In Our View: County council can help Heritage Farm thrive

There’s a good-sized and vocal group of people in Clark County who fear that the Clark County Council might sell all or part of the beloved 78th Street Heritage Farm in Hazel Dell. While Council Chair Eileen Quiring flatly denied at a recent work session that the county is planning to sell the site, there is still reason to be concerned about the historic property’s future.

We are not suggesting the county council is actually planning to sell the farm. Rather, our concern centers on what strategies might be pursued to make the property more financially independent. Because while the county has a responsibility to ensure that properties it owns serve taxpayers in a fiscally sound way, we want to emphasize that any scenarios to bring in revenue at the 78th Street Heritage Farm must complement and honor its storied place in our community.

The site was founded in the 1870s as a poor farm. In 1949, Washington State University turned the building and surrounding land into a research station, where agricultural scientists developed and tested crops. The property was returned to the county in 2008 and is now home to WSU Clark County Extension, community gardens and more. It boasts 22 programs and projects. Many organizations, including the Clark County Food Bank, Master Gardener Foundation and Partners in Careers’ veterans farming program, use the site.

During a Jan. 8 work session, Quiring broached the idea of possibly opening part of the property to business. “I’m throwing that out there, because I think we should brainstorm about it,” she said, according to a story by The Columbian’s Jack Heffernan. “We could require or ask them to have it blend … in the context of the farm and a heritage farm and a historical farm and just have it enhance it.”

While it would require study, Quiring’s suggestion has merit. If one Googles “agricultural uses that make money,” nearly 260 million results pop up, so there’s no shortage of ideas for endeavors that could be both compatible with and possibly lucrative for the Heritage Farm. For instance, according to the website Small Business Trends, certain herbs and spices such as lavender, basil, ginseng, saffron and cilantro can be good revenue producers without requiring much space. Or perhaps one or several local farmers could rent space to raise chickens and/or ducks to sell fresh eggs.

You get the idea. Our point is, it seems there could be a variety of moneymaking ventures that would be a good fit with the Heritage Farm and its mission.

But establishing acceptable uses, then people or entities to provide them, is going to require a careful and thoughtful process. We would encourage the county council to cultivate the expertise of the many organizations and individuals who are devoted to the farm to help it establish a framework for uses and activities on the farm, then to help vet potential providers of those uses and activities.

“If we say that we’re a county that values agriculture, let’s find ways to really push that forward and extend it, and I see this property as a great way for us to continue what’s being done there and also, possibly, grow it,” Councilor Temple Lentz said at the Jan. 8 work session.

We couldn’t agree more. Clark County is struggling to keep alive its agricultural history; the 78th Street Heritage Farm is a living reminder of what this county used to be, and what can be possible in the future if we allow sensible, sustainable agricultural practices to breathe and grow. We’re willing to bet the farm on it.