Thank you to everyone who attended our 2022 Annual Member Meeting!
Attended by 37 members and Washington cheese supporters, the meeting was held online from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2022. This was the second year in a row that the meeting was held over Zoom, due in large part to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting agenda included a welcome to the outgoing board of directors, a treasurer’s report, and a presentation introducing our 2021 USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant project, followed by committee updates, and general announcements–including the results of this year’s Board of Directors election. (Congratulations to Lorrie Conway [Conway Family Farms, Camas] and Patti Fantello [Fantello Farmstead, Enumclaw] for your election to the BOD!)
This year’s meeting also featured two special guest speakers. First up was Jessica Gigot, owner of Harmony Fields (Bow) and member of the WASCA BOD. Jessica spoke about a funded research study she conducted on her farm that showed benefits to soil health regeneration for potato farmers who lease their out-of-rotation fields for sheep grazing.
The second speaker was Nathan Stacey, Farm Director for the Tilth Alliance. Nathan, whose background is in soil science, introduced himself and the Tilth Alliance before moving on to talk about soil science, regenerative agriculture, and where cow dairies fit in that conversation.
Slideshows from the meeting’s presentations are posted near the bottom of our Resources page. There is also a recording of the meeting available for viewing on YouTube.