Over the past few decades, however, much of the county’s best farmland has become impacted by poor field drainage, and the threat has been compounded by rapid urbanization, which increases stormwater runoff. Our aim is to enable more farmers to participate in the King County Agricultural Drainage Assistance Program (ADAP) through a combination of technical assistance and matching grants. Improved field drainage will increase productivity by extending the growing season, enabling the planting of higher value crops, and expanding grazing for livestock. Improved drainage will also provide an opportunity for increased agricultural employment, enhance local food production, and contribute to the continued growth, vitality and resilience of local agriculture. KCD’s Program Coordinator facilitates farmer participation in agricultural drainage projects in collaboration with King County and construction contractors. King County’s ADAP provides project engineering and design, permitting, fish relocation as needed, silt control, and post-construction buffer planting. KCD assists farmers with construction costs and project oversight. Our goal is to improve at least 4,000 linear feet of agricultural drainage channels per year.

If there are more farmer requests for matching grants than funds available, KCD will rank projects using the following criteria:
- Increased acres in food production
- Increased productivity of current commercial farms
- Multiple farms benefited
- Total acreage impacted
- Cost/benefit ratio of linear feet to acres drained
- Farmer committed to project implementation and maintenance.