Recap of Skagit Valley Sustainability Influencer event

Around the end of July, growers from Skagit Valley hosted ten influencers from the greater Seattle area to help educate consumers on today’s farming practices and the difficulties farmers are facing with new regulations. We focused on five major topics that the influencers each tend to focus on in their platforms: generational farming, water, wildlife preservation, food shortages and supply chain issues.

When they arrived, the influencers were greeted and introduced to our team and growers, while eating delicious breakfast burritos – with potatoes, of course. We gave them a quick overview of the day and broke them up into smaller groups, so each grower had about three influencers with them. The growers were able to take the influencers to their farms and fields to talk a little about each of the five topics and answer questions from the guests. These influencers had submitted a bunch of questions in advance for a roundtable discussion that followed the tours. Questions ranged from environmental to family stories and memories. Influencers were taking notes, snapping pictures and absorbing everything. When the roundtable wrapped up around 3:45pm, the influencers continued to chat with the growers and snap more pictures before heading to dinner.

Dinner was at The Skagit Landing, a small farm to fork restaurant right on the runway. Chef Josie Urbick created some delicious meals for our guests, and we had the place to ourselves to continue to get to know the influencers. Dinner options included a steak with cheddar scalloped potatoes and chicken skewers with smashed red potatoes. The night came to an end close to 7 p.m., and folks headed home to begin working on the next stages.

Over the next few months, we will start to receive posts, blogs, and videos from the influencers about their experience at the event. This is a great way for us to reach a group of consumers that we typically couldn’t reach to not only educate them on farming, but the challenges farmers are facing today.

– Washington State Potato Commission