Case VanderMeulen came to the US from Europe in the '80s, and has grown his Eastern Washington dairy from a one-man show to one of the biggest milking operations in the state. Dillon shares a preview of his conversation with Case on his new podcast, Real Food Real People, where Case helps demystify how large dairies really work.

Fish need farms to stand in the gap between them and the urban pollution that is decimating their populations, says Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers' Executive Director. But, he tells Dillon, local farms are also threatened by encroaching urbanization, and looming legal action by powerful state agencies is threatening to rapidly increase that troubling trend, putting both fish and farms in Whatcom County at extreme risk.

Cool, rainy days in June and early July have caused major struggles for red raspberry growers working to harvest their crop. Randy Kraght with Barbie’s Berries talks with Dillon about what’s been happening in the fields.

Lots of rainy days have put a damper on the start of the red raspberry harvest in Western Washington, but farming-focused weather blogger Rufus La Lone tells Dillon there are better days ahead for the fruit crop. Find his weather blog, The WxCafe®, at https://ovs.com.

Meet Jewel Plagerman, the brand-new Whatcom County Dairy Ambassador who's been immersed in her family's Laurel-area farm her whole life. She talks with Dillon about the unusual circumstances of her coronation, as well as what the ongoing coronavirus pandemic could mean for her year of educational and advocacy work for local dairy farming.

Far too often, American farmers are being undercut by foreign imports, forcing prices down and putting thousands of family farms out of business. Florida blueberry grower and Demand American Grown founder Bud Chiles joins Dillon to explain how they plan to turn this trend around by making it easier for consumers to know if they're buying food from American farms. https://www.demandamericangrown.org/

Boxx Berry Farm co-owner Mike Boxx fills Dillon in on the expectations for this year's strawberry crop, as well as the numerous other fruits and vegetables the Ferndale-area farm grows and sells locally.

With Gov. Jay Inslee releasing new COVID rules for farms, Scotty Dilley with the Washington State Dairy Federation talks with Dillon about the challenges farmers are facing to implement the changes, and as well as the confusion over the inconsistencies they present.

Skagit county dairy farmer Dwayne Faber explains what's happened with milk prices since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Proposed state emergency housing rules for temporary farmworkers that would have left thousands without a place to stay during this year's fruit harvest were rejected for a more reasonable plan to protect workers from COVID-19. Pam Lewison, Washington Policy Center Initiative on Agriculture Director, fills Dillon in on the changes made to the new rules before they were finalized.