Kristina Peterson

As Oregonians, we are lucky to have agriculture deeply seeded in our economy and cultural heritage. The Willamette Valley is one of the most diverse agricultural regions on Earth due to its rich, fertile soils and ample rainfall. Washington County is among the top-producing agricultural counties in the state and home to thousands of acres of farms, farming families, and farm-related businesses. About 25% of the county is agricultural land. However, we are losing this land to development at rapid rates. As Washington County’s population continues to grow, it’s important to protect productive agricultural lands and ensure that farming communities continue to thrive.

What is Agricultural Viability?

The term “agricultural viability” refers to all the components of the agriculture system that need to stay in motion to sustain a thriving local agriculture community. This can be thought of as the overall health of the land along with the support of agriculture in the larger landscape and community. A thriving agricultural community depends on:

• Availability of productive farmland with adequate water supply and healthy soil.
• Enough skilled farmers and field workers to plant and harvest crops, tend to livestock, and maintain the land.
• Access to farming equipment, material suppliers, and markets for farmers to sell their food and goods.
• Engaged community members to support their local agriculture community.

Maintaining agricultural viability requires understanding the importance of agriculture in our health, economy, livelihood, and environment. Without this shared vision, our agriculture community is threatened.

What Threatens Agricultural Viability?

As Washington County continues to grow, the local agricultural community is compromised. This changing landscape leads to:

• Decreased availability of highly productive farmland – Without conservation easements or succession plans, farmland is vulnerable to development. Once developed, it will likely never return to farming or open space. Productive soils are one of the most important land characteristics to support agriculture. Washington County has some of the most productive soils in the state.
• Fragmented agricultural land and farming communities – Fragmentation divides the land in ways that will make farms too small to continue to be profitable and farmland unaffordable for farmers. Farmers also rely on each other for sharing equipment, knowledge, and the collective benefits of conservation practices. When farming lands are divided, farmers lose an important support system.
• Limited farming resources – Field workers and farmers utilize specific equipment, infrastructure, materials, and production spaces. Local businesses and infrastructure who hold these resources don’t have financial support for upkeep and maintenance. They are also seeing decreased demand and are moving to locations where they can make larger profits.

Read more about threats to farmland here.

You can help support local agriculture!

Whether you live in a rural or urban area, you can help sustain our local agriculture community. Here are some ways that you can help:

• Find a local farmer’s market:  Purchase products directly from farms while getting to know your local farmers. Find your nearest farmers market through Oregon Farmers Markets Association.
• Support local farms: You can visit a farm stand or farm store, participate in u-pick berry season, or sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
• Discover what is grown in Washington County: Check out our Grown in Washington County map to learn about the variety of crops produced by local farmers.
• Pay attention in agricultural areas: Look out for signs that indicate agricultural areas and what is being grown. Practice road safety on rural roads when farm equipment is present.

Agriculture is interwoven throughout our everyday lives whether we realize it or not. It is in the grocery stores we visit, the clothes we wear, the smiling farmers at farmers markets, and the nurseries where we buy our plants. Protecting agriculture today, ensures local food, goods, farmers, and natural spaces for all in the future.

Learn more about how Tualatin SWCD promotes agricultural viability here.

Summer is a busy time for agricultural communities. As crops ripen over the summer and into the fall, farm workers are putting in long, hard, (and often hot!) days to move those crops from the fields to market. The Willamette Valley is one of the most diverse agricultural regions on Earth due to its rich, fertile soils and ample rainfall. Washington County is among the top-producing agricultural counties in the state with agricultural land making up about 25% of the county’s land area. Our farmers produce almost 100 types of crops with grass seed, greenhouse plants, wheat, dairy products, and berries accounting for the highest crop revenues.

Increased summer traffic means it’s time for extra road safety on rural roads.

During harvest seasons, you may encounter farm equipment, like a combine or tractor, on rural roads. These vehicles can be wider than the road lanes and travel at speeds under 25 mph. To safely share rural roads with slow-moving vehicles, follow these tips:

• Watch for signs: You may see a “CAUTION” sign or a bright orange triangle on the farm equipment. These are indications that you should slow down and watch for slow-moving vehicles.
• Be patient: Farm equipment can be loud to operate, and the driver may not be aware that you are behind them. If it is safe, they may pull over to let you pass, but this isn’t always possible. Make sure to keep a safe distance.
• Pass with caution: Only pass slow-moving vehicles in designated passing zones and not within 100 feet of any intersection, railroad grade crossing, bridge, or tunnel.

Read more about the ROADS Act (Rural Oregon Achieving Driving Safety Act) and rural road safety here.

Many crops will be harvested throughout Washington County in the coming months.

• Blueberries – Blueberries are ready for harvest late June through September. Farms will harvest blueberries by hand or machines, depending on if the berries will be sold fresh or frozen. Machine harvesters are tall and drive over the bushes where paddles shake and knock the berries off the bushes and onto a conveyer belt. Oregon grows the second most blueberries in the country with over 1,000 farms growing blueberries. Annually, Oregon grows around 154 million pounds and exports the fruit to countries like Argentina, France, Italy, and Japan.

• Blackberries – Blackberries are harvested from July to September. Like blueberries, blackberries are picked by hand if sold fresh and machine harvested if they will be processed or frozen. Oregon is the number one producer of frozen blackberries! More than 90% of the frozen blackberries found in American grocery stores come from Oregon. Blackberries are harvested at night when the berries are at their freshest and firmest.

• Strawberries – Strawberry harvest varies by the variety of berry, but is usually done June through mid-July. Strawberries are harvested by hand. Oregon is ranked third in the United States for strawberry production with over 11 million pounds of berries grown each year.

• Grass Seed – Harvest time for grass seed crops begins in late June or early July. A windrower machine or swather cuts the grass and lays it in rows where it dries for 5-10 days. A combine machine then separates the seed from the straw and spreads the straw back onto the field. Oregon is the world’s number one producer of forage and turf grass seeds. Turf grass seed is planted for home lawns, athletic fields, and golf courses. Forage grass seed is planted for pastures, roadsides, and erosion prevention. 

• Corn – Corn matures in early fall and harvested when the husks start to turn brown and fall off. Combines (machine that cuts and separates grains) are used to harvest the ears of corn. The combine has row dividers that pick up corn stalks and separates the stalks from the ears. The ears are kept on a conveyor belt and the stalks are returned to the ground. There are two types of corn grown in Oregon – field corn, used as grain for livestock feed, and sweet corn, which you see in grocery stores.
• Hazelnuts – Hazelnuts are harvested in September and October. Ripe nuts fall to the orchard floor where farmers drive a sweeper through the orchard. The machine sweeps the nuts into rows between the trees where a harvester drives down the rows and picks up the nuts. The hazelnuts are then dried, cleaned, shelled, and roasted. Hazelnuts are the official state nut of Oregon. These nuts are grown by more than 1,300 farms in Oregon, and those farms grow 100% of the hazelnuts in the United States.

Learn more about Oregon grown commodities from Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom.