Photovoice: a tool for agriculture engagement in resilience planning

Puget Sound is home to 17 major river systems. These rivers and floodplains are our region's lifeblood. They are home to our salmon, our tribal partners, our cities and our farmers. Developing an integrated approach that supports these multiple interests, builds thriving communities and resilient floodplain systems. Snohomish County has adopted this multi-benefit approach through the Sustainable Lands Strategy (SLS). SLS is an innovative approach to achieve net gains for fish, farms and flood-risk reduction. As part of SLS, the Snohomish Conservation District is leading an agriculture resilience planning effort. The Agriculture Resilience Plan fills a key gap in better understanding the needs of the farming community and to help farmers plan for future changes and climate change impacts. As part of the Agriculture Resilience planning, a series of four workshops were conducted, where farmers responded to three questions - 'Why is agriculture important to our community', 'What are the major challenges facing agriculture?' and 'What opportunities or vision do you have for the future?' Farmers used their own photos to capture their thoughts and feelings in response to these questions. Through group discussions, farmers selected their top three photos and wrote a caption that addressed their most pressing issue impacting their lives and community. Additionally, Photovoice enabled us to engage a diverse set of farming interests, including women-owned, organic and small farms. Through a photo exhibition, these farmers hope to highlight some of the most pressing issues facing agriculture. The Photovoice themes will support the strategies for the Agriculture Resilience plan and allows local decision makers to see the issues through the eyes of the farmers. This presentation will focus on the Photovoice process, highlight the photo exhibition and describe how the themes and community-driven solutions are influencing planning, science and policy.