A Tour of Williams Farms

I recently visited Alexandra Williams of Williams Farms, she's the Deming Diking Commissioner and president of the Whatcom County Farm Bureau. Alex gave me a tour of her family’s heritage homestead farm, established in 1894, and explained the challenges she’s facing as a Whatcom County farmer. 

Farmers are struggling throughout Washington State, especially here in Whatcom County where we have one of the highest minimum wages in the country and farmers now have to pay seasonal agricultural workers overtime.

On top of the expense of operating in this heavily regulated industry, farmers now face a greater challenge: Whatcom’s water adjudication. 

The state’s Department of Ecology is suing Whatcom County farms and landowners to prove their land’s right to water. The legal fees and paperwork to keep up with what's expected to be a 20+ year lawsuit threatens to put many farms out of business. 

If this isn’t stressful enough, Williams Farm is still recovering and rebuilding after two historic 100-year floods caused damage to their farm in less than 5 years. Even though they’re set back from the Nooksack, Alex’s farm and home sustained significant flood damage. 

We rode down to the river so Alex could talk about some potential solutions that could protect her farm’s legacy, like closing a 300 yard gap in the dike. She’s part of a brand new organization called Water for Whatcom, which is advocating for collaborative water resource management solutions for our county. Alex wants Whatcom County to invest in tangible solutions will benefit everyone- our farms, communities and the salmon.

With the adjudication underway, the best thing we can do is work together to find solutions that prevent the flooding in the winters and drought in the summers to help protect some of Whatcom County's greatest assets.