By connecting Puget Sound’s waterfront community of Des Moines with Washington farmers who are committed to preserving the long term health of our land, we’re creating a mutually supportive relationship that strengthens the success of our farmers, local businesses, communities, health and the land that make up the rural & urban communities of our state.

The Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market has a unique relationship with one community of environmental stewardship farmers out in rural Okanogan County. Through the cooperative model that Farming & the Environment (F&E) has launched to help strengthen our local food systems and support the farmers who are protecting the land, these Okanogan farmers have organized themselves into a farmer-owned cooperative that will deliver to the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market this summer. This cooperative model is supporting them in gaining access to urban markets and strengthening the ability of their farms to survive and thrive.

Join us on Saturday, June 17th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when we take the first step towards realizing this broad rural to urban connection with the opening of the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market.

Developing the Cooperative Farm Concept: Communities of Stewardship Farms

Family farms and rural community economies throughout Washington State are struggling financially.

In 2002, 58% of Washington State farmers suffered net losses according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

In response to this bleak situation, F&E began to develop a business model in which regional groups of producers would work together by pooling their resources, such as transportation and labor, in order to more profitably access direct markets.

Of equal importance to the economic health of our State’s family farms is the long term health of our agricultural land. F&E is working to ensure that the farmers and ranchers who are growing our foods using environmentally sustainable methods are able to survive and thrive economically. Thus, to participate in F&E’s cooperative model, producers must qualify as environmental Stewardship Farms by meeting its Stewardship Principles.

Connecting with the Des Moines Community

F&E shared this business model of developing Communities of Stewardship Farms in regions throughout the State, gathering feedback and making adjustments along the way. It became obvious that we needed to come to the table with a market opportunity in hand in order to inspire producers to invest the amount of time and energy that would be required to organize a cooperative business start-up. After some research on local markets, F&E reached out to four cities that did not have farmers markets. The first and most enthusiastic response was from the City of Des Moines who offered an ideal location on their waterfront, just blocks from their downtown business center.

The timing could not have been better. Leaders in the Des Moines community had been focused on realizing the city’s full potential as a waterfront destination ever since Mayor Sheckler’s Leadership Summit in August 2005. The opportunity to bring a farmers market to the beautiful Des Moines marina was an ideal match for making their community a destination.

Connecting with the Okanogan Growers

In October 2005, it came to F&E’s attention that a group of producers in Okanogan County were in the final stages of conducting a feasibility study to form a producers’ cooperative with a focus on increasing direct market opportunities. Aha! Just the sort of farmer-initiated organizing we were looking for. F&E presented the Des Moines farmers market opportunity to the group in December 2005 and the Okanogan Producers Marketing Association have since incorporated and organized a cooperative approach to crop planning, transporting, and selling their farm products for the market.

The effort with the Okanogan group is a business-incubation. This model of bringing the consolidated product of nine family farms on one truck to a farmers market and selling from two market booths is the first of its kind in the State and if successful can be replicated to other areas.

Launching the Rural-Urban Connection

Since last fall, over a dozen business, civic, and community leaders from the City of Des Moines have come together to form the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market Planning Committee, lead by F&E Program Staffer, Wendie Dyson. The urban-rural connection has already begun with Watershine Woods, owner of Filaree Farm and a member of the Okanogan Producers Marketing Association, joining the meetings by phone to add her insight as one of the committee’s "farmer" representatives. The committee’s enthusiasm and creativity has engendered community-wide participation, including over $5,000 in market sponsors by local Des Moines businesses and community groups plus themed market day events hosted by local community and cultural groups.

The Des Moines Waterfront Farmers market is the first in Washington State dedicated to stewardship of our environment and health. This means priority is given to qualified Stewardship Farmers not just from the Okanogan but from across Washington State. The goal of the market is to have 100% of its farm fresh products grown using environmentally sustainable methods.

Farming & the Environment believes there is an unleashed power in connecting urban and rural communities. Urban communities need fresh, local, and nutritious foods from our rural communities. Rural communities need urban markets that care about the long-term health of the land and the long-term survival of family farms. Connecting the Des Moines and Okanogan communities, as well as stewardship farmers from across the state, is about a lot more than just selling peaches.