In vitro fertilization technology is changing the way farmers improve their herd’s genetics, allowing them to raise the healthiest, best-producing animals much more quickly than traditional breeding.

And now Whatcom County is home to a facility where farmers can bring cows to use this technology.

McKenzie Corpron, an embryologist with Trans Ova Genetics, joins Dillon with details on the company’s new satellite center housed at Mark Van Mersbergen’s former Lynden-area dairy, Markwell Holsteins.

The Washington state farming community is speaking out against a new state plan to force large forested buffers on non-fish-bearing streams in working forest lands.

Farmers recognize the dangerous precedent the unscientific proposal would create for forcing similar buffers on farmland, ultimately harming fish while pushing countless family farms in our region out of business (read Save Family Farming’s earlier letter to state officials about this bad idea here).

Dr. Elaine Oneil, Executive Director of the Washington Farm Forestry Association, joins Dillon again with more details and new ways for people to tell Olympia to stop this misguided plan before an expected decision in November.

You can listen to Dillon’s earlier conversation with Dr. Oneil and Whatcom County small family farm forest owner Tom Westergreen here.

Many people, including news reporters, have been confused by recent layoff notices from Washington farms creating suspicion of major farm closures.

But what most don’t realize is that the layoffs are the routine annual conclusion of seasonal farm jobs that haven’t required such notices until state lawmakers changed the rules this spring.

Erik Zavala, Director of Field Staff for Wenatchee-based cooperative Blue Bird, tells Dillon even though the layoffs are routine and expected by the affected employees, the new reporting requirement has caught many people–even within the farming community–completely off guard.

Ongoing drought conditions have led to water shortages in the Yakima River Basin severe enough that water to many farms has been shut off.

Sunnyside-area dairy farmer Jason Sheehan, who also serves on the board of the affected Roza Irrigation District, joins Dillon and Whatcom Family Farmers Executive Director Fred Likkel to explain what the shutoffs have meant for farming, and how the collaborative Yakima Basin Integrated Plan has helped tribes, farmers and others share and protect the dwindling water supply.

Most people probably don’t know that Washington state is number two in the nation for producing organic food. And demand for organic food nationally and globally continues to grow.

But Melissa Spear, the Executive Director of Seattle-based Tilth Alliance that advocates and assists many organic growers as part of its focus on supporting Washington’s local and sustainable food movement, tells Dillon that WA organic growers also face many challenges and uncertainty right now.

This episode is part two of a two-part conversation. You can find part one here.

Most people probably don’t know that Washington state is number two in the nation for producing organic food. And demand for organic food nationally and globally continues to grow.

But Melissa Spear, the Executive Director of Seattle-based Tilth Alliance that advocates and assists many organic growers as part of its focus on supporting Washington’s local and sustainable food movement, tells Dillon that WA organic growers also face many challenges and uncertainty right now.

This episode is part one of a two-part conversation. You can find part two here.

Whatcom County is known for its dairy, berry and potato farms, but the area boasts a long list of other kinds of farms and specialty crops, including tree nuts.

Jon De Lange of Everson, WA-based Washington Hazelnut joins Dillon with details on how he grows, harvests and prepares his crop for market, including creating the tasty hazelnut treats his farm sells direct to consumers on its website, washingtonhazelnutllc.com.

The process of harvesting field corn for dairy cattle feed has evolved extensively in recent decades, as farmers here in Washington and around the Pacific Northwest face increasingly tight margins, high labor costs and other market pressures.

Duane Scholten, owner of Lynden, WA-based Scholten’s Equipment, joins Dillon with a look at the equipment and technology farmers are using this fall as our region’s corn harvest gets underway.

In the wake of the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, it’s not just other political figures that worry about threats of political violence–farmers do, too.

Dillon talks about the recent history of radicalized political activists targeting farms, and explains why farmers live under the threat of protests, defamation, sabotage and political violence from people influenced by the overheated rhetoric pushed by farming’s most angry critics.

“Animal feeding operations are increasing Whatcom’s air pollution, study finds,” read the initial headline on a misleading article in Bellingham-based Cascadia Daily News, obscuring the fact that the study it referenced did not make such a finding, and that a series of faulty assumptions led to this troubled reporting.

Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers’ Executive Director, joins Dillon with a closer look at some of the mistakes this local news report made, and why bad reporting can cause such a problem for farming.