Haugen bill combines agricultural and environmental benefits

OLYMPIA — The Senate today passed a proposal to give farmers some innovative ways to obtain multiple financial benefits from their land.

Senate Bill 6805 directs the State Conservation Commission to establish an agricultural conservation market in Washington through which market forces could provide incentives for farmers to use their land for environmental benefits.

“It’s time we started looking at new ways for farmers to retain the critical mass of farmland that’s needed to keep agriculture economically viable,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who sponsored the bill.

The idea behind SB 6805 is to create a system of credits through which farmland could be temporarily set aside for environmental purposes, while still maintaining it as an agricultural resource for the future. For example, when a construction project has to comply with environmental mitigation requirements, the contractor could ask for bids from local farmers who have land they are willing to set aside for a designated amount of time.

Such a system would takes advantage of environmental enhancement opportunities that exist on farms, without taking whole farms or significant amounts of farmland out of production. It would also improve the viability of farming operations, by giving farmers an additional way for their land to generate revenue.

“I’m glad that such a wide variety of people can come together to recognize that development pressures are squeezing local farmers,” said Haugen, noting that her bill has drawn favorable comments form diverse groups, including representatives of the Washington Farmland Trust, the Nature Conservancy, and the Washington Farm Bureau.

SB 6805 passed the Senate on a vote of 48-0 and now goes to the House for consideration.

Return to Sen. Haugen's home page