Small to midlevel farmers in Washington state look stronger than ever despite spiking oil and food prices. Traditionally muscled out by large agribusinesses ? whose capital, infrastructure and federal commodity subsidies enable them to sell to big players like supermarkets, hospitals and school districts ? they are winning allies in the form of state lawmakers, and local neighborhoods.

Partly driving this trend are consumers who want fresh local food, want to know where it comes from, and want to make sure their dollars circulate locally. New laws and local initiatives are pushing the trend further.

For example, the Local Farms-Healthy Kids and Communities Act, encourages school-lunch programs to increase their use of local produce, promotes school gardens and sets up a program to distribute more fresh food at food banks. The $1.5 million measure provides $570,000 in school nutrition grants beginning in fall 2009. And the measure enables low-income families eligible for food stamps to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets.

Meanwhile, in Whatcom County, a consortium of growers is selling on a smaller scale to several school districts. The nonprofit consortium, Growing Washington, coordinates deliveries and charges enough to cover a driver and gas. And Walter Bronowitz, executive chef for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, offers special organic vegetables from Full Circle Farm, a Snoqualmie Valley farm, on his menu on farmers market days.

Speaking of farmers markets, they're on the rise: Statewide, their number doubled from 60 in 1998 to 120 in operation today. Farmers markets reported $38 million in sales in 2006, the most recent data available, up more than 50 percent from 2005.