The Farming Show

Washington state's legislature is back in session in Olympia through at least April, and legislators are considering a variety of proposals that could affect agriculture.

Pam Lewison, the Research Director for the Center for Agriculture at the Washington Policy Center, joins Dillon with a rundown of issues both positive and negative that she's tracking right now.

Farmworkers are again set to gather on the steps of the Washington State Capitol to speak out against the state's new overtime rules for farming, as well as other regulations and issues impacting their community.

Ben Tindall, Save Family Farming's Executive Director, joins Dillon with details on this year's event set for Feb. 4th, after last year's rally brought over 300 farmworkers to Olympia.

The title of a Washington proposal to allow predatory unions to force themselves on farmworkers without a vote belies its true motives.

Scott Dilley, spokesman for the Olympia-based Worker and Farmer Labor Association, joins Dillon to explain that even the bill's main sponsor, Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, admits there's a bigger plan than just unionizing cannabis workers.

Agriculture careers in Whatcom County are both diverse and plentiful, and a growing local event intends to connect young people with those opportunities.

Ellie Steensma Corbin, Education Coordinator at Whatcom Family Farmers, joins Dillon with details on how both local students and businesses can get involved in the 2nd annual event coming up on Feb. 7 in the Farm Pavilion at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lynden.

As part of a legal ploy--ostensibly to allow certain farmworkers to make more money during fruit harvests--a group of labor activists is pushing a federal judge to block guest farmworkers in Washington state.

The activists' legal game essentially amounts to a scorched-earth approach to wage negotiations that ultimately threatens tens of thousands of farmworkers' jobs and the survival of a wide swath of the state's fruit production.

Enrique Gastelum, Worker and Farmer Labor Association CEO, tells Dillon the same activist group that's now claiming workers will be harmed if they don't get piece rates years ago actually argued against piece-rate wages for farmworkers.

In a recent statement, a top EPA official in Seattle falsely claimed the federal agency is collaborating with other agencies and community groups to address groundwater nitrate issues in the lower Yakima Valley.

David Taylor with the Washington State Dairy Federation and a former state representative joins Dillon to explain the reality that EPA has been far from collaborative or helpful with the ongoing Groundwater Management Area (GWMA) effort in Yakima County.

As much as locally- and regionally-grown food is celebrated in the Pacific Northwest, the reality is that fewer and fewer kinds of crops are being grown here.

Jay Gordon, a sixth-generation Southwest Washington farmer, joins Dillon to explain the ugly truth about why so many crops are no longer grown in the PNW, and why even more are leaving.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is using a court order to demand two Lower Yakima Valley dairies test area residents' water for nitrates, and provide bottled water and treatment systems.

But Yakima County has already been doing that exact work for years, and has virtually blanketed the area with its efforts.

LaDon Linde, Yakima County Commissioner and former dairy farmer, joins Dillon to explain why a federal judge's approval of the EPA's request for an emergency order against the dairies doesn't make sense.

A coalition of regional leaders including farmers is calling on the federal government to withdraw its plan for new environmental reviews of the Columbia and Snake River dams.

Clark Mather, Executive Director of NW RiverPartners, joins Dillon to explain why such a study would be misleading and unlawful, risking huge harm to farming, hydropower and the future of the entire Pacific Northwest.

A governor-appointed Washington state task force continues to forge ahead with recommendations for forcing wide, forested stream buffers on farmland, despite fundamental flaws in the process.

Kara Rowe, Policy Director at the Western Washington Agricultural Association, joins Dillon with the latest on the Washington Riparian Task Force's recommendations.