Agriculture

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Agriculture is both a land use pattern that affects how the ecosystem functions, and it is a vital mechanism of our civilization--the means by which we feed ourselves.

Landscape Change under Agriculture

Historical modification of ecosystems to enable agriculture has transformed the landscape. Early farmers cleared forest and removed woody duff. Wetland soils are particularly fertile and moist but must first be drained. These changes have modified watershed hydrology, reducing interception, transpiration and percolation, increasing stream discharge and removing the buffering effects of a landcover that stores rainfall.

River and stream floodplains provide level topography, fine textured soils, and moisture that support intensive agriculture. Protection of agricultural landscapes have led to the development of Flood Hazard Management sytems. River Delta systems, affected by both tidal flood and river flood, are particularly dependant on delta flood and drainage systems involving dikes, tidegates and even pumps. Delta restoration can affect nearby farms by altering these systems.

Agricultural land naturally reverts back to wetland and forest. Drain systems clog and vegetation regrows. Maintaining agricultural functions can be constrained by the regulatory systems designed to restrict new impacts.

Ecosystem Services and Agriculture

• While agricultural landscapes require a loss of historical forest and wetlands, they may provide more ecosystem functions, goods, and services than more urbanized landscapes.
• Agricultural is not a homogeneous land use. Some agricultural systems have permanent ground and tree cover and carefully manage ever increasing soil health. Other systems are continuously disturbed and leach nutrients and toxins.
• Agroforestry designs that increase perennial cover, and woody plants in the landscape, while maintaining agricultural production are common in tropical environments, and increasingly promoted by the NRCS. Programs to require or incentive improvement in riparian buffer functions are controversial among some agricultural producers.
• Because of our dry summers, agriculture is an important end use of our water supply. Harvesting surface water for irrigation may meet agricultural water needs, while increasing the water holding capacity of the landscape, but isnot well demonstrated in the United States.
• When considering the design of public subsidies for agriculture, there is an indistinct line between supporting the maintenance of the public value of farm landscapes, and using public funds to increase the profits of individual business people.

Social Organization in Agricultural Systems for Stewardship

• File:Gilbert 2014 cooperative farming.pdf provides discussion of organizing cooperative agricultural ventures that may support management of common lands.
• https://farmcommons.org provides advice on legal frameworks for agricultural ventures

Public Management of Agricultural Systems

• Agricultural landowners are typically taxed by counties at a lower rate than other land owners.
• File:USFWS 2010 endangered species agriculture tax deduction.pdf - farmers can deduct ESA conservation expenses from their taxable income.
• Counties have acquisition programs like Conservation Futures or Purchase of Development Rights programs to acquire development rights on agricultural lands. Skagit County and King County have been leaders in this work.
• WWRP has an inconsistently funded program to acquire development rights on agricultural land.
• Transfer of Development Rights systems have been developed in many counties, but depend on restriction of urban growth.
• CREP is a USDA program that leases streamside land for 10-15 years of tree production.
• NRCS has a family of programs for acquiring and restoring agricultural wetlands and subsidizing conservation practices.
• Conservation Districts provide technical assistance and may collect revenue to match state and federal programs.
• Salmon Recovery systems may acquire farmland and covert it to forest or wetland to provide habitat functions.
• The National Estuary Program began a program in 2015 to target acquisition of conservation easements in agricultural landscapes.
• King County Agricultural Drainage Assistance Program provides BMPs for drainage maintenance. These practices increase the cost compared to historical practices, while potentially decreasing impacts to fisheries.

Wiki Pages in the Agriculture Category

Topics Biochar Community-Supported Agriculture Coppice Glyphosate Harvesting Surface Water for Irrigation Holistic Management Integrated Floodplain Management Integrated Riverscape Management Loraine Loomis Act River Delta Flood Management and Drainage Scythes Shellfish Aquaculture Solar Water Pumps Syntropic Agroforestry Temporary Worker Housing Voluntary Stewardship Program Workgroups Agrarian Commons Agroforestry Northwest Community Farmland Trust Investment Agriculture Foundation Northwest Meadoworks LLC Salt Spring Agricultural Alliance San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild Sno-Valley Tilth Snohomish Conservation District Snohomish Sustainable Lands Strategy Washington Farmland Trust Washington State Conservation Comission Efforts, Places and Other Pages Automating Landscape Connectivity for Puget Sound River Deltas and Pocket Estuaries Black River Farm Cereghino 2024 draft riverscape agroforestry principles Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Edwards Mother Earth Foundation Effects of Exposed Tidal Flats on Water Temperature in the Snohomish Estuary File:French creek ditches.jpg French Slough Drainage Management File:Holistic management.jpg King County Agricultural Drainage Assistance Program (ADAP) King County Farm Preservation Program (FPP) Lower Skykomish Floodplain Land Strategy Lower Snohomish Reach Scale Plan Methow Grown Predicting Sea Level Rise Impacts on Ag Production Puget Sound Large River Delta Tidal Restriction and Wetland Mapping Puget Sound Tidal Restriction and Wetland Mapping Regenerative Riverscape Agroforestry Scatter Creek Farm and Conservancy File:Scatter creek site physical with field boundaries.pdf Skagit Farm, Fish and Flood Initiative Skagit Farmland Legacy Program Sno-Stilly Riparian Zone Management Strategy Snohomish Agricultural Resilience Snohomish Agriculture Resilience Plan Snohomish Estuary Restoration Effects on Temperature, Salinity, and Tides Snohomish Farmland Protection Strategy Snoqualmie Fish, Farm & Flood Initiative Snoqualmie Fish, Farm and Flood Initiative Stillaguamish Delta Dynamics Affecting Restoration Stillaguamish Valley Protection Initiative Sustainable Farms and Fields Grant Program The Ecosystem Guild/Bio-Cultural Restoration Field Stations Voluntary Clean Water Guidance for Agriculture Whatcom Drainage Maintenance Guidance Working Buffer Pilot Project

Documents AFW 2002 federal riparian buffer matrix Benedict & Shaw 2012 shade benefits from hedgerow on ditched streams Bentrup 2008 conservation buffer design guidelines Boggs & Corey 2009 whatcom drainage maintenance guidance Boggs & Corey 2009 whatcom drainage maintenance plan Briske 2011 prescribed grazing Briske et al 2008 rotational grazing perception and evidence Canty 2015 NEP riparian easement advisory Canty et al 2012 farmland protection puget sound Carr et al 2014 snohomish landowner buffer preference survey Cereghino 2015 working buffers info sheet Crowder & Darris 1999 produce cuttings in beds Dean 2011 farm succession strategies Dittbrenner et al 2015 working buffers analysis Dittbrenner et al 2017 snohomish coastal resilience proposal Evans & Moore 2011 snohomish sustainable lands strategy framework GEI 2002 agricultural riparian buffers Geitzen 2019 syntropic agroforestry Gilbert 2014 cooperative farming Greene et al 2012 effects of tidegates on fish Hill 2002 keyline yeomans and whole farm design Holecheck et al 2000 short duration grazing trials North America Hume & Bush 2020 final report riparian protection restoration Idassi 2012 agroforestry in southeast Joseph et al 2002 short duration grazing africa Kanissery et al 2019 glyphosate persistence and impacts on soil health Kubo et al 2019 snoqualmie riparian buffer best science LeDoux & Kubo 2020 snoqualmie riparian buffer task force final report Peters 2009 washington water rights for agricultural producers Rentz et al 2020 WDFW riparian management recommendations SAEDAT 2007 snohomish agricultural development strategy Savanna Institute 2019 understanding agroforestry brochures Savory Institute 2014 grazing bibliography SCB 2015 snohomish county agriculture research SDHP 2014 skagit hydrodynamic model report SEE 2015 french creek drainage district regions and ditches Smith et al 2005 tide gate salmon recovery analysis skagit SnoCD 2016 DRAFT climate change effects on agricultural drainage proposal SnoCo 2014 DRAFT lower skykomish reach scale plan SnoCo 2017 diking and drainage district relationships Snohomish County 2005 agriculture action plan Soloviev & Landua 2016 regenerative agriculture levels Stuart & Canty 2010 environmental markets for agriculture Thurston County 2017 voluntary stewardship plan.pdf USFWS 2010 endangered species agriculture tax deduction.pdf Vance et al 2001 non timber forest products.pdf Varanasi 2003 buffer critique GEI report.pdf WDFW 2015 french creek drainage maintenance HPA.pdf Yeomans 1958 the challenge of landscape