La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

I had a conversation this week that lingers in my thoughts. It was with one of our popular local young farmers. She and her husband rent their farmland and live in a rented house that is only affordable due to family connections and the generosity of the landowners. She admitted they are vulnerable. If the owner of the land they lease for farming chose to develop or sell, they’re not sure they could afford to continue farming. They’re not in a position to purchase a home of their own because the prices in Skagit Valley have skyrocketed. Even average rentals are beyond their reach due to the es...