Whidbey Island farmers have started their own chapter of the Farm Bureau, an organization representing the needs of farmers in a changing world.

With more than 100 charter members, the Island County Farm Bureau is off to a good start. Farmers are feeling pressure from increased urbanization, rampant regulation, and strong competition from corporate farms and imported farm products. The Farm Bureau will help them speak with one voice.

In Island County, farmers have more support than they seem to think. The vast majority of the citizenry thinks farming is an essential part of our treasured rural character, and Island County government officials are unanimous in their desire to help farmers farm, rather than unduly restrict their activities. New regulations coming down from Island County are forced by the state Growth Management Act, as interpreted by Growth Management Hearings Board and the courts.

The most recent regulations, based on intensity of farming and requiring differing levels of environmental protection efforts, may or may not be stringent enough to satisfy the state. An appeal is already in the works by zealous environmentalists.

The Farm Bureau at least will let farmers meet and compare notes on how they’re dealing with increasing regulations and the pressures of growth. And the Island County bureau can join with others to apply pressure where it is most needed, in Olympia from whence most regulations flow. The Legislature needs to take a careful look at what regulations are doing to small farmers in the Puget Sound region. The Growth Management Act was supposed to encourage farming but it hasn’t worked out that way. Farm land is being sold off for development due in part to the expense and frustration stemming from new regulations.

Island County farmers care about the environment and they work to protect it. Environmental degradation here comes from the subdivision of rural properties previously used for farming and timber production and the resulting population increase. The problem is people, and increasing the regulations on a plummeting number of cows and sheep won’t do much good.

The Island County Farm Bureau shouldn’t be open to just farmers, but should welcome non-farmers who realize the critical role farming plays in our lifestyle. Then farmers won’t look like they’re outnumbered when politicians in Olympia decide which special interest groups to pay attention to.

Island County Farm Bureau plans to meet the fourth Wednesday of every month. For more information, or to join the Washington Farm Bureau, contact Gary Joiner, director of member relations, at (800) 331-3276.