Agriculture Information and Programs

Small Farms: Heart of the Rural Landscape

Migration to Rural Areas
More Americans would prefer to live in rural and small towns than actually do. Today, citizens are acting on that preference. From 1990 to 1999, 2.2 million more Americans moved from the city to the country than the reverse. Three-quarters of all rural counties added people. During this same period, Stevens County population grew from 31,101 to 39,524 or a 27% gain. Since 1999, Stevens County population has increased by another 1,500 in the region of 41,000.

Appeal of the Rural Landscape
Farms and forests are vital elements of the rural landscape. The patterns in fields, livestock grazing in fields, orchards, and open spaces contribute to the richness of this landscape. The scenic value tied to the farming heritage in this country is a key element in citizens' perception of quality of life in rural areas. This rich landscape is the most critical element in developing long-term economic potential in rural areas. Rural landscapes are essential for attracting entrepreneurs to establish new enterprises and for tourist and recreational businesses.

Agricultural Land at Risk
Agricultural land is desirable for building because it tends to be flat, and generally more affordable to developers than to farmers and ranchers. A study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that from 1980 to 2000 the acreage per person for new housing almost doubled. Most of this land is outside of existing urban areas. Since 1994, lots of 10 to 22 acres accounted for 55% of the growth in the housing area. According to the USDA's National Resource Inventory, the best agricultural soils are being developed the fastest.

Environmental Quality
Privately owned farms and forested lands contribute to the "public good" by providing a land base to support the ecosystem services necessary for our survival. Our natural world runs on sunlight, and photosynthesis is the required first step in providing food for our tables. Farms and forested lands provide a means for effective water cycles by providing a means for storing water. Our agricultural lands contribute to the diversity of plants and animals (including wildlife) both above and below the ground.

Contributions to the Local Tax Base
Over on-hundred studies have been conducted to examine the costs of providing basic public services to different types of land use categories. These studies have been conducted across the U.S. including Washington State. Land uses are categorized as residential, commercial and industrial, and working and open land. The results are unequivocal. Commercial and farmlands contribute more in tax revenue than the cost for the services they receive. The finds from Skagit County are typical of those found in other studies: for every dollar in tax revenue from residential land, the cost of providing services was $1.25. For every dollar in tax revenue from commercial land the cost of providing services was 30 cents and for farms it was 51 cents. New housing does increase tax revenues, but at the same time public expenditures increase at a more rapid rate.

Stevens County Citizens Choose the Rural Landscape
WSU Stevens County Extension conducted a random sample survey (January, 2005) of citizens from this county on a number of topics. One of the questions asked, "What they thought was the best thing about Stevens county." A "sense of community" was by far the most frequently given reason for why Stevens County was a good place to live (almost half of the answers). The natural environment was the second most common reason. These two categories accounted for just over 80% of the comments. The most frequent comments related to "sense of community" included rural environment, friendly and caring people, and lower population.

Washington Consumer Attitudes Toward Small Farms
Washington State University and the University of Washington jointly conducted a study of consumer attitudes toward purchasing foods from local farmers (2002). Just over 200 respondents from each county were included in the study (Chelan, Grant, King, Skagit) for a total of 946 responses to the survey. They asked two questions related to small farms and the rural landscape. These were "Maintaining family farms is important to my county's future" and "Local government should restrict non-agricultural development in agricultural areas." Just slightly over 90% of the respondents agreed that maintaining family farms is important and just over 82% agreed that we need to protect our agricultural lands from non-agricultural development.

Hopefully, we can find a market solution that will improve the profitability of Stevens County Farms. We must not ignore the larger contribution small farms make to our rural landscape.