I feel King County has missed a huge opportunity in not selecting Seattle Tilth’s proposal for the Tall Chief property (Back to the Farm, Nov. 18) instead of the Keller dairy proposal.

King County has done an excellent job with the 2014 Local Food Initiative which supports increasing the amount of local food grown and the development of new farmers in the county and I totally support the goals of that initiative.

The sale of the property to the Keller dairy, however, does not meet the goals of the initiative. Selling the property to the dairy reduces the feed costs of an already large operation and does not increase local food production at all. It also does not aid in the development of future farmers, aside from the Keller family children.

The Tilth proposal would have grown organic food for the people in King County, not feed for dairy cows. Tilth’s farm incubator program would have helped train future farmers who could later add to the amount of local food production in the Valley and elsewhere in King County. They scored significantly higher in the selection criteria on this point as well as in education opportunities.

Keeping in the spirit of the local food initiative the county would have been much better off selecting Seattle Tilth to receive this property.

Tim Harris

Fall City