Farmland

Working to preserve farmland, increase food production acreage, and meet farmer needs for flooding management and access to water.

Over the past half century total farmland acreage has steadily declined across King County from approximately 150,000 acres in the mid-1900s to less than 40,000 acres in 2017.

In 2017, a comprehensive Agricultural Land Use Survey was conducted to better understand current agricultural production. The survey found an overall increase in the total acres farmed since 2013, and approximately 2,300 more acres in food production than in 2013. While some of the gains in food production acres may be the result of improved data collection, particularly in the areas outside of the Agricultural Production Districts, other gains appear to have come from a decrease in land farmed for non-food uses and a decrease in acreage previously considered unfarmable.

King County remains committed to achieving the LFI goal of 400 net new acres in food production each year. In 2017, King County and partners launched the Working Farmland Partnership, which works with landowners to put their farmable land into production and with farmers to find the right properties for their businesses.

Related data

Note: Active farmland data from field surveys conducted in 2013 and 2017. “Food” represents those acres farmed directly or indirectly (e.g., hay) for food production. “Non-food” represents farmed land devoted to horses, sod production, and plant nurseries.