Sun. Rain. Wind. Hail. Snow. Drought. Floods. Tariffs. Pests. Payroll. Taxes. Regulations.
If this sounds like the beginning of a dystopian novel, that is what farming sometimes feels like in the vast agriculture industry. This noble industry, the one that feeds the country, is vital. Whatcom County alone hosts over 1,500 farms, covering over 100,000 acres, providing milk and dairy products, along with fruits, tree nuts, and berries. Nearby Skagit County is not far behind with nearly 900 farms producing vegetable seed crops, berries, livestock and poultry, and more tulip and daffodil bulbs than any other place in the nation.
Farming Under Pressure
What could go wrong?
A lot. And the extraordinary stress experienced by the people engaged in agriculture is commonly recognized as a risk factor. “Farming is really difficult,” says Maddy Vanderkooy, who coordinates a program for Washington State University that offers a way to gather, talk about the stressors, and discover solutions. Vanderkooy grew up on a dairy farm, now under third-generation family management. She saw the challenges of everything from family relationships to finances to how little people talked about their struggles, so being part of the helping community is personal to her.
A Slice of Connection
Now throw in pizza.
For the last six years, an innovative program has been offering a path for people to gather and talk. Pizza is the magic ingredient to bringing them together. Pizza4Producers is a showpiece program. It’s led by Don McMoran, Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at WSU and Director of WSU’s Extension program. McMoran, from a four-generation farming family, is aware of how much is needed to keep a farm running.
“Once a month,” he says, speaking of his upbringing, “there used to be a ham breakfast at the Fredonia Grange. I noticed that my parents were able to interact with other farmers, talk about what was happening on other farms and, when we left, they were in a pretty good mood.”
That made McMoran realize that we don’t talk that much to each other anymore, so he started thinking about how to recreate that collegial community for farmers. Then the Bread Lab at WSU built a wood-fired pizza oven from an old WW II Anti-Submarine Buoy and started making pizzas using local Cairnsprings Mills flour, as well as locally produced ingredients for sauce and toppings.
Extension programs make information available to the public in agriculture, creating partnerships to research, disseminate, and instruct. It has a long and valuable history, dating back to the mid-1800s.
For an event to recognize the major anniversary of Extension programs, the Bread Lab made 100 pizzas, and McMoran saw the farmers not only gravitate to the food. Who wouldn’t!? They loved the wood-fired pizza oven, and the pizza was great, but the farmers were talking about their issues just the way his parents’ generation at the Grange breakfast used to do. “They seemed happier than when they had shown up,” said McMoran.
Not only that, but there was also a lot of pride from growers who would notice it was flour made from wheat they had grown, or squash or tomatoes they had planted, as a topping on the pizza.
Turning Conversation Into Support
From that, an entire program was created that includes sharing information about challenges and ways to find solutions, about mental health counseling programs, and the obvious but sometimes elusive power of just talking to someone with the same problems. The concept was to take the pizza oven to events where farmers gathered. They hoped, in the beginning, to do one event a year. Now, Pizza4Producers gets a request a week, is spreading across Washington, and as far as California, Montana, Colorado, and soon, Wyoming.
It isn’t always easy to talk about problems. One of the huge success factors around Pizza4Producers is that food is a natural conversation starter. In this case, farmers might start out finding out how to make great pizza, how to build their own pizza ovens, but soon gravitate to sharing stories about what’s happening on their farms with climate change, regulations, or any other number of issues.
“It’s huge for farmers to realize they are not alone, that we’re in this together,” says Vanderkooy. “We’re seeing the same stressors, and now we’re seeing a shift. Before it wasn’t being talked about; now it is, and nine times out of ten, farmers discover their neighbors are going through the same thing.”
Making the services available and accessible is another big slice of this program. A voucher program offers six free counseling sessions for farmers and farm families through WSU. After the six sessions, an affordable sliding-scale fee is offered.
Recognizing you are not alone is a giant step forward. Providing resources and ways forward is another big step. Pairing that with pizza; that’s a real recipe for success.
Reach out to Pizza4Producers here.
Learn to make pizza dough at home here.
Find local farm stands here.
