The Farming Show

He's been studying the Lower Snake River Dams for years, and 'Armchair Engineer' Adam Ratliff joins Dillon with the truth about the pros and cons of these important and controversial structures.

Reporting in Canada is bringing to light a study showing a worsening outlook for flooding of the Nooksack River.

Tyler Olsen, editor of the Fraser Valley Current, joins Dillon with details on what the latest science says farming and entire communities on both sides of the border may experience.

Local high school students might find a career path they're passionate about, or even just a good summer job at the all-new Whatcom County Agriculture Career Fair happening April 26 at Lynden High School.

Whatcom Family Farmers is organizing the event featuring over a dozen local employers, and Outreach Coordinator Ellie Steensma Corbin joins Dillon with the details for students and for businesses wanting to be there.

As the state sues all Whatcom water users this year, requiring each user to prove their water rights in court, thousands of local residents will have to fill out court claim forms to begin their defense.

Water rights attorney Bill Clarke joins Dillon with details on how crucial these court filings will be, and why the farming community has deep concern about the state's plan and proposed court forms.

After a standing-room-only event this past fall, Whatcom Family Farmers is hosting another informational event to help people prepare for the upcoming water rights adjudication in the Nooksack River Basin.

Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers' Executive Director, joins Dillon with details and why people--particularly farmers and private well owners--should attend if they want to protect their access to water.

Nearly every other state that's enacted overtime pay rules for farm work allows for seasonal flexibility to help both farmworkers and farms--except Washington state.

The state Senator who proposed adding flexibility to the law to bring relief for workers and farmers, Sen. Curtis King, joins Dillon to talk about the negative impacts of the poorly-thought-out new law, and how he plans to keep fighting even though his first bill on the issue is dead.

Whatcom County water users will begin getting court summons in the mail this summer for the state's water rights lawsuit, and many are still unsure what this will mean for them.

Jay Chennault, Principal Hydrologist with consulting firm Associated Earth Sciences, joins Dillon with details on an upcoming event that aims to educate community members about the process and the various steps they'll need to take to be able to try to defend in court their future water access.

Many of the environmental efforts squeezing family farming in Washington state are connected to an assumed need for more fish habitat ostensibly to help restore the endangered Chinook salmon.

But what if this major push is actually based on a misdiagnosis of the actual problems hindering Chinook recovery?

Save Family Farming's Gerald Baron joins Dillon with details on his meta-analysis of several recent key studies that show habitat is unlikely the limiting factor keeping Chinook salmon populations struggling, and what that reality could mean for farming.

Saying it's not possible to survive financially the high cost of labor to harvest their fruit, another family farm is calling it quits. April Clayton, of Red Apple Orchard in Orondo, WA joins Dillon to explain why she and her husband decided to shut down the farm this year, and what might become of their beautiful orchards.

The latest Census of Agriculture data is out from the USDA, and Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture, is calling it a "wakeup call." Pam Lewison, Center for Agriculture Director at the Washington Policy Center, says in many ways, the situation is even worse in Washington state than it is nationally, and joins Dillon with details.