Save Family Farming Show

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.

Despite fully funding its own legal needs after launching a massive lawsuit against all water users in Whatcom County, the state has dialed back its support for the 30,000-plus Whatcom residents it sued. Fred Likkel, Executive Director of Whatcom Family Farmers, joins Dillon with the latest developments in the controversial court case, including how the state is legally required to assist the residents it has dragged into court.

Ryan Mensonides' dream of providing his farm's top-quality dairy products direct to the community was just starting to take off this summer, when a truck crash near Enumclaw, WA changed everything. Mensonides joins Dillon with a call for the state to take an active role in quickly finding solutions to try to salvage the area's suddenly-suffering economy, including his new Mount Rainier Creamery & Market in nearby Buckley, WA.

Refrigeration is an important capacity many farms need when they're producing fresh food, but new Washington state restrictions on refrigeration systems could cripple farms with massive cost increases. Ben Ingalls with IVI joins Dillon with the background on the new laws and what they'll mean for farming in the region.

A Yakima, WA-based activist group recently published anti-farm videos on its social media feeds that featured the Washington State Department of Health's official logo, raising troubling questions about possible tax dollars used for political purposes. Save Family Farming has filed an official complaint with the WA Attorney General's Office calling for an investigation into possible state sponsorship of the nonprofit "We Are ELLA" group's anti-farm propaganda. Kenton Gartrell, a farmer and rancher in the Yakima area, tells Dillon that he's been following the activist group nearly since its recent inception, and this wouldn't be the first time the young organization has already run afoul of rules against possible politicking on the public dime.

Discredited labor activist Rosalinda Guillén of Community to Community Development recently repeated false and offensive attacks on farms hiring guest workers via the federal H-2A visa program Farms have been turning to the expensive and highly-regulated program as a last resort to help cover labor gaps resulting from the worsening farm labor shortage. Enrique Gastelum, a former farmworker who's now CEO of the Worker And Farmer Labor Association (WAFLA), joins Dillon to discuss not just how wildly inaccurate Guillén's suggestions are that the guest worker program is unregulated and bad for workers, but also how offensive her comments are that compare the program to a "quasi-slave labor force."

It's no surprise that during a dry summer, people are talking about water issues, including many that involve the farming community. Ben Tindall, Save Family Farming's Executive Director, joins Dillon for an update on the advocacy work the organization is focused on currently and into coming weeks and months.

State leaders have said they would provide support for the 30,000-plus water users it has sued in its Whatcom water rights adjudication court case as they navigate the extremely complex issues the state has forced on them. But Bill Clarke, Olympia-based attorney for the Ag Water Board of Whatcom County, tells Dillon that various aspects of the funding to support water users and the court processhave been either reduced, cut entirely, or vetoed by Gov. Bob Ferguson. This, despite the fact that the state continues to fully fund the other side of the lawsuit: its own Washington State Department of Ecology.

State leaders are going back on decades-old agreements with farm foresters with a troubling new plan that would force larger forest buffers on streams without fish. The proposal has farmers worried they could be targeted with similar stringent rules, forcing massive amounts of farmland out of production statewide. Tom Westergreen, a small family forest owner in Whatcom County, along with Washington Farm Forestry Association Executive Director Dr. Elaine Oneil join Dillon with details on the scientifically-unsupported plan and the devastating blow it would deal to family foresters.

Seattle's hydroelectric dams on the Skagit River are up for relicensing, and Seattle City Light's proposal leaves the door open to Seattle using eminent domain authority to condemn and take farmland in the Skagit Valley. Will Honea, Skagit County Deputy Prosecutor, joins Dillon to answer questions about what Seattle's plan entails, and what risks lie ahead for Skagit County agriculture.

The Trump Administration's recent decision to step back from an agreement designed to speed the march toward breaching the Lower Snake River dams has the Pacific Northwest farming community breathing a guarded sigh of relief. But John Stuhlmiller, Washington State Water Resources Association Executive Director, tells Dillon that while it's a move in the right direction to step back from the brink and include more voices in the process, other threats remain for the dams and the farming communities they support.

Social media influencers and reporters from prominent regional and national publications descended on a few local raspberry farms recently, for a tour set up by the Washington Red Raspberry Commission. Influencer Kaitlyn Thornton, known on Tik Tok and Instagram as the "Apple Girl," joins Dillon to talk about the tour and what she learned.

Featuring 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, a car show, vendors, displays and of course raspberries & ice cream, the Northwest Raspberry Festival took over downtown Lynden July 18-19. Gary Vis, Lynden Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, joined Dillon with the details.

A key part of the Whatcom County farming community’s fight for survival in the face of immense water resource pressures is on full display in a brand-new documentary film. Every Last Drop, Whatcom Family Farmers’ latest film release, captures the struggles of a local potato farm using the latest technology to reach new heights of water efficiency under the looming clouds of a local water crisis and massive court case. Greg Ebe, a multigenerational farmer and experienced civil engineer, is dead-set on leading his team to create a drip irrigation system that not only saves major quantities of water, but also improves the quality of his renowned specialty seed potato crop

The lion's share of America's frozen red raspberries are picked in Whatcom County, and the 2025 harvest of the celebrated red fruit is in full swing. Mark Van Mersbergen, Lynden-area berry farmer and Washington Red Raspberry Commission President, joins Dillon with a harvest update and a look ahead to the region's next berry specialty: blueberries.