For a little more than a decade before we retired, we made regular trips to the Pacific Northwest. Our son and his wife moved to Washington after he completed his graduate studies. The birth of grandchildren increased the attraction for us to visit as often as possible. One of the things we enjoyed about our visits was the opportunity to purchase fresh fruit from farmers’ markets. After several trips, we discovered a few stands that became our favorites. A trip west usually involved picking up supplies of apples, apricots, peaches, and pears. Most of the time, we’d add a flat of berries, depending on the timing of our visit. The eastern slopes of the Cascades have many fruit orchards, and roadside stands offer opportunities to buy fresh fruit.

Since moving to Washington, we have made it a practice to take an annual trip over the mountains to buy peaches, apples, and other fruits. When it comes to berries, however, we don’t have far to drive. The climate and soil where we now live are just right for growing berries. We have a productive cherry tree in our backyard that allows us to fill our freezer each summer. We have a strawberry patch in our yard that is in its first year, but yielded excellent fruit this year and promises increased harvests in years to come. Our son’s farm has established strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry patches. And we don’t have to drive far to find berry farms with roadside stands.

The majority of the state’s raspberries are grown within 50 miles of our home. Multiple berry farms grow strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries within 10 miles of our house. We have found the you-pick farms to offer great prices for fruit. A while ago, we picked about 35 pounds of strawberries in less than an hour, including our time driving. Today we plan to return to the same farm to pick raspberries.

According to one definition, we live in a food desert because of the distance from our home to a supermarket that sells fresh food. While access to fresh food is a serious problem for many, the term doesn’t apply to us. There are fresh fruits and vegetables available in small grocery stores close to our home, and we don’t need a chain supermarket to obtain fresh, nutritious food. More importantly, we live in an area filled with small farms producing fresh food. For example, we get our eggs from the chickens at our son’s farm. We don’t have to go to the store for them. We grow fresh herbs, salad greens, and tomatoes in our yard. And we can pick berries a short drive from home.

Recently, it was announced that the berry farm where we plan to go today has been sold. Owners Mike and Crystal Boxx are looking forward to retiring, traveling, and spending more time with their grandchildren. We understand the sentiment. The good news for us in the area, however, is that the purchaser of the farm is the local port authority. It has been announced that the farm will become the Whatcom Agricultural Research Station, dedicated to studying and developing ways to help small farms thrive. The 50-acre outdoor lab will continue to produce berries. Research at the farm, conducted by Western Washington University, the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, and other institutions, will help local farmers discover ways to manage pests and diseases that affect the berries. Although the farm may no longer be a place for people to come and harvest berries to take home, the research conducted there will support other area berry farms. We are fortunate to have multiple farms that offer you-pick berries close to our house.

Agriculture is a constantly changing business. For much of the United States, small family farms are being squeezed out by larger corporate farms. The scale of grain and cattle production in the areas where I have lived for most of my life continues to grow. Contemporary farms and ranches are comprised of what once were multiple family farms. Farmers need to have millions of dollars worth of equipment to manage square miles of land. And they do not control the prices of the seeds and fertilizers they need, nor the prices they will receive for the food they produce. They are subject to significant fluctuations in the market. The current trade war poses a substantial threat to large-scale agriculture in the United States. There have been significant shifts in the international grain markets, which are likely to result in crops in the field not being harvested because the cost of harvesting exceeds the price farmers can obtain for crops such as corn and wheat. Corn appears to be especially vulnerable to foreign buyers shifting away from US products.

However, here in the narrow patch of land between the Cascade Mountains and the Salish Sea, small farms remain viable. Berries are among the crops that support small-scale organic farming. A small farm can produce enough income to support a family. And those of us who are not engaged in production agriculture can benefit from living near farms that produce fresh food for roadside stands and farmers’ markets.

Our Fourth of July celebration included a fresh cherry pie made from cherries we grew in our backyard. We’ve got cherries and strawberries in the freezer to provide months of treats. Today we’ll pick raspberries to add to the bounty. Blueberries are not far away.

Unlike the grain markets, the fruit markets, at least in our area, offer more local control. Berry farmers set the prices they charge for their goods. Of course, they have to compete with other producers, but they can consider the cost of production when setting prices for the food they produce. With a local customer base, they are less subject to the pressures of tariffs and trade wars. Selling food to neighbors is a more straightforward process.

When the cost of transportation is eliminated through local sales, more of the money we pay for food goes to the people who grow it, enabling them to continue producing the food we need.