Why Eat Local?
Buying local food and supporting local agriculture have many benefits, from flavor and freshness of the food to ensuring that we have local food available in case of emergency. It’s one of the ways that we can support our local food system.
Our Local Food System
The local food system is a web of farms and producers, restaurants, markets, farmer’s markets, ag suppliers, transporters, and support organizations that work together. Unlike our global food chain, which begins on one far off piece of soil and slowly makes its way to our grocery store shelves, the local food system depends on strong relationships and connection within our community. The Whidbey food system depends on the people of Whidbey Island, and we can choose to grow and strengthen it as much as we’d like.
A strong local food system means more money stays in our community. It means more food readily available on our island. It means the skills to grow and process food are here on our island. It means less travel and packaging of our food, reducing its carbon footprint. And it means more connection of our community, following the saying “Build your community before you need it”.
Tens of millions of dollars are spent each year on food purchases on Whidbey. WIGC would like to see a larger percentage of those dollars stay on Whidbey and benefit our local food system. Visit here to see where and how you can buy local food.
Agriculture
Like most places, Whidbey has a rich history of agriculture. Greenbank Farm used to be one of the largest loganberry farms in the U.S. Poultry farmers in Central and South Whidbey had huge flocks of chickens and turkeys. Case Farm, still in operation, has been a farm for over 100 years on North Whidbey.
Preserving our rural character and farmland has been a priority for us on Whidbey, including creating the Ebey’s Reserve to protect land in Central Whidbey. That preservation comes with an opportunity cost - land kept in farming means it can’t be developed into housing for profit - but the value of our farmland is important to us.
For the agricultural landscape of Island County today, start with the County Profile from the USDA Ag Census 2017 here.
Today, our farmers face many challenges, including lack of farmworkers, lack of housing for their farmworkers, barriers to entry into farming due to land and equipment costs, loss of small scale infrastructure like local mills, meat processing facilities, and storage, and regulatory burdens. None of these challenges will be easy to address, but working on them makes us stronger together.
The issues that our local farmers face are community issues. Farming is a small business but it is also a community utility. If we depend entirely on the global food chain to feed us, we are vulnerable to one link in that chain breaking and causing shortages. An example of this happened last April when a major pork processing plant had to close due to COVID19 infections. The farmers had the pigs ready, and the trucks stood ready to deliver the meat to stores, but there was no way to process the animals, causing a pork shortage. In addition, Whidbey has a special consideration - in the case of an emergency where the bridge and ferries were closed or damaged, we have NO food stores to feed our population other than what is currently sitting in our grocery stores.
There’s no need to vilify or write off the global food chain, which has allowed us a stable, steady supply of anything we could ever want at any time of the year. It is, however, always safer to diversify, and keep some of our food local as an investment in resiliency.
Supporting Local Ag
We’re working on problem solving all the time! Our island community has a robust crew of individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses dedicating their work and free time to strengthening our local food system. Thank you to everyone working hard to make our community better, and please join if you’re interested!
The Whidbey Island Food Resiliency Consortium (WIFRC), comprised of over 30 businesses and organizations on Whidbey, is focused on addressing farmers’ challenges as a group and working together for creative solutions.
Whidbey Island Grown Cooperative is an example of the community coming together to address obstacles in local agriculture. When small scale producers work together, combining resources and labor, they can address larger issues that effect them all and find ways to grow their markets and reduce their costs.
Goosefoot Foundation provides funding and support to many enterprises that effect local ag, including working on a new commercial kitchen, running the Goose Grocer, publishing the Whidbey Farm Stand Guide, and offering classes for small business owners.
WSU Extension Island County provides gardening and farm resources including the Master Gardener training, Master Gardener Hotline, and agricultural research and support.
Whidbey Island Conservation District provides farm planning services for farmers to better understand their available resources and resource concerns, and cost share opportunities to help with land stewardship.
Northwest Agricultural Business Center does so much for the regional agricultural community, including helping farmers establish new enterprises and make existing businesses more profitable, providing business feasibility, planning and implementation guidance, connections to markets and capital, and access to resources. They are a co-op incubator and provide invaluable resources and services to many businesses including WIGC!
Slow Food Whidbey hosts cooking classes, lends a hand to events and organizations, and promotes slowing down, understanding where food comes from, and enjoying the local bounty. They are a membership organization and September 15 is Give What You Can Day, where you can join Slow Food or renew your membership for any amount you wish from $1-100.
South Whidbey Tilth’s mission is to promote environmentally sound and sustainable agriculture. They do this in so many wonderful ways, including their Sunday Farmer’s Markets, community garden, classes, and much more. For almost 40 years they’ve been working on their mission within our community, and Whidbey is undoubtedly better for it. See their September classes in our Eat Local Month events here.
Food Access
Everyone deserves access to fresh, local food, but there are community members who can’t afford to eat local, or aren’t able to travel to farm stands and farmer’s markets spread out across the island. These organizations spread the local love and help people access and cook local food.
Island Senior Resources - Provides Meals on Wheels services to seniors across Whidbey Island. This summer, WIGC Food Hub provided 40 veggie boxes a week to the Meals on Wheels recipients.
Whidbey Island Nourishes - Delivers over 2500 meals a month to families in need on South Whidbey, along with many other projects and volunteer hours. Look for their booth at the Bayview Farmer’s Market on Sept. 4!
Good Cheer Food Bank - A food bank serving South Whidbey with its own farm. Good Cheer further supports local farmers by contracting with them to grow produce for the food bank.
North Whidbey Help House - A food bank serving Oak Harbor, with produce donated from the Growing Veterans program at Greenbank Farm.
Education
Kids on Whidbey are blessed with robust, creative, dedicated school garden programs where they can learn about growing and eating fruits and vegetables, and how to get rid of the waste.
Cary Peterson at South Whidbey School Garden makes sure that every month is Eat Local Month! Students learn how to grow food, how to eat it, how to compost and soil build, and how to create pollinator habitat.
Coupeville Farm to School and Connected Food Programs include school gardens, cooking classes, a new School Farm, and a hot lunch program that incorporates local vegetables, meat, dairy, and bread into meals for the students.
Oak Harbor School District has Broadview Elementary which was awarded a 2019 National Green School Award for their composting program that turns cafeteria waste into worm food into soil for their school garden. Hillcrest Elementary has a vibrant garden, chickens, and sustainability education.
We also have a farmer education program on South Whidbey, Organic Farm School, where students can train to become small scale farmers. Graduates of the Organic Farm School include many of the farms now selling on the Food Hub - Sleepy Bee Farm, Kettle’s Edge Farm, Foxtail Farm, and Deep Harvest Farm!
Invest in the Food System
How can you help? What changes can you make to contribute to the resiliency of our community?
Top 5 Ways to Support Local Food from Eat Local First
10 Products Available Year-Round in Washington from Eat Local First
10 Day Local Food Challenge - For 10 days, eat only food grown, raised, and produced within 100 miles of your home. Challenge yourself and learn a lot! If you’re not ready for the 10 day challenge, try going through your pantry and fridge and finding all the products you could eat if you did participate in the challenge. What percentage of your food at home was grown within 100 miles? Can you raise that percentage for Eat Local Month?
Donate Your Time - All the organizations listed above depend on the work of volunteers and supporters. Consider signing up to volunteer, donating to their fundraisers, and lending your skills to the cause.