Ghost Herd

The Easterdays drew a lot of water in southeast Washington. Cody Easterday was a titan of agriculture who provided Tyson food with two percent of its beef. But a series of bad investments and commodities speculation put the rancher in a desperate financial position.

Easterday engineered a quarter-billion dollar hoax: tricking Tyson into paying for the upkeep of cattle that only existed on paper. When the hoax was discovered it disrupted the food supply and threatened the farming empire the community depended on.

KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio and Northwest Public Broadcasting present “Ghost Herd.” Host Anna King plows into the livestock swindle, as well as shines a light on the precarious nature of farming and the food supply in modern America