With the price of fertilizer doubled--or more--over last year's already elevated prices, in addition to shortages leading to skyrocketing prices or complete unavailability of some key crop protection products, local farmers are under extra pressure during the already-stressful time of spring crop planting. Blake Carson, agronomist with Skagit Farmers Supply in Whatcom and Skagit counties, tells Dillon farmers are facing tough choices on whether to forge ahead or change their plans.

Water used for irrigation on farms will need to meet quality standards under a new agricultural water rule emerging from the FDA's years-long update of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Washington State Tree Fruit Association President Jon DeVaney joins Dillon to explain how the new rule works, and what it will mean for farmers here.

Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers Executive Director, tells Dillon he's encouraged to see people on all sides agree that we have to do something to solve water management issues in the Nooksack River Basin.

“I would really encourage our community to work on helping us continue to send that message out, because it’s going to be very easy for this to fade from the headlines and just go back to, just not doing anything, because it’s easier that way.”

Join the effort for Whatcom water management solutions now: https://p2a.co/gvg7BWc

WA Gov. Jay Inslee's renewed efforts to push farm-killing legislation and recent comments suggesting farmers are opposed because they don't care about salmon recovery are causing farmers and ranchers to speak out. Benge, WA, rancher Bridget Coon joins Dillon to explain the return of Inslee's harmful plans to the state legislature under a new name, just weeks after a previous attempt was resoundingly rejected.

***UPDATE: In the days following this 2/19 interview, the idea was again rejected by a state Senate committee and will not move forward in this year's legislative session.

After local mayors and the Whatcom farming community began speaking out about the need for immediate work to prevent another flooding disaster in the Nooksack basin, a Seattle reporter asked a Washington State Department of Ecology official whether they're considering sediment removal from the river--one of the multiple prevention efforts local leaders are calling for. "Nope," was the official's response, and Dillon not only shares the audio of the official's offensive comments, but also shares the larger context that underscores just how troubling the perspective of the Ecology official, David Radabaugh, truly is for the effort to prevent another catastrophe.

Amanda Lenssen, Whatcom County Dairy Ambassador, talks with Dillon about her dairy farming background on a Lynden-area family farm, as well as the advocacy she's been doing for the local dairy community in her dairy ambassador role and her vision for her future in agriculture.

Political moves in Olympia last year to require long-term care coverage for WA residents have resulted in a debacle, to put it mildly. Lynden-based Manna Insurance Group owner and founder Dan Vander Kooi joins Dillon to explain what the latest 18-month delay recently approved by state lawmakers means for farms and other employers deciding whether to withhold money from workers' checks.

After the twin problems of drought last summer, followed by a deadly flooding disaster in November, the mayors of north Whatcom County's small cities are calling on state leaders to stop ignoring the water management crisis in the Nooksack River Basin. Scott Korthuis, Lynden's mayor, joins Dillon to explain why he and his mayor colleagues wrote a letter to Olympia.

Even though milk prices are up, there's always the other side of the equation for dairy farms: feed and other production costs. Skagit dairy farmer Dwayne Faber joins Dillon to discuss trends in the dairy markets, and how costs are blunting some of the positive impact of higher prices.

WA state Sen. Ron Muzzall joins Dillon to discuss his proposal to block the Department of Ecology’s new restrictions on watering livestock, as well as the latest on Gov. Inslee’s fizzling mandatory buffer plan and efforts to bring water management fixes to the Nooksack River Basin.