Strawberry fields, for research: A beloved family farm northeast of Ferndale will be transformed into an agricultural research station supporting the area’s small farms, with the Port of Bellingham’s plan to buy the land and establish the lab.
Many in the Whatcom farming community are welcoming the Port of Bellingham’s plans to buy and transform a beloved family farm into the Whatcom Agricultural Research Station, a place where researchers and growers can study and develop ways to help small farms stay ahead of the game amid growing uncertainty over the future of the industry.
Last month, Whatcom County council members unanimously greenlit the port’s request for a $933,000 loan and a $1.966 million grant to purchase the $3.3 million Boxx Berry Farm, one of Ferndale’s top destinations for families and friends with a craving for berries and ice cream.
To owners Mike and Crystal Boxx, who look forward to traveling and spending more time with their grandchildren once the port seals the deal by Oct. 1, the research station is an exciting addition to the community.
This outdoor lab will be managed by the three-month-old Whatcom Food and Farming Station, a nonprofit led by farmers from different areas of agriculture, according to treasurer and secretary Dakota Stranik.
The 58.81-acre property will be divided into plots that researchers can lease to work on projects that have been approved by the station’s board of directors, she said.
One of these prospective tenants is Thomas Walters, a private researcher and owner of Walters Ag Research.
Collecting berries and data
The morning of June 5, with funding from the Washington Blueberry Commission, Walters visited the Cascade Blueberry Farm in Custer to test different treatments for blueberry bushes and collect some data.
Just a few steps into a lush corridor, he spotted one of the unwanted intruders: a shriveled brown leaf hanging from a pale white shoot, only visible to the untrained eye upon close inspection.
Walters, a berry specialist with over 30 years of research experience, has dealt with this abnormality before. It was the mummy berry, a fungal disease that he said is quite common in the berry industry.
“The most obvious symptom of the disease is that, instead of ripening and getting nice and blue and tasty, the berries shrivel up and become white, kind of like a mummy, and they fall off,” he said.
Though infected berries are not dangerous to humans, they are inedible and unsellable; at the same time, the fungus responsible for the disease — known as monilinia — produces a color and smell that attract pollinators, whose bodies act as the perfect mode of transportation for infectious spores, Walters said.
In just a few weeks, he will inspect the bushes for another common fungus, botrytis, which he said causes berries to rot and is harder to control.
Armed with his “backpack CO2 sprayer,” Walters tested 11 different treatments to eventually determine which works best — an effort that researchers must carry out repeatedly over the years to keep up with the adaptable nature of fungi.
‘Agriculture in general in Whatcom County needs all the help
it can get right now. The future is uncertain, and a lot of the
success in farming is really contingent on adaptation and growth.’
Kevin Maddux, who has owned the 16-acre farm and roadside stand for 40 years, is happy to offer some of his 10,000 bushes to Walters’ effort, hoping that the findings will help small farmers like himself stay in business in the face of investment firms buying up farmland and big farms growing bigger.
“I’m just a small farm. Basically, I’ve been kind of forced to the side,” he said. “I’m doing what I can just to sell what I can roadside.”
While many growers agree on the importance of research, Walters said finding available farmland can be a challenge as some owners worry about the risk of adverse effects on production. For organic growers, the fear often revolves around the potential loss of their certification if any non-organic treatments are applied.
The Whatcom Agricultural Research Station would provide a solution to this, making scientists less reliant on the generosity of the few growers who can afford to let part of their crops be experimented with.
Though he said he is sad to see Mike and Crystal Boxx go, Maddux believes the new station will be an asset to the farming community.
“Without research, we won’t progress, and we won’t be able to feed people,” he said.
Whatcom’s berries, particularly raspberries, are a big deal.
Henry Bierlink, executive director of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, described the genetic varieties of the county’s raspberries as “the envy of the world.” Yet, when it comes to costs, the industry has a hard time competing with foreign growers.
“Land costs, labor costs are all much higher here than (for) some of our competitors around the world,” he said, adding water accessibility as another significant hurdle.
To overcome these challenges, raspberries not only need to taste and look better, but they also need to better adapt to climate change, resist pests and diseases and be machine harvestable, he said.
The pursuit of profitable, world-class raspberries is what sparked the idea of bringing an agricultural research station to Whatcom County, where Bierlink said the great majority of the state’s raspberries are grown within 50 miles of Lynden, emphasizing the need for research fields close to the most productive area.
In the original plans, the new venue was meant to house WSU’s raspberry plant breeding program — where the raspberry commission endowed a professorship in genetics and raspberry breeding — which would be transferred from its original location in Puyallup where, Bierlink said, raspberry farming is no longer as common.
This vision was later expanded to provide research land for all areas of local agriculture, as the Whatcom Food and Farming Station’s board of directors wrote in a letter of support shared with the county.
Whatcom’s agricultural industry is in fact valued at over $350 million, with more than 1,400 farms in the dairy, raspberry and blueberry industries that employ over 1,700 people and produce $959 million in annual food processing gross sales, according to Port of Bellingham Economic Development Director Tyler Schroeder.
Fred Likkel, executive director of the Whatcom Family Farmers, wrote in another letter of support that bringing the research station into the heart of Whatcom County’s farmland would allow the farmers of today and tomorrow to witness first-hand the work that goes into developing innovative solutions. At the same time, Walters pointed out, researchers working on different projects could also see and learn from each other’s work.
Stranik said she is excited about the research station’s potential to bring the farming community together, as well as to raise awareness among nonfarmers who live in the city and are less connected with local producers.
To Stranik, agriculture represents a large part of Whatcom County’s identity and economy, and as such, it must be supported.
“Agriculture in general in Whatcom County needs all the help it can get right now,” Stranik said. “The future is uncertain, and a lot of the success in farming is really contingent on adaptation and growth.”
A bittersweet goodbye
Since Bill and Charlene Boxx bought the farm in 1960, the Boxx Berry Farm has been the place where their children and grandchildren grew up, made lifelong friendships, worked side by side and learned the value of hard work, Mike Boxx wrote in an email.
The farm started off by producing raspberries, growing over the years to include more fruits and vegetables. But on top of this, he wrote, what made the farm special was the experience it offered.
“Whether it was kids picking their own fruit for the first time, eating that ice cream cone on a warm summer day or families just spending a sunny afternoon on the farm, there was something for everyone,” he wrote. “We love seeing children (and adults) learn where their food comes from and watching families make memories out in the berry fields.”
In hopes of retiring, the Boxx children put the farm up for sale in 2019, but as no one showed interest, Mike and Crystal bought the remaining interest from Roger and Kevin Boxx. With the port now planning to buy the property and their retirement days getting closer, saying goodbye feels bittersweet, but also right.
“It’s time to slow down a bit, enjoy retirement and look back with gratitude on everything that the farm has given us,” he said, before addressing readers:
“Please remember to support your local farms and farmers. We rely on all of you to keep going!”
— By Luisa Loi
Also read in Salish Current:
• “Celebrating alternative agriculture: the 50th anniversary for Tilth,” Nov. 14, 2024
• “In touch with the Earth: there’s more than marketing behind ‘organic’ labels,” Dec. 20, 2023
• “Who will farm to feed the people?” Oct. 28, 2022
• “Seed swaps strengthen community — and improve produce,” March 18, 2022