In the 1970s, Washington State changed its regulatory policies, making it easier for owners of large parcels of land to short-plat their properties and get maximum prices selling for development. The end result was the loss of thousands of acres of fertile farmland in Western Washington.
In an effort to curtail the losses , concerned citizens all over the state started to form local land trusts. One of the most effective and innovative of these is the PCC Farmland Trust (PCCFLT), created by PCC Natural Markets, a chain of natural food co-ops in the Seattle area, that is also one of Nash’s biggest wholesale accounts. Its first acquisition was the 75-acre Delta Farm in Dungeness, now leased by Nash Huber and his team of young farmers.
The Delta Farm is prime farmland with incredibly fertile soils and ample access to excellent irrigation water. It is the location of our farm’s most important barn, the mechanics’ shed, farm housing and the livestock operation.
PCCFLT purchased the land in 2000, extinguished the development rights and wrote a conservation agreement preserving the land for organic agriculture in perpetuity. Every year, the Trust visits Delta Farm and each of the eight other farms it has preserved since its inception (1,264 acres, supporting 13 organic farming operations) to ensure that the farms follow all the articles of their respective conservation agreements, by walking the properties and talking to the farmers. Above, from left, Sam McCullough shows PCCFLT’s Brenda Campbell, Conservation Stewardship Manager, and Eve Boyce, Americorps Intern, Delta Farm’s property lines and the farm’s compost system on this year’s visit.