State officials use thermometers to monitor compost piles to make sure they are getting up to temp to kill highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses. (Credit: Karla Salp / Washington State… Continue Reading Government Read More
For decades boatloads of Northwest apples have shipped to India – especially the variety Red Delicious. But since Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum went into place, retaliatory tariffs have put a crunch on that valuable fruit market. Now, Washington state's full congressional delegation is asking the federal government for help. Read More
A combine harvests barley Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, near Moscow, Idaho. Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP READ When you think of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, you might picture industrial smoke stacks… Continue Read More
Agriculture officials are quarantining flocks at Oakdell Farms in snowy north Franklin County, Washington, because the flock has come down with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. Credit: Anna Kind, Northwest… Read More
Hans Engelke’s orchards in north Franklin County, Washington, were inundated with snow in the early spring of 2022 during full bloom. Credit: Hans Engelke Listen (Runtime 1:04) Read Northwest apples… Continue Reading THEM APPLES: Prices Read More
LISTEN (Runtime: 1:04) READ A big-time Northwest rancher has snatched himself a last two-week extension of freedom, before he goes into federal prison. Cody Easterday was due to report to… Continue Reading Blue Christmas: Read More
Only 12 commercial fishing captains still hold permits to go reefnet fishing in the Pacific Northwest out of a fleet that once numbered in the hundreds. The distinctive fishing technique dates back thousands of years as an Indigenous method to catch salmon. Its practitioners today say the gear should proliferate as the preferred way to harvest healthy salmon runs while Read More
Wine grapes are exposed to smoke for 36 hours, with samples taken every six hours to analyze how wildfire smoke might affect the grapes, and the final wine. Professor Tom… Continue Reading New Technology Could Keep Wildfire Smoke Out Of WineRead More
There's a rising tide of interest in opening seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest. If even half of the current applicants succeed, it would more than double the small number of commercial seaweed growing operations in Oregon and Washington state. Read More
The Washington wine grape harvest is underway. Pinot Noir grapes are being harvested near Vantage, WA. Listen (Runtime :56) Read This year’s wine grape harvest is about two or three… Continue Reading Washington Wine Grape Harvest Could Be “Biggest Read More
The Washington apple harvest is underway. Bins of Red Delicious are loaded onto a truck. (Photo courtesy of the Washington Apple Commission) Listen Washington’s apple crop is projected to be… Continue Reading Smaller Apple Read More
There’s a deadline fast approaching for the cannabis industry in Washington. By September 1st, cannabis producers must sell all their goods produced before April of this year — or throw it out.
Micah Sherman, co-owner of Raven Grass in Olympia, has settled on this fate.
“We're probably going to end up with quite a bit of product that we're going to have to throw away,” Read More
Breaching the dams would be the best way to remove Snake River salmon runs from the Endangered Species List and the best way to maintain treaty and trust obligations with tribes, according to the report. It could cost from $10.3 billion to $27.2 billion. Read More
Rainier cherries in the Northwest bloomed after the snow, so the crop should be stronger. (Photo courtesy of the Washington State Fruit Commission) Listen Snow fell throughout the Northwest in… Continue Reading Northwest Cherries Will Read More
Carol Miles and volunteers assist with a harvest of this year’s cantaloupes in Mount Vernon, Wash. Listen Correspondent Lauren Paterson tells us how a bit of elegant plant science is… Continue Reading The Secret Read More
Aspersión de pesticidas en los cultivos del estado de Washington. Foto: Cortesía de Pablo Palmández. Read Un nuevo estudio muestra que las personas de color, los indígenas y las comunidades… Continue Reading Hispanos y afroamericanos son Read More
Mason Douglass leans on one of his thirty seed bins at Tri-State Seed outside of Connell, WA Listen Anna King reports on a serious shortage of seeds for forage crops… Continue Reading Seeds Of Drought: Weather Read More
Wet weather and varying temperatures had impacts on Washington farming in February Listen Read By Brandon Hollingsworth For Washington’s agricultural interests, February was marked by wet weather and temperature shifts.… Continue Reading Weather impacts Read More
Gangs of wild elk are attacking farmers’ haystacks in Washington and Oregon. They’re hungry, after a long drought and record mountain snow this winter has driven animals down to the lowlands. Climate scientists say things may only get worse in the future. Read More
Climate change is forcing creative water storage options in the Yakima River Basin to ensure enough water for fish, cities and farmers. Continue Reading Yakima Water Woes Need More Storage Options, Advocacy Group SaysRead More
Like interlaced fingers, the Inabas and the Yakama Nation have been collaborating to farm for generations. Now, this Japanese-American family, who owned and leased the land for a time, is returning it to the Yakama Nation. Continue Read More
As one of the top agricultural industries in the state, the Washington wine industry had to weather a significant downturn because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some are now seeing a return to profits. Continue Reading Washington Wine Industry Weathers COVIDRead More
Washington state ag community scrambles after massive flooding kills milk cattle, sickens others and leaves herds across the state short on feed. Continue Reading Dead Cattle, More That Could Become Sick Or Read More
Dairy farmers across Western Washington say they’re a day or two from totally running out of fodder. That’s because of last week’s floods. Continue Reading Dairy Cattle In Jeopardy In Western WashingtonRead More
There’s a new tool to prevent pesticide exposure and illness among Latinx farmworkers. The University of Washington created the app, “Pesticide Labels, Now!’ to address language barriers on technical labels written in English. Continue Read More
A large-scale Northwest farmer allegedly stole Snake River irrigation water during this past summer. And Washington state has clamped down hard with an unusually-large fine. Continue Reading State Of Washington And Read More
Researchers at Washington State University are developing a new way to measure soil health that could be a game changer in agriculture. Continue Reading WSU Researchers Measure Electrical Currents To Determine Soil HealthRead More
Now that fall’s here, Northwest farmers are taking account of their summer work and crops. And they’re planning for their next harvest. But this summer’s drought and heat twisted things up. A day-trip up Taylor Flats Road in Franklin County quickly shows some of the heat’s major damage. Read More
One of the historically largest farm equipment sales in the country is happening this week in the Northwest. It follows the bankruptcy of the Easterday family empire after its multi-million-dollar cattle swindle. Continue Reading Read More
The saga of the troubled Easterday ag empire is spreading to rural Idaho. At issue: The fate of an Easterday ranch centered on a beautiful meadow that contributes water to the Spokane region. Continue Reading Easterday Idaho: What’s To Become Of Read More
Two meatpacking giants are battling in federal bankruptcy court over a 1,500 acre feedlot near Pasco, Washington. It’s part of the ongoing Easterday cattle swindle saga. Continue Reading Beef Wars: Two Meat Giants Battle Over Easterday Read More
Washington on Friday became the second state in the Pacific Northwest in as many days to announce emergency rules that provide farmworkers and others who work outdoors more protection from hot weather in the wake of an extreme heat wave that is believed to have killed hundreds of people. Read More
Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries from Oregon to Washington to British Columbia are baked on the bush and vine. Growers are calling the heat damage widespread and catastrophic. Continue Reading Berry Bake: Read More
Record heat across the Northwest is taking a toll on agriculture – both the crops and the workers who harvest them. Continue Reading Weird Potatoes, Bad Berries, Hazardous Human Conditions: Heat Takes Its Toll On Read More
Northwest farmers are pouring on the water to moisten soils ahead of the triple-digit temperatures and possible record highs expected this weekend. Continue Reading High Heat Brings High Worry About Crops, As Farmers Were Read More
The agricultural arm of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints — Farmland Reserve, Inc. — has agreed to pay about $210 million for a major swath of southeastern Washington farm ground. Continue Reading Major Read More
Scientists have found a dead Asian giant hornet north of Seattle, the first so-called murder hornet discovered in the country this year, federal and state investigators said Wednesday. Continue Reading Dead Giant Hornet In Snohomish Read More
Nearly 12,000 acres of Easterday family farmland in Benton County will likely sell for more than its $210 million asking price, according to court documents and sources with knowledge of the deal. Continue Reading Read More
In this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," Will O'Neal and Renee Love, leaders within the organization Backyard Harvest, share how the group serves its community and how both they and many of their volunteers got a close-up view of food insecurity within local households. Read More
Some stunted wheat fields won’t see the combine this summer. Cattle operators are severely cutting back their herds for lack of grass. Little moisture since February in wide swaths of the Northwest is to blame. And drought is deepening across the West, with federal drought maps showing massive and growing areas of red. Read More
Some top agriculture groups are upset with Washington Gov. Inslee because farm workers were not covered in last week’s announcement that fully vaccinated employees do not have to wear a mask or socially distance at work. Continue Read More
In this episode of Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella, Will O’Neal and Renee Love, leaders within the organization Backyard Harvest, share how the group serves its community and how both… Continue Reading 12. Backyard HarvestRead More
Easterday Ranches and Easterday Farms has provided beef, potatoes, onions and produce to dinner tables for more than three generations. Now in bankruptcy, many of the family’s key properties will be sold to repay debts. It’s one of the largest sales of prime water-rich agricultural lands in the Columbia Basin in recent history. Read More
Learn how sheep ranchers in the late-nineteenth century in Eastern Oregon were already a part of complex agricultural and industrial systems that provided food, clothing and commodities to markets across the U.S. Continue Read More
Much of the Northwest’s high country is still deep in good snowpack but short on rain this spring. That has dryland wheat farmers and cattle ranchers fretting. Cold, wind and dust are even wreaking havoc with produce farmers in the region. Read More
Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of several Read More
Farmers say they’ve already taken a hit from the pandemic and higher fertilizer costs. Now they are going to get 3% less for their potatoes from Lamb Weston, McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot Company. Continue Reading Cut And Fried: Read More
The company that makes Aplets and Cotlets, the famous jellied fruit candy from central Washington, is calling it quits this June. Served up for Christmas and family reunions alike, the gelatinous apple and apricot treat studded with walnuts was famous far beyond Washington’s borders. Read More
Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career Read More
Since December, Easterday Ranches in WA has been embroiled in an alleged scandalous cattle rustling scheme. Now, a bankruptcy case calls into question whether a $225M lawsuit will go forward. Continue Reading Read More
