I've been to an open house and a public meeting about the county's community wind ordinance, and I'm going to the County Council's meeting this afternoon (see you there at 2). I regret missing the last meeting, reported in Monday's Daily Record, because it sounds like there was a misunderstanding I could have helped with.
The misunderstanding has to do with the use of the word "sustainable" near the word "agriculture" in a particular sentence of the county's application to be named an Innovation Partnership Zone, or IPZ.
Properly used, the term "sustainable agriculture" refers to agriculture that is profitable, conserves soil, and uses pesticides carefully. I think we can all agree that those are all good things, and that it's always possible to be making improvements. The good news is, Kittitas County agriculture scores almost 100% on all three components.
What most people in Kittitas County don't realize is that we ALREADY have some of the most sustainable agriculture possible. Our most profitable crop is hay, and the great thing about hay is that it is grown on the same ground for several years. This reduces tillage to zero for most fields most years, and also almost eliminates the need for pesticides.
Kittitas County agriculture is an amazing success story, and news of this needs to be spread around. The IPZ proposal was just using words to make a rhetorical point, and it's unfortunate that that caused upset.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Regarding the Community Wind Energy System ordinance that went down in a 3 to 0 vote by the commishes, I have been associated with the effort to craft and ordinance on this subject for over a year and I can confidently say that the rural land sales and over development crowd are still the ones calling the shots. What a shame, they just don't learn and when they don't learn, it's at OUR EXPENSE!
ReplyDelete