Micha Ida and Galen Van Horn
WSDA Regional Markets Program
Small farms and food businesses play important roles in maintaining vibrant and robust local food systems that support growth in local economies and ensure healthy communities. Disruptions to supply chains and food distribution systems can have far-reaching impacts, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. To increase the resiliency of local food systems, Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has distributed nearly $20 million in grants to small farms and local food businesses through several grant programs administered by the WSDA Regional Markets Program. Continued funding from the Washington State Legislature will further bolster the resiliency of our local food systems in the years ahead.
Recent grants from WSDA have allowed businesses and organizations to expand and diversify in a variety of ways, including increasing the amount of product they produce, expanding their customer bases, and facilitating linkages with other businesses in their local food systems.
Lum Farm: Building resilience
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Amy Lum welcomes one the farm’s newest members. |
“Living on an island, buying local food, and having local food access is critical,” says Amy Lum, of Lum Farm. Her farm is located on Orcas Island, and during the pandemic, Lum witnessed how difficult food access became for her community. According to the San Juan Community Food Assessment, in 2020 less than 5% of the food consumed in San Juan County was produced locally. In response, Lum Farm scaled up and increased its food production and distribution within the county by 275%.
Lum Farm is the only WSDA-inspected dairy in the state that produces goat’s milk ice cream, along with a variety of goat’s milk cheeses and pasture-raised meats. Everything produced on their farm is sold and distributed within San Juan County through restaurants, grocery stores, the local food bank, and directly to consumers.
The farm used Local Food System Infrastructure Grant funds to support their growth and resilience through added cold storage space, additional equipment for cheese making, a new cattle handling system, and technological upgrades to their operation. These enhancements are allowing them to raise more animals and produce more food for their small island community. “Our customers and farming partners have all experienced the positive impact of this grant, and celebrated each new change with us,” Lum said.
Expanding services at Windy N Ranch
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| The Newhall Family of Windy N Ranch. |
To Bradley Newhall of Windy N Ranch, the need for this type of support is clear. “We all saw the devastating effects that Covid-19 had on food supply and distribution,” he says. His family’s operation is a Certified Organic meat ranch located in Ellensburg that specializes in humanely raised beef, pork, lamb, goat, and poultry. In May 2021, Windy N Ranch opened their own butcher shop on their farm, with licensing that allows them to process their own meat as well as provide butchering services to other area producers.
The Newhalls used Local Food Infrastructure Grant funds to make improvements to Windy N Ranch's meat processing facility, which has allowed them to expand the variety of products they prepare, as well as increase their butcher shop services to other farmers and ranchers in the Kittitas Valley. They also aspire to transition their USDA-inspected butcher shop into a Certified Organic facility.
Critical services, such as Local Food Infrastructure Grant funding, increase the viability of small farms and ranches by opening new marketing avenues and revenue streams. “With [added] infrastructure for local USDA meat processing in place, we and other ranchers will be better suited to meet the food needs of our local communities regardless of supply chain issues that may be occurring nationally,” Newhall added.
Increasing capacity: Beyond Pickles
Increased resiliency in our local food systems can come from surprising places too, and something as humble as a pickle can have an outsized impact. Beyond Pickles is a micro food processing company located in the Tri-Cities that uses lactobacillus salt fermentation to preserve and create sauerkrauts, kimchi, and other vegetable-based fermented condiments using locally-grown vegetables from small farmers in eastern Washington. Local Food System Infrastructure Grant funds helped Beyond Pickles install a walk-in cooler addition that is allowing them to quadruple the amount of product they can store prior to distribution.
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| Packing jars at Beyond Pickles. |
Increased capacity and demand for Beyond Pickles’ products will allow them to ramp up their orders from local farms, which is one way these grant funds are supporting the broader local food economy. A larger walk-in cooler has also allowed Beyond Pickles to collaborate more on food distribution with other local food-centric companies such as the Walla Walla Food Hub, Chesed Farms, and Farmstand Local Foods. Strong linkages like these among Washington’s local food businesses create a more robust and secure food system.
“The remarkable level of interest in these grants demonstrates the clear need for WSDA to invest in local food system infrastructure in Washington,” says WSDA Local Food Infrastructure and Supply Chain Specialist Galen Van Horn. “We’ve received wonderful feedback from grant recipients about how their businesses are thriving beyond their imagination. These grants are allowing the people of Washington to benefit from those investments and we’re grateful for the Legislature for recognizing the impact and providing continued funding.”