This page provides information and programs primarily for farmers in King County, Washington. For information about gardening and yard care in the Puget Sound area, please visit our Northwest Yard and Garden page.

Puget Sound Fresh
Add your farm to our growing, searchable database of farms, crops and products to reach a very large market. King County created Puget Sound Fresh to support local farmers and insure a close-in food supply while encouraging consumers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants to seek out and purchase higher-quality, fresher, locally-grown products.

Agriculture Program
A program to help preserve prime agricultural soils, support environmentally friendly techniques, and promote King County agriculture in general.

Permits - Agricultural Buildings
Find guidance on requirements that govern building barns, greenhouses, shops, and other utility structures on agricultural lands.

Snoqualmie Flood-Farm Task Force Report
Provides finding and recommended mechanisms to help Snoqualmie Valley farms that get periodically flooded, in ways that maintain good floodplain management and continue salmon recovery in the lower Snoqualmie River.

King County Climate Change Plan
How King County seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to projected climate change impacts, and embed mitigation and adaptation into county policy decisions. The plan incorporates agriculture-related goals and actions.

Agriculture breakout session results, King County Climate Change Conference
Review a summary report describing anticipated affects of global warming on agriculture in King County and Washington State with proposed mitigation and adaptation strategies. Also, look up the agriculture session agenda, presentations, and speaker credentials and biographies.

Noxious Weed Control Program
Aggressive exotic plants degrade pastures, may poison livestock, and produce amazing volumes of long-lived seeds. To help control invasive weeds, King County offers a Noxious Weed List site to help with weed identification, a form to report noxious weed infestations, and information sheets on best methods to control noxious weeds -- and is available to answer your questions at the Noxious Weed line, 206-296-0290.

King County Agriculture Commission
Sign up for a newsletter to keep abreast of land use issues, policies, regulations and incentives affecting commercial agriculture in King County.

Food and Farms, WSU King County Cooperative Extension (external link)
Find educational and agriculture management programs for farmers including commercial horticulture and livestock, courtesy of WSU/King County Cooperative Extension and funded in part by King County Water and Land Resources Division.

Livestock Program
A program that supports the Livestock Management Ordinance, a King County ordinance intended to provide a buffer of safety to keep salmon-bearing streams free of pollution. Provides information and an application for cost-sharing of fencing, storage, and other potential expenses to help farmers embrace good stewardship practices.

Manure Management
Provides help on handling manure to avoid contaminating lakes and streams.

Farm Management Plan
Learn how to achieve agricultural benefits such as reduced livestock setbacks from streams, siting of agricultural buildings or access roads in stream and wetland buffers, and how to get exceptions to county clearing and grading permits while still protecting everyone's enviroment.

Washington Farmlink
This program helps farmland owners link up with beginning farmers and farm managers who have the knowledge and desire to farm, but not the land.

Agricultural Drainage Assistance Program
Also known as the Fish & Ditch Program, this program provides technical and financial help to farmers working to maintain agricultural watercourses. The site provides an overview of the program, monitoring reports, maps of streams and ditches, and contact information.

Farmland Preservation Program
A voluntary program enabling farmers to sell the development rights on existing King County farmlands in exchange for its long-term preservation from sprawling development.

Transfer of Development Rights Program
A voluntary program enabling landowners to buy and sell residential development rights on private property to preserve public benefits in our rapidly growing region-- for example farms, forestlands, open space, regional trails and designated urban separator lands and habitat for threatened or endangered species. Owners benefit financially through the transfer of development rights to better locations while the public benefits through permanent preservation of critical lands.

Biosolids Program
Biosolids are the nutrient-rich, composted solids extracted during wastewater treatment. This page provides information about biosolids and the biosolids program, answers questions about quality control and safety, and provides case studies of biosolids use and chemical analysis for fertilizer applications in commercial agriculture.

King County Working Resource Lands
Look up forests and farms protected by King County as working resource lands. The natural lands site provides pictures, location maps and rules for public use.

Wetland Topics
Information about wetlands, wetland plants and wildlife, development and mitigation rules, and educational programs from King County.

Flooding Topics
Information about local flooding including the King County Flood Warning System, flood buyouts and other programs, how to call in drainage complaints, and hydrologic data.

For questions about the Department of Natural Resources and Parks Website, please contact Fred Bentler, webmaster.

Updated: May 2, 2008

Related Information:

King County Home and Farm

King County Environmental Links

Rural Services - Agriculture and Forestry