Whidbey Island
Farm Tour Guide 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. • Saturday, Sept. 12, & Sunday, Sept. 13
Celebrating a decade of Whidbey Farm Tours
A supplement to the Whidbey News-Times, The Whidbey Examiner and South Whidbey Record
Welcome to the 10th year of the Whidbey Island Farm Tour! We are excited to bring you 11 sites to visit this year, nine farms and two value-added agricultural product processing businesses. Ten years ago, in 2005, a group of volunteers working with the Whidbey Island Conservation District identified the need for the public to see first-hand the many great benefits that local farms were bringing to our island community. Growing local food and fiber and utilization of farm land which provides open space and adds to the economic viability of the county are just a few. The goals of the Farm Tour are 1) to educate the community about farms and the good stewardship practices employed by our local farmers; 2) to promote the benefits of locally grown food, fiber, and other products; and 3) to assist our local farms in their sustainability, marketing and publicity efforts. 2005 was a difficult era for farmers who were realizing there was much suspicion about the practices they were employing on their farms. As is often the case, there was much more suspicion than reality and the farmers on Whidbey welcomed an opportunity to be more transparent to the public. Opening a working farm to the public is no small task, especially during the time of year when farms are operating at peak production. Farmers go to extra effort to make sure their farms are not only presentable but safe for the public while telling the story of what they produce and how they produce their products. Whidbey Island has a wide range of farms, some which market direct to the public and others that market through other channels. Generally, the farms most enthusiastic about participating in the farm tour are those who have products to sell direct to the public. For some of the farms who market through CSA’s — Community Supported Agriculture programs — and at farmer’s markets, the Farm Tour offers an opportunity for their customers to come and spend part of a day visiting the farms that supply their local food. The changes in agriculture over the past 10 years have been dramatic. The cow dairy farms that used to be a driving agricultural engine on Whidbey Island, producing and consuming large volumes of locally produced forage and grain crops, no longer exist. The forage produced on these large open agricultural fields on the island is now marketed to beef cattle, the growing equestrian population, sheep, goats and others. A diversity of crops grown for seed production marketed domestically and globally, also exists. Many small vegetable farms and vineyards are popping up in the landscape, and we see these farmers selling their produce at our farmers markets. We have many more farmers in total number, now. The local food movement is strong and the image of farmers seems to be much more positive for the public. This is perhaps because the farmers are interacting more closely with the public. The Farm Tour has been an important part of this evolution over the past 10 years. We look forward to the Farm Tour as it exists today, and to its evolving and adjusting to the new face of farming to accommodate the needs of the farmers and those of the public and the growing tourism population into the future. — Whidbey Island Conservation District