These days life seems to come at us — or go by us — like a freight train. Information bombards us and little of it seems to stick. But if you follow community issues concerning farming, local food, zoning, farmers’ markets or food security, help is on the way.
The Farming Assistance Revitalization and Marketing (FARM) Program is beginning to build a Web site to serve the needs of Pierce County agricultural interests, which could include you. But only if you eat.
There are many interest groups with excellent Web sites (pugetsoundfresh.org, farmland.org, cascadeharvest.org, localharvest.org — to name a few). What makes the FARM Program site a little different is that it is intended to serve the spectrum of ag and consumer interests in Pierce County. If you want to be involved in the county-wide potluck of farm issues, this is the place to sign up for the listserv, check up on FARM Board agendas, link to upcoming conferences and workshops and download handy materials. This is the place for Pierce County residents to plug in.
If I succeeded in capturing your attention, let me now adjust your expectations. The FARM Program currently has a staff of one. That would be me — the farmbudsman. However, help is on the way. We expect to hire two WSU Extension Agricultural Agents soon. Furthermore, you can help build the site to your liking by suggesting links and topics you would like to see included. You can get in at the ground floor.
Pierce County WSU Extension is the host agency of the FARM Program both in physical space (as it houses the office for the farmbudsman and ag agents) and in cyberspace as you will find the portal to our Web site at pierce.wsu.edu/agriculture. You can already check out the resource page and find a handy suite of downloads and links of interest to both growers and consumers.
In the upcoming months we plan to expand the Web site with topical forums to cover issues such Pierce County flood hazard regulations, improvements in local agricultural economic development, news from the county’s farmers’ markets, how to start producing for fun and profit and much more.
So click in for a visit and please come back often to fertilize the site with your ideas, events and resources. Let’s make this the place to link up and FARM Pierce County.
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