’s fertile farmland is much more valuable for development than it is for farming. The average cost for development rights among landowners who participated in the PDR program is $368,350.

“We’re not purchasing their land; we’re purchasing their ability to develop it in the future,” said Dean Martin, Whatcom County Senior Planner.

This is a technique that the Whatcom County Planning Department is using in an attempt to preserve farmland in the county. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s census of agriculture, Whatcom County had 102,584 acres of farmland in 2007. That’s a 31 percent decrease from 2002, when the department of agriculture’s estimate was 148,027 acres.

Whatcom County is the most productive agricultural community on the west side of the state said Henry Bierlink, executive director of Whatcom Farm Friends, a nonprofit group that represents farmers in the county.

Preserving farmland in Whatcom County is not only beneficial for food security, the environment and the economy, but it also provides open space and a higher quality of life to the county’s residents.

“Where are the salmon?” Bierlink said. “They are not in the urban streams; they are in the rural areas. These are the places where they have a fighting chance.”

The Whatcom County Planning Department is aiming to save 100,000 acres of farmland in the county. That leaves a pretty narrow margin considering the current rate that farmland is being developed. 100,000 acres is thought to be the amount of farmland needed to support farming infrastructure, Martin said.

“As you lose agricultural land, the support system goes away—the machinery dealers, the processing facilities, the financial support systems,” Martin said. “We’ve lost things over the years, and as more land gets converted to other uses, we’ll lose more.”

PDR Cannot Save Farmland

The PDR program has not been effective, and Whatcom County Planners are trying to figure out how to improve the program, Martin said.

“We’ve got a project going right now to ask people involved or people who’ve dropped out why it works and why it doesn’t work and how to better get the message out,” Martin said.

Since the PDR program began in 2002, 672 acres have been protected at a cost of nearly $4.5 million.

Even if every farmer in the county wanted to participate, the program wouldn’t be effective because of a lack of funds.

“Taxpayers fund the program, so it’s competing with things like schools, bridges and the elderly,” said George Boggs, manager of the Whatcom Conservation District.

The Whatcom County Planning Committee estimates that it would cost $450 million to protect 100,000 acres of farmland.

“It’s treating a symptom as opposed to a cause,” said Boggs. “Our economic system isn’t conducive to keeping farmland in production”

In our economic system, short-term gain tends to trump long-term value. For a farmer, selling their land is a rational financial decision, but it’s not a good decision for the community, Bierlink said.

Farmers Uneasy About PDR Program

For several reasons, farmers aren’t lining up to participate in the PDR program.

“I think they are afraid of too much government control,” said Paul, who is happy with the way the program worked for her.

Selling development rights is final. It is a gamble, because it’s possible that agriculture won’t always be possible in Whatcom County. If Whatcom County dairy farmers had to ship their milk to Chehalis to get it processed instead of Lynden, they would have a harder time making a profit. Their land wouldn’t be valuable without development rights.

The future of Paul’s water rights is uncertain. Currently, she is leasing her land to a dairy farmer who doesn’t need a lot of water. However, she might not be able to sell or lease her land to a berry farmer who would require more water, she said.

Farmers all over the county are in the same position. If agriculture isn’t going to be viable in Whatcom County in the future, they want to be able to get the best deal they can for their land.

Another theory about why farmers aren’t participating in the program is that they can use their right to develop as a bargaining chip, said Samya Lutz, Whatcom County Planner.

“If environmental questions come up they say, ‘well would you rather I get a backhoe out here and start building?’” Lutz said.

Farming In The Future

“The Puyallup valley had some of the best agriculture in Washington,” Bierlink said. “It got paved over and it makes me sad every time I look at it, but are they still eating in Puyallup? Yeah, they’re doing fine.”

If Whatcom County suffers the same fate as the Puyallup valley, its residents will still be able to eat. But there is only so much prime farmland made, and we have a lot of it, Boggs said. In the future, the places we still have farmland may not have the water to grow crops, Boggs said.

Some of the places that are being developed the fastest are also places that have the most water.

“If Whatcom County got paved over the world wouldn’t starve,” Bierlink said. “But if you look at population trends, there is a time to take seriously whether it’s wise to pave over the best soils in the world.” §


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