AGRICULTURE: WHATCOM FAMILY FARMERS COALITION of Larson Gross Bellingham Accountants & CPAs, and Chuck Antholt, a parttime ag economics professor at Western Washington University who operates a small farm on Lummi Island.
Department of Ecology’s New Discharge Permit Threatens to Devastate Dairy Farming
“AS FARMERS, we’ve been quiet too long….(about) damaging action. We need help from those who value the way we farmers take care of the land….” – SCOTT BEDLINGTON, third-generation Lynden seed potato farmer at Bedlington Farms, and president of the Whatcom Ag Water Board. (Photo by Jayson Korthuis)
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farmer and turf farmer from Sumas; Mike Boxx of Boxx Berry Farm in Ferndale, and Ed Blok, Lynden dairy farmer and key organizer of the WIDs who was elected president. An 11th board member, another farmer, is still to be named. Two community members serve on the board in non-voting roles: Todd Burgers
“Shocked and disappointed” is how Rich Appel described the reaction of farmers to new dairy regulations proposed by the State Department of Agriculture. Visser said that it was essential that farmers oppose this overreach of regulations related to the permit, and doing so would represent “the fight of the decade.” After releasing the first draft of the new permit and regulations, the draft writers met with a group of farmers at Appel Farms in Ferndale. They said that the permit was required by federal and state law, but farmers vigorously dispute that. “Their reasoning is based on an assumption that dairy farms pollute, specifically that manure lagoons discharge to groundwater,” Likkel said. He serves as water-quality consultant for the Ag Water Board. “We believe the data shows quite clearly that they don’t, based on soil tests, and an extensive scientific study by the University of California at Davis. Also, by water-quality tests that show water quality near dairies is improving even more than water quality (elsewhere) around the county.” (A presentation of this data appears on the Whatcom Family Farmers website.) Likkel said, “They say that lagoons are leaking massive amounts, but when asked for proof they admitted they had none. They said they are planning on using the mandatory testing required of farmers in the permit to prove what they have no proof for.” Moorlag at Edaleen said, “This is a guiltyuntil-proven-innocent approach, with the innocent party told to pay for proving or disproving guilt. This violates how we operate in this
“These new regulations may very well mean the end of many of our farms that have survived for three, four and even more generations.” – Rich Appel, spokesperson for Whatcom Family Farmers
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