Just the Facts: How Rising Costs, Not Worsening Markets, Are the Cause of Washington’s Agricultural Struggles

The next legislative session will mark 50 years since the term “Sustainable Agriculture” was first defined by the Government of the United States of America, a definition which the Washington State Government relies on to promote and support sustainable agriculture. Even then, before the impending farm crisis of the 1980’s, before oil embargos or the signing of NAFTA, before satellite controlled GPS tractors, or the emergence of global markets, the writers of the 1977 Farm Bill found it necessary to include in that definition that sustainable agriculture must “sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole”, an inclusion that must be emphasized in such a time where Washington State’s agricultural industry ranks 50th for farm economic viability, being only one of two states to offer negative returns to producers with a record loss of $396 Million, a staggering number when compared to the decidedly secure runner up, Alaska, with a meager loss of $10 Million.

Since the end of the pandemic, costs for Washington’s farmers have ballooned from a nationally high, but manageable $8.5 Billion, to an unsustainable $14.1 Billion, outpacing general inflation by almost $4 Billion.  With the costs of fertilizers, necessary to attain the highest yields in the nation boasted by Washington’s fertile grounds and perfect microclimates, and pesticides, vital to restrict the spread of harmful invasive species that constantly threaten to cripple their production capacity, both roughly doubling since 2019, with the Pacific Northwest having the highest nitrogen prices in the country, Washington’s producers are forced to constantly weigh decisions on whether the little money they have should be spent on trying to grow their crop, or protect it from increasingly prevalent pests. The highest cost for Washington’s farmers is by far the labor needed to produce and harvest the Washington grown potatoes, apples, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, and beef that consumers in local stores and around the world seek out for its quality and safety. Since before the pandemic, the cost of hired labor for Washington producers has roughly doubled from $1.8 Billion to a budget straining $3.5 Billion, not to mention contract labor, vital for farmers ability to rotate crops, promoting soil health and boosting possible yields, has skyrocketed by over 1100% from a once meager $89 Million to over $1 Billion. Machine hire and custom work, used when a crop rotation falls upon a crop that a certain grower may not have the equipment to harvest, but that might benefit the health and fertility of their land, has also more than doubled in a single year, jumping from $95 Million to over $190 Million, again showing how rising labor costs can cause growers to compromise best practices in an attempt to lose fewer millions of dollars producing healthy, locally grown, and high quality food for Washingtonians.  

Infrastructure costs, namely storage and transportation, have seen eye watering cost increases to the tune of over 300%, or roughly $900 million, largely brought about by recent regulations on the refrigerants needed to keep Washington’s commodities at safe temperatures post-harvest, to reduce the spread of bacteria and rotting, vital to the food security and availability of many of Washingtons most important crops. Regulations regarding cooling systems and increasing fuel prices push already high costs only higher, resulting in price increases at the grocery store, almost always many miles from the farm where the products were grown. This is glaringly obvious when you realize that fuel and oil prices have, as almost all other costs listed above, more than doubled since before the pandemic, raising the cost to plant, care for, and harvest crops.

Washington agriculture is not facing this moment because our farmers have lost markets, lost discipline, or lost the ability to produce. The demand is there. The land is there. The work ethic is there. What is being tested now is whether the cost of doing business has outpaced the ability to keep farming in Washington penciling out. When the cost of labor, fertilizer, fuel, crop protection, storage, transportation, and equipment all move in the same direction, growers are not making theoretical decisions ... they are making survival decisions. It affects rural jobs, food prices, local tax bases, processing capacity, and whether future generations can inherit the family farm and produce food here at home. Fifty years after federal policy recognized that sustainable agriculture must include the economic viability of farm operations, Washington has to decide whether that principle still means something in practice. Because if producing food in one of the most productive agricultural states in the country becomes economically unsustainable, the consequences will not stay confined to the farm.