One thing I've learned from my grandfather, you know, years back in seventh grade, and
I still take with me today, is if you want something nice, take care of something that
you have.
And if you don't take care of the nice things you have, you probably won't have much of
anything that's nice.
And so I think sustainable agriculture and Viva is working based in common sense, you
know, to take care of the beauty and the farming community that is here in Skagit County.
You know, since 1940, Skagit County has lost almost 40% of its farmland.
That's a big chunk in 70 years.
So another 70 years from now, what does that look like?
Do we lose another 40% or can we keep a status quo or maybe move it in the other direction
potentially?
You know, the average age of a farmer here in Skagit County and across the nation is
58.
You know, in the next 20 years, it's estimated that 70% of farms will change hands.
And if there aren't farmers willing to take on and kind of pass that torch and move forward,
you know, what happens to that farmland and where does our food come from?
So, you know, here locally, again, it's an issue, but it's an issue nationally.
An awful lot of people here, who've seen that farm stand down there for years have no idea
that the 30 acres behind that farm stand is all part of Viva Farms.
And they don't know what a small farm business incubator is.
You know, what is an incubator, why the incubator?
Part of the reason is that, you know, to be a successful farmer and a successful farm
business owner, the skill set that you need to have is just extremely, extremely wide.
You know, you have to be a soil scientist, you have to be a botanist, you have to be
an irrigation expert, an equipment operator, you have to be a mechanic, salesperson, marketer,
accountant, and all of that, you know, while navigating a fairly complex and changing regulatory
framework around food safety, around, you know, certifications, organic certification.
And so it's a huge challenge to have someone who is capable in all of those skill sets.
So part of the incubator is that this is a place where folks can develop some of those
skills while they're here on site.
Another aspect of the incubator is just that time.
It's allowing people to develop their business in a measured way, to develop a customer base,
to develop a brand, to build relationships with different markets.
And so over time they can really hone in on those crops that are most profitable for them
or the crops that make the most sense with their production.
There are folks that are passionate about being the next generation of farmers.
To help all of us, you know, kind of solve this problem into the future of who is going
to be our farmer and where does our food come from.
And you know, over seven years of experience and thousands of hours of research has brought
us to the fact that there are, you know, several essentials that, you know, without farmers
won't be successful.
So you know, the basics are training, which we offer, extensive bilingual training, land,
infrastructure, so greenhouses, wash pack stations, high tunnels, you know, coolers,
you know, refrigeration, things of that nature.
Also equipment for the tractors and the implements, capital.
So funding to actually start businesses and you know, most businesses need some capital
to get started and also markets.
So we have a wholesale market that we operate and we also have a retail market to operate.
So you know, that combination, training, land, infrastructure, equipment, capital, and markets
are really the essentials that farmers need to actually be economically viable.
Yeah, yeah, really just like lift it, so it's in there, good, they are.
As much as possible of getting, you know, getting to like all the, so yeah.
To new this year in 2016 is a three quarter, nine month long land based training program
on site here at Viva Farms that's accredited through Skagit Valley College.
From sowing seeds and crop planning all the way through harvest and sales and then kind
of looking back at the year and doing financial analysis and figuring out how to do better.
After I've done that and after I've done this class, then I'm able to lease some land here
on Viva Farms and I'll be doing that next season.
Our staff will help, will help give, you know, diagnose problems in the field from production
issues, quality issues, and then everything from to post harvest management, you know,
how to pack a box, what the, what the customer wants and kind of what, what market standards
are.
So the one on one technical assistance is, is, is really huge.
Gosh, our variety of farmers here, we have 12 farm business, eight of our businesses are
Latino owned and as far as I know, they were all former farm workers.
But we also have beginning farmers who are, who are young beginning farmers and we have
some not so young beginning farmers.
You get that experience and that knowledge that goes along with years of, you know, CL
so like Mauricio's years of being a farmer for, so he's able to pass down a lot of what
he's learned to us, that's really cool.
The way we were doing things, my grandfathers and, and, and you know, it's nothing wrong
with that, but now it's different, you know, weather has been changing and there's new
equipment, there's new paths.
So that means you need new techniques.
Wow, that's 20 pounds.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to believe.
So for the year, it's really important for us to get out here and with the community
and try to sell products and, you know what I mean, bring fresh fruit to the area and
let people know what we're doing here.
So they know it's an educational program and that we are trying to move entrepreneurs
into the new market, you know, farming is so special in the valley and, and farmers
were getting hard to come by for the public to come here and be able to see and hear our
story and know exactly what we're doing and the farmers that are involved in doing it.
You know, I think it's very important to the community.
If we were to buy, say an old dairy or something like that, you know, a big old barn and empty
fields and here there's a wash and pack station already built.
There's greenhouses, there's two or three tractors with equipment that is set up for
vegetable production.
Vegetable production is fairly specific when you want to be on a larger scale than one
or two acres.
You need quite a bit of specialized equipment.
We really tried to put a focus on making sure we're paying good attention to the business
side of things as well.
I mean, I think it's, it can be potentially easy to grow a lot of food, but if you don't
have the business side figured out to be a solvent business, that's, you're not going
to succeed in the long run.
And so I think some of the business planning classes and cash flow workshops and things
like that have also been equally important and we probably both benefited from, from
some of those.
We will offer workshops throughout the season that are open to everyone, not just Viva farmers.
Oh, we also, our training program is sort of in the context of sustainable farming.
We are a certified organic farm and there's a couple reasons for that.
You know, one is environmental stewardship and sustainability, we take that seriously.
And so we want to make sure that we're preserving our natural resources and that we're building
healthy soil.
So sustainability, both, you know, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability
for small farm businesses is the focus of ours.
It's important to me because I believe in community and I believe that all of us have
something to give and that we're all valuable and, you know, one of the pieces that Viva
touches is the social disadvantage group of folks.
So we do everything we do bilingually and we give an opportunity to folks that are Spanish
speakers that otherwise might not have the opportunity to move from, you know, farm
workers to farm ownership and, and more control of their own destiny.
And they're very, very capable of being successful farm owners with the right tools.
And so I am passionate about giving people the tools to be successful.
Me ayudaba en hacer los papeles o, y también ayudar sobre las ventas, abrimos varios mercadeos.
Entonces, y eso fue lo que me ayudó a mí para, para vender todo lo que yo sempraba.
Entonces, eso es una parte de la ayuda que yo recibí de aquí, de Viva.
Y ahora, pues, gracias a Dios, que poco a poco fui escalando, entonces, y esto también
me hizo comprar toda, o sea, lo que ya tengo, lo que es mi tractor, las, los implementos,
pero lo estoy haciendo poco a poco.
Entonces, esto es una, una parte de las herramientas que voy a, cuando yo esté un poquito más,
pero vamos a ver si Dios me da vida, me da licencia a seguir con esto y llegar mi sueño.
We're limited by land, you know, this, this last year, 2016 is the first year that we've
ever been, we've ever been full, so all of our land is, is in production and being rented
out to farmers, which is, which is great.
But again, it begs the question of, okay, what's, what's the next step?
And you know, we are actively looking for, for a bigger land base, you know, the organization
is growing and we have more demand than we've ever had, which is wonderful because we can,
you know, we can help support more farmers and help grow more farm businesses and that's,
that's our mission.
So we're getting to the scale where we can actually really be having an impact, which
is, which is thrilling.
We have a lot of momentum now and it's very exciting to see where we're going and I, I
don't see it as a, as a thing of, oh, well, we did this and we're done.
I, I think we're just going to keep getting better, our infrastructure is going to improve,
we'll, we'll build more capacity and really become a, a, a training program that, that
is significant and that people know about.
You know, what we're driving towards is where do we go from here and how do we ensure that,
you know, a hundred years from now, there's still enough farmland and not that there's
just farmland, but it's fertile farmland that can sustain agricultural practices and, and
feeding the people that live here a hundred years from now.
So the pro, our proposition is not a one year proposition.
It's a hundred year plus proposition.
So we can do this with the farmers knowledge that have been farming here for a hundred
plus years, the local ag organizations that are here and committed to sustaining agriculture
and of course the passionate beginning farmers.
We can create a sustainable agricultural community here for all of us to be nourished from for
generations to come.
You know, just, just do it with love, just do it with love and, and you'll be success.
There's no way to fail if you do it with love.
Yeah.
Very nice.
Very nice.
Probably.
True?
Yeah.
It's funny.
It's funny.
You
