When Joe Zimmerman first read the job description for farm operations specialist at Clark County’s 78th Street Heritage Farm, he took note that the position required a knowledge of highly specialized skills involving farm equipment and agriculture.
“You mean the stuff I’ve been doing since (I was a kid)?” Zimmerman recalled thinking when he successfully applied for the position earlier this year.
Bill Bjerke, county parks manager, said that Zimmerman’s extensive knowledge of agriculture made him an easy pick for the manager position.
As manager, Zimmerman will be maintaining equipment, performing irrigation work, pruning, spraying herbicides along the fence line, overseeing tillage of soils and other duties that allow the 79-acre farm’s educational and community programs to operate.
Zimmerman started the job last month and replaces Blair Wolfley, who retired last year but will stay on as a volunteer.
“It’s essentially just like running a farm, but your biggest concern isn’t profit,” said Wolfley, who added that the farm’s emphasis is on “growing people” and not just vegetables.
The site once operated as the county’s poor farm from the late 1800s until 1943 and is on the state and national registers of historic places. Now, Bjerke said, it grows potatoes, corn, squash, carrots and other vegetables for the local Food Bank. Among its educational programs, the farm teaches at-risk youth as well as veterans about agriculture. It also supports research by Washington State University Clark County Extension looking into how to control apple maggots as well as other topics.
Zimmerman, 42, was born and raised in Clark County. He said his first job was at Bi-Zi Farms, his parents’ farm in Brush Prairie. When he was young, he said, his family’s farm was more focused on grain production.
He grew up learning how to drive a combine and operate other farm equipment.
Since then, Zimmerman said, he’s held a range of agriculture-related positions and most recently worked selling farm equipment and for a farm equipment distribution company.
“My family has deep roots in Clark County history, and what really interested me was the (farm’s) master plan,” said Zimmerman.
The plan calls for adding facilities that will allow for more educational opportunities for the public.
Bjerke said the plan also calls for adding an interpretative trail that will allow visitors to learn more about the farm’s history and its current projects.
“Having an agricultural facility right here in town is a gold mine,” Bjerke said.
As Clark County experiences rapid growth that’s putting demands on agricultural lands for housing and commercial development, Zimmerman said he’s encouraged by a desire from residents for produce grown at small, local farms.
“People want to see the farm survive,” he said.
In the meantime, Zimmerman said, he’s looking forward to spring tilling as soon as the rain lets up.
