The real estate ad for the Delta Farm was enticing: “Rare 100-acre farm in Sequim! This beautiful property has been surveyed into five-plus acre parcels. Outstanding views of the Olympics and neighboring farmland. Approximately 30 acres in wetlands. Lots of possibilities here.”

Organic farmer Nash Huber recalls his reaction to the ad: “I was farming a piece adjacent to the Delta Farm and when I saw that land up for sale, I knew we had to act fast.” Nash suggested that Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets buy the Delta Farm to preserve it as agricultural land. PCC rose to the challenge and created the Farmland Fund to secure and preserve threatened farmland in Washington State. In July 2000, the Delta Farm became the Fund’s first purchase. Now, instead of sprouting houses, a conservation easement assures that this fertile piece of the Dungeness River delta will remain in organic production forever.

Having farmed in the region for years, Nash knew firsthand how valuable the land was. “We have extremely fantastic soils,” Nash enthuses. “A lot of it has to do with the mineral content of Dungeness River water. Dungeness Valley milk has the highest butterfat content in the state. It’s also the reason our carrots are so sweet.” Nash’s love of growing organic food and taking care of the land he farms is palpable.

“We have a microclimate here in the lower Dungeness Peninsula that is so unique. Today’s a beautiful day – it’s burning up in eastern Washington – and here we are with the Strait of Juan de Fuca ocean breeze blowing in.” The mild climate allows Delta Farm to ship produce 12 months out of the year, alternating crops with the seasons. In the summer, they grow spinach and basil; in winter it’s brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage.

Nash has a background in science that informs his farming. Before he became Washington State’s largest organic grower, Nash got a degree in organic chemistry and worked as a lab technician in the Midwest, analyzing corn and soybeans. He eventually shifted over to research, which began his transformation into an organic farmer and a farmland preservation advocate. “I saw where food was headed,” he says. “The grocery products division was right across the aisle from my lab, and they were making their cherry pies with all of the red dye and the modified corn starch to give it that firm gelatinous consistency -  and those fake cherries.”

Nash started farming on the lower Dungeness Peninsula in 1968, a little bit before the organic movement really got going. According to Nash, “At that point, the agriculture community had pretty well broken down, it had lost its spirit and its focus. We were losing our farmland; the development economy was starting to grow. It was depressing.”

In 1989, legislation provided Nash his first foray into protecting farmland from development. He recalls, “I first got my teeth into it helping the county come to grips with the Growth Management Act.” In fact, Nash was party to two successful lawsuits against the county to force compliance with the Act. “But when you looked at the energy it took, it seemed to me we weren’t really accomplishing a whole heck of a lot,” he says. “The county tried to conform to the Growth Management Act, but the big economic pressure is from the banking industry, the developers, the homebuilders association, the real estate community. You are not going to regulate that. You’ve got to find another answer.”

Nash reverted to his real passion, hoping to set an example. “I didn’t want to be perceived as somebody always suing the county,” he explains. “I didn’t particularly enjoy spending all my time meeting with lawyers, fussing with the county about their codes. I wanted to be farming – that’s my heart, my love.” To change his tack, Nash invited the public to come spend a day on his farm. “The first Farm Day Celebration was a great success,” he recalls. “We had more people than we ever dreamed show up.” That 1996 event that began on Nash’s farm has grown to include many more farms west of the Cascades. The Western Washington Harvest Celebration Day is now observed in 12 counties and attracts some 20,000 visitors each year.

Nash was selling his organic produce through the local farmers’ market when his wife received an inheritance. The couple didn’t have much trouble deciding what to do with it. Nash recalls, “I said, we can leave this in stocks, or we can put it in what we believe in.” They invested the money in a packing shed and that got them rolling.

A long time participant in and organizer of farmers’ markets, Nash is a strong advocate of direct sales rather than commodity markets for farmers. “Not only do you need to have control of your price,” he explains, “you have to have a relationship with your customer. That’s why the farmers’ markets are so valuable, your customer tells you what they are looking for, what to grow, and how to grow it. This can give you a year or two lead on the big commercial operations.”

“For example,” he recalls, “our customers at the farmers’ market were saying, ‘Boy you guys grow good carrots, these are the best carrots I’ve ever eaten.’ Finally,” he laughs, “even as thick headed as I am, I heard that.” Nash contacted PCC Natural Markets, and in 1991 they agreed to try out his carrots. Other produce soon followed, and a great partnership began to take root, nourished by the fertile soil of the Dungeness River Valley.

PCC is the largest retail food co-op in the nation, with 40,000 members and seven stores in the Seattle area. PCC has historically been willing to back its suppliers of local and organic food with loans. But back when Nash called in 1999 to say that Delta Farm was being marketed for development, a bolder strategy emerged. That’s when PCC raised and borrowed the money needed to buy the land, and Nash now uses Delta Farm to train the next generation of organic farmers. He cultivates young farming interns who are willing to invest more than a summer. Nash says. “We’ve got the land, now we need the ideas and the people.”

Currently 25 to 30 people work with Nash on a 300-acre patchwork of parcels bordered by new housing in the Dungeness Valley. Along with produce, Nash raises hormone- and antibiotic-free pigs, seed for organic cover crops, and he is experimenting with poultry. Some of his acreage is devoted to providing habitat and food for non-paying consumers, such as migratory birds and the endangered Taylor's Checkerspot butterfly.

Nash spends his days shuttling between numerous pieces of leased land. “Basically my job is to drive around and talk,” he laughs. He gestures out over a green field dotted with workers: “With conservation easements on the land and what PCC did, there’s a future for these folks because we’ve actually saved the land. You don’t make enough money farming to be able to buy this land. The only way I’ve been able to put this farm together is by setting an example and convincing people to work with me on it.”

Since its purchase of the Delta Farm, the PCC Farmland Fund has subsequently saved several other parcels of farmland in Washington, and they aren’t through with the Dungeness Valley yet. In partnership with nine different state and local organizations, including the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, the Farmland Fund has helped create the Dungeness River Estuary Project. This collaborative effort aims to protect a mosaic of nearly 300 acres of farmland and wildlife habitat near the mouth of the Dungeness River, and to restore the river to its natural bed. Says Nash, “We want to see that land stay in agriculture, because it’s easier for a farmer to deal with a flood, than a bunch of houses.”

Contact
Dungeness Organic Produce
Nash Huber, Owner
Kia Kozun, Marketing Manager
1865 East Anderson Road
Sequim, WA 98382
Tel: 360-681-7458
Fax: 360-683-6807
nashsorganicgirl@yahoo.com
www.nashsorganicproduce.com