Regional groups work to rebuild NCW’s local food economy

From dry wheat fields blanketed across the rolling hills, to orchards scattered along the Columbia River, North Central Washington is a region of agricultural abundance. Yet, farmers and acreage are continuing to decline, while food insecurity reaches new heights.

“The thing that concerns me is we have a really fractured local food system right now that needs a lot of healing,” said Blue Sky Minds founder Maria Hines. “It needs everyone to pull together to rally behind our growers, and rally behind our community members that are experiencing food insecurity.”

Despite recording $360 million in agricultural products in the last U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) census, Okanogan County has been experiencing a decades-long decline in farms. According to the census, the number of farms in the county dropped by 15 percent between 2017 and 2022, with the amount of farming land reduced by 24 percent.

“Farming is getting tougher. It's tougher to make money,” said Blue Sky Minds founder Maria Hines. “Farmers are aging out. Land is getting expensive and small farms are being either bought up by large farms, so you have less farm owners, or it's turning into housing, and we lose that farmland.”

The decline of small and mid-sized farms has also eroded the local infrastructure needed to keep food in the region, such as processing, storing, distributing and selling directly to consumers. According to the 2022 USDA census, less than 10 percent of farms across Okanogan, Douglas and Chelan counties sold directly to consumers. With consolidated farms selling to larger, global markets, locally grown food is more likely to leave the region than reach its residents. According to the Okanogan County Community Action (OCCAC), over 30 percent of the region’s population relied on food assistance in 2024.

“We grow the food here, and then it has to get shipped someplace else to go get packaged…and then it comes back to us. So we're paying so much more for that food,” said Hines. “What would it look like if we had the right infrastructure here?”

Since 2022, Blue Sky Minds has been bringing local leaders to rebuild the local infrastructure needed to create an equitable, sustainable, and economically thriving food system across the Okanogan region, which includes the county and Colville Reservation.

“You're building these relationships, you're building that trust, you're building up the communication, you're building that muscle to collaborate and to share,” said Hines.

Blue Sky Minds facilitates the Okanogan Region Food Council, a 155-member coalition representing farmers, Tribal members, academia, public health, land conservation, and local agencies focused on regional collaboration, policy alignment, and community-led planning.

“It takes time to collaborate, but it also saves a ton of money, because you're not reinventing the wheel,” said Nancy Warner, advisory group member to the NCW Food Council.

Over the years, the nonprofit has partnered with Tribal-led organizations to revitalize Inchelium Red Garlic, a culturally important local Indigenous food, as part of a regional effort to increase Tribal food sovereignty.

In order to boost local food supply, it has also helped coordinate a gleaning network that rescues surplus produce from local farms and distributes it across food pantries. The group has also coordinated with Leavenworth-based nonprofit Upper Valley MEND’s gleaning program, which has been able to share excess gleaned produce with Okanogan pantries.

“That's a resource right there that we have that was just shared, that we wouldn't know that we had. So, you're creating abundance by getting people together,” said Hines.

The Okanogan Region Food Council has been a catalyst for a new broader regional effort. This February the NCW Food Council, with support from Thriving Together NCW, will meet for the first time, bringing together stakeholders from the Colville Reservation and Okanogan, Ferry, Grant, Douglas and Chelan counties.

“We all have shared challenges,” said Hines. “When we all put our minds together and we all put our resources together, we see that we have a lot more together than if we're trying to do it separately, county by county.”

Around 2010, the Initiative for Rural Innovation & Stewardship (IRIS) made similar strides, bringing together stakeholders to examine the region’s food systems. While the challenges still remain, Warner said interest and awareness have grown.

“I think we're more aware of how vulnerable our food systems are,” said Warner. “I think the interest in being able to find your food closer to home has grown.”

With more partners involved, a holistic approach, and the ability to meet virtually, Warner is hopeful the council will build the capacity necessary to find solutions.

“The food council is nested under this much larger umbrella of fostering wellness in our region,” said Warner. “The context has really changed. That's a real benefit and an asset when you're trying to do something system wide.”

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media