agriculture Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Washington Ag Workers Are Exempt From Overtime. A State Supreme Court Case Could Change That

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa October 25, 2019

Maria Cuevas, a farmworker and community activist in Yakima, has marched in every Yakima May Day gathering since 1986, including with Cesar Chavez. CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ/NWPB

A class-action lawsuit argued in the Washington State Supreme Court Thursday is challenging the exemption of agricultural workers from earning overtime pay, alleging that it results in racial discrimination against the largely Latino workforce.Read More

Diversifying Crops Is Good For The Planet. But Can It Be Good For Farmers’ Wallets?

By NPR News October 23, 2019

A mix of barley, peas and flax grows in a field at Casey Bailey's farm near Fort Benton, Mont. Bailey sells this crop to Montana dairy farmer Nate Brown, who has been feeding it to his goats.

Fertilizer runoff is fueling the toxic algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico. Farmers could help by growing crops in rotation to reduce the need for fertilizer. But it's unclear who will buy them.Read More

As The Climate Warms, Companies Scramble To Calculate The Risk To Their Profits

By NPR News October 16, 2019

Companies are increasingly concerned about how Earth's changing climate might affect their businesses, such as crop failures from drought, heat and storms. Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Image

Companies are trying to figure out the risks to their profits from a warming planet. Some of them are turning to high-tech tools of climate science.Read More

Join Us! Plowing Fresh Ground: A Discussion Of Women In Agriculture, Oct. 2 In Palouse

By Scott Leadingham October 1, 2019

Join Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Gillian Coldsnow and Anna King and the American Association of University Women Palouse-Garfield Branch for a lively discussion of women in agriculture and STEM fields. WHEN: […]Read More

‘You Have To Remain An Optimist.’ Northwest Farmers Wrap Wheat Harvest As Prices Depress

By Anna King August 20, 2019

Roger Hsieh and Daniel Berg walk toward a pickup truck in the Horse Heave Hills of south central Washington during wheat harvest this year. CREDIT: NICOLE BERG

Right now, Northwest wheat farmers are wrapping up their harvest in many areas. But across the country, farmers are losing money on every load of that golden grain. Read More

Economists Say Federal Government Is Over-Paying Farmers For Trade Losses

By NPR News July 25, 2019

A worker at the port in Nantong, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, displays soybeans imported from Ukraine. Imports of soybeans from the U.S., once China's biggest supplier, have dropped massively since a trade war between the US and China began in 2018. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Lots of American companies have lost sales since the Trump administration and China embarked on the current cycle of tariff-raising and retaliation. Few, if any, have been compensated as handsomely as farmers.Read More

More Bad Buzz For Bees: Record Numbers Of Honey Bee Colonies Died Last Winter

By NPR News June 19, 2019

Honey bee hives stand on a field at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center in Beltsville, Maryland. CREDIT: OLIVIA FALCIGNO/NPR

Bee colony death continues to rise. According to the Bee Informed Partnership's latest survey, released this week, U.S. beekeepers lost nearly 40% of their honey bee colonies last winter — the greatest reported winter hive loss since the partnership started its surveys 13 years ago.Read More

Oregon State University Gets Hemp Research Center Amid Surge In Farmer Interest

By Tom Banse June 14, 2019

Industrial hemp seedlings grow at an Oregon State University research plot near Aurora, Oregon. CREDIT: OSU

Oregon State University has established what it considers to be the nation's largest hemp research center. This comes amid a surge of farmer interest in the Northwest to grow the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana.Read More

‘American Soil’ Farmland Is Increasingly Foreign Owned

By NPR News May 28, 2019

After being stalled in negotiations for months, mostly around disputes over SNAP, the farm bill the conference report has been released. CREDIT: BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

American soil. Those are two words that are commonly used to stir up patriotic feelings. They are also words that can't be be taken for granted, because today nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors. That number has doubled in the past two decades, which is raising alarm bells in farming communities.Read More

Critics Say USDA Plan To Move Agricultural Agencies Could Hurt Research Vital For Farmers

By NPR News May 18, 2019

File photo. Ripe ears of wheat lit by the morning sunlight. CREDIT: WSU News

A couple of federal agencies you probably haven't heard of keep track of what farmers grow, what Americans eat and how the country's entire food system operates. And the Trump administration wants them out of Washington, D.C.Read More

‘On The Tipping Point’ Of The Spear: U.S. Asparagus Farmers Worry As Import Competition Grows

By Anna King April 24, 2019

Washington asparagus is just starting to be cut, but farmers worry if their industry will hold on for the long haul. Cheaper imports from Mexico and Peru are putting pressure on Washington, California and Michigan farmers. ANNA KING / NW NEWS NETWORK

Growers in Washington, California and Michigan raise the majority of the nation’s domestic asparagus -- and Washington’s season is on. But business in U.S. spears is noticeably dwindling due to cheaper competition from foreign markets. That’s because there’s increasing amounts of cheaper asparagus from Peru and Mexico coming in: fresh, canned and frozen. And that’s Read More

Farmers Nervous As Major Northwest Crops Are Weeks Late In Planting

By Anna King April 10, 2019

Grain silos outside of Connell, Wash. reflect in the mud puddles left by heavy spring rains. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

Several major crops in Oregon and Washington are significantly delayed from foul winter weather and a cool spring. Wheat farmers are having trouble planting in the wet ground. Potatoes are still being planted a month late. And fruit tree buds are developing slowly.Read More

Study Says Growing Corn Is A Major Contributor To Air Pollution

By NPR News April 1, 2019

An aerial view of a combine harvesting corn in a field near Jarrettsville, Md. A new study ties an estimated 4,300 premature deaths a year to the air pollution caused by corn production in the U.S. CREDIT: Edwin Remsburg/Getty Images

Researchers found that corn production accounts for 4,300 premature deaths related to air pollution every year. Ammonia from fertilizer application was by far the largest contributor to corn's air pollution footprint.Read More

Market Saturation: Why So Many Farmers Markets Are Failing

By NPR News March 17, 2019

Nationwide, there are too few farmers to populate market stalls and too few customers filling their canvas bags with fresh produce at each market. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

Farmers aren't producing enough to keep up with the number of smaller markets that keep popping up, often in close proximity to others. This results in fewer customers, unsold food and maybe closure.Read More

Study Shows Potential Link Between Parkinson’s And Widely Used Herbicide In Agricultural Regions

By Courtney Flatt March 12, 2019

One of the most heavily relied on herbicides in the nation could be linked to an increase in early deaths Parkinson’s Disease for people who live nearby, according to new research on farmlands in Washington. CREDIT: WA Department of Agriculture, Flickr Creative Commons

One of the country’s most widely-used herbicides could be linked to an increase in early deaths from Parkinson’s disease for people who live near farmlands, according to new research in Washington.Read More

Sweeping Public Lands Bill Would Protect Washington Lands, Waters

By Courtney Flatt February 13, 2019

The U.S. Senate Tuesday passed a sweeping public lands bill, with measures meant to protect lands across the country. It’s expected to have a big impact on Washington’s lands, rivers and more.Read More

Seis Años de Trabajo Y Aún El Agua del Valle de Yakima Necesita Cambios

By Esmy Jimenez February 5, 2019

Martin Yanez and his sister Rosalinda Elsa Pina live in the Yakima Valley, near a large dairy. Their well water has high levels of nitrates, which can cause health problems. In the winter Elsa Pina uses extra gallons of water to make caldos, or stews. Boiling water with high levels of nitrates actually concentrates the contamination. CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ/NWPB

For six years, Yakima County has been dealing with a complicated problem – nitrates in the groundwater. This month, after missing two other deadlines, a group of citizens tasked with finding a solution finally came up with a plan. For about 2,000 people, that’s good news because they’re closer to clean water. But some critics aren’t so sure. Read More

Study: Millions Of Americans Could Be Drinking Water High In Nitrates

By Courtney Flatt January 23, 2019

More people than expected are drinking water that could be harmful to their health. That’s according to a new study that looked at a water contaminate that’s been an issue in one of the Northwest’s most productive farming regions.Read More

Across The West, Much Is At Stake For Farmers In The Weekly Drought Map

By NPR News December 26, 2018

U.S. Drought map showing western U.S. for 12-20-2018

As drought has deepened across the West, much attention is paid to a colorful map that shows the hardest-hit areas. The scientists who update the map each week face enormous pressure to get it right.Read More

Pulse Of The Palouse: Trade Wars Hitting Northwest Farmers Who Grow Chickpeas, Lentils And Peas

By Anna King December 21, 2018

Snow-covered farm fields roll out outside of Kendrick, Idaho. Farmers are stumped on what to plant this coming spring, as many of their traditional dryland crops are priced below the cost of production right now. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

Farmers who grow pulse crops -- garbanzo beans, lentils and peas -- are in a bind this winter. They have to decide very soon what they’re planting for next year, and contract their seed. Pulse crops are often an important rotation crop for Western wheat growers. But there are record amounts of garbanzo beans in dry storage, and little movement of that heavily-exported Read More

Six Years, Two Missed Deadlines, And Still Yakima Valley’s Water Needs Cleanup

By NWPB News December 21, 2018

This Pesticide Poisons, But It’s Still Sprayed On Washington Orchards — Including Christmas Trees

By Eilís O'Neill December 14, 2018

Cristina Campos removes damaged apples from the flume, the front end of the packing line, on Tuesday November, 20, 2018, at Gilbert Orchards in Yakima. CREDIT: KUOW PHOTO/MEGAN FARMER

The chemical’s especially dangerous for babies and small children because it can have lasting neurological effects. Chlorpyrifos can blow from orchards into nearby houses; parents who work in orchards can transport the chemical home on their clothes and in their cars; and chlorpyrifos can make its way into developing fetuses through umbilical cord blood.Read More

Mountain West Farmers Turn To Twitter To Discuss Depression Amid Concern For Their Well Being

By NWPB News December 10, 2018

Larry McMillan drives a combine as he harvests barley Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, near Moscow, Idaho. The region's warm and dry weather has provided optimal conditions for the continued harvest season. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Ranchers and farmers living in the Mountain West are vulnerable to all kinds of things—drought, fluctuating crop prices, trade wars—and in part because of those things - depression and suicide. But there's some help out there, from an unlikely source: Twitter.Read More

Northwest Entrepreneurs Cheer On Provision To Legalize Hemp In Farm Bill

By Tom Banse December 3, 2018

A hemp field during harvest this November on the Colville Indian Reservation. CREDIT HEMP NORTHWEST

A new five-year federal Farm Bill that could get a vote from the House and Senate next week contains a provision to fully legalize hemp production in the U.S. Northwest hemp entrepreneurs who have been operating under restrictive state laws are excited by the possibility.Read More

Study: A Common Insecticide Is Harming Bees And Their Ability To Pollinate Crops

By NPR News November 11, 2018

A bumblebee outfitted with a unique tracking tag forages outdoors. CREDIT: James Crall /Science

Bees exposed to a type of insecticides called neonicotinoids dramatically changed their behavior — becoming sluggish, antisocial and spending less time caring for the colony's young, researchers say.Read More

Bye-Bye, Beer? Brewers Say They’ve Got A Plan On Climate Change Ahead Of Possible Price Jump

By NPR News October 20, 2018

The barley used to make beer as we know it may take a hit under climate change, but growers say they are already preparing by planting it further north in colder locations. CREDIT: DEAN HUTTON/BLOOMBERG

Newly published research predicting beer prices could double as rising global temperatures and more volatile weather cause shortages of barley created a big splash. But brewers and barley growers say you shouldn't drown your sorrows just yet: They have a plan.Read More

A Sheepherder On Two Decades In Washington High Country ‘With Your Friends The Dogs’

By Esmy Jimenez October 12, 2018

Heraclio Delacruz is in his 18th year herding sheep in central Washington. “There’s no one to talk to, you’re alone, with your friends the dogs, the braying sheep." CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ/NWPB

Heraclio Delacruz is a Peruvian sheepherder, in Spanish what’s called a “pastor.” This is his 18th year with the Martinez family sheepherding operation in Central Washington. " ... you’re alone, with your friends the dogs, the braying sheep," he says.Read More

Meet The Flockers: Ups And Downs Of A Washington Sheepherding Legacy

By Esmy Jimenez October 9, 2018

Geronimo DeLaCruz Lozano is one of the eight, H-2A workers who came from Peru to work with the Martinez family. He’ll spend most of his time alone with his dogs, walking across grasslands and mountains grazing thousands of sheep at a time. CREDIT: ESMY JIMENEZ

In late September, the Martinez brothers moved about half of those 800 sheep from the mountainous terrain around Lake Wenatchee to the irrigated, emerald pastures of Connell, in Central Washington. They did it with the help of some highly skilled men: Peruvian “pastores” or sheepherders. All the way from South America, most of them have been with the Martinez family for decades.Read More

Yakima Valley Farmers Fight For The Future Of A Cascades Lake

By Eilís O'Neill September 21, 2018

The Carpenter family relies on irrigation canals to bring water from the mountains to their hops farm in the otherwise arid Yakima Valley. CREDIT: ELLIS O'NEIL, KUOW/EARTHFIX

It’s September, so the hops harvest is in full swing in Washington’s Yakima Valley. At the Carpenter family’s farm in Granger, workers are making their way between rows of trellises, pulling down vines and feeding them into a sorting machine.Read More

City Fruit: Seattle’s Urban Harvest

By Gigi Yellen September 20, 2018

Once upon a time when Seattle was smaller, orchards dotted the shores of Lake Washington. Today, many of those old apple, plum and fig trees still thrive within urban neighborhoods. […]Read More

Apple Rescuer, Gentle Composer: Gerald Finzi

By Gigi Yellen September 20, 2018

Baxter's Pearmain (Credit: National Fruit Collection); Gerald Finzi, reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes

Consider this year’s apples: Born from the seeds of an earlier generation’s trees, the fruit you hold in your hand this fall will allow you “to shake hands with a […]Read More

The ‘Beerification’ Of Northwest Wine: Putting It In Less-Fussy Cans

By Anna King September 18, 2018

Stores like this busy Whole Foods in Portland, Ore., have started shuffling bottles around on shelves and in coolers to make room for wine in cans. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

Some winemakers are calling it the “beerification” of wine. Many Northwest winemakers are trying to make wine a little less fussy by putting it in aluminum cans.Read More

Insects Could Eat Twice As Much Wheat By The End Of The Century

By NWPB News August 30, 2018

A burn scar near Moro, Oregon, from the Substation Fire. CREDIT: ERICKA CRUZ GUEVARRA

Climate change might lead to bigger populations of hungrier insects. This could have serious consequences for grain-growing regions in the Northwest and across the world.Read More

As Wildfires Burn, Smoke Chokes Out Northwest Farmworkers And Delays Some Crops

By Anna King August 29, 2018

Workers in dust masks wash fresh red bell peppers in smoky conditions outside of Eltopia, Wash. Even with the masks, the smoke is still causing tight chests, itchy eyes and dry throats. CREDIT: ANNA KING/N3

Smoke from wildfires is blanketing much of the West. That's ruining some crops and may be stunting others. And it's making it difficult or unsafe for laborers to pick the harvest.Read More

USDA Secretary Says Plan To Help Farmers Affected By Tariffs Coming In September

By Emily Schwing July 2, 2018

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue was in Washington state Monday alongside Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. During a breakfast with leaders in forestry and agriculture, trade was the biggest topic of conversation. EMILY SCHWING / NORTHWEST NEWS NETWORK

Trade was at the forefront of the conversation with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue July 2 in Spokane. Perdue said President Donald Trump has assured him “he’s not going to allow agricultural producers to bear the brunt of trade disruptions” with China, Canada or Mexico—countries Perdue calls “the big three” for U.S. international trade.Read More

Native Bees And Alfalfa Seeds: A Northwest Love Story

By NWPB News June 29, 2018

The alkali bee has to "trip" the alfalfa flower's lower petal to access its pollen, receiving a floral bop on the head from the stamen. CREDIT: DOUG WALSH

Walla Walla County might just be the only place on Earth where you have to brake for bees.Read More

Northwest Ranchers Have Beef With Trump’s Trade Wars, But Still Support The President

By Anna King June 29, 2018

Rancher Buck Taylor proudly flies his American and Trump flags off his driveway mailboxes and signpost in Diamond Valley, Oregon. CREDIT: ANNA KING

U.S. beef ranchers who voted heartily for President Donald Trump are getting a bit skittish about his trade wars. International tariffs are set to hit U.S. beef the first week of July.Read More

In Central Washington, Housing Crunch Exacerbated By Need For Foreign Farm Labor

By Esmy Jimenez June 11, 2018

Black and white photo of a Yakima neighborhood with text saying no vacancy

The housing shortage in Yakima is coupled with a farm labor shortage. When workers do come, where do they live? The largest farmworker complex in the state opened in Yakima this month. The revamped FairBridge hotel now hosts 800 beds for temporary farm workers. As it opens, critics think it may set a dangerous precedent: Other farmers might start buying up area housing for Read More

Environmental, Animal Groups Ask To Shut Down Oregon Mega-Dairy

By Courtney Flatt May 17, 2018

Environmental and rural advocacy groups say photos taken at Lost Valley Farm show the farm poses animal welfare problems and raise potential water quality concerns.

Lost Valley Farm, based in Boardman, is Oregon’s second largest dairy. It’s faced opposition from the beginning. Environmental groups worried about the risk of liquid manure and wastewater pollution that leaking out of storage areas.Read More

Could Blue Bees Be Better For Northwest Crops?

By Esmy Jimenez April 27, 2018

Osmia lignaria or the blue orchard bee visits a blossom. While it won’t make honey, this bee is a superior pollinator than the honey bee. Credit: Natalie Boyle/US Department of Agriculture.

Honey bees are struggling with habitat loss, colony collapse disorder, and other challenges. One Northwest beekeeper is rethinking the kinds of bees we use to pollinate crops in the first place.Read More

Youth Farm In Hawaii Is Growing Food And Leaders

By NPR News March 28, 2018

Cheryse Sana, left, and Derrik Parker were interns 10 years ago and now help manage the farm's current interns as well as run the day-to-day operations. CREDIT: DAKOTA KIM

The program practices tough love — Hawaiians call it kuleana, or a sense of personal responsibility. Kids commit to more than two years of work, and get free college tuition for their "sweat equity."Read More

Washington Apple Growers Fret Over Possible Chinese Tariffs

By Anna King March 26, 2018

With China threatening to slap the United States with $3 billion in retaliatory tariffs, one group that is worried is Washington apple farmers.Read More

Important Activist – Yet Largely Unknown

By Tom Hungate March 9, 2018

Independent Lens Presents “Dolores” on KTNW-TV One of the most important, yet least known, activists of our time, Dolores Huerta was an equal partner in founding the first farm workers union […]Read More

Northwest Farmers Worry As Fruit Buds ‘Push’ Early

By Anna King February 13, 2018

Workers prune back grape vines at McNary Vineyard outside of Plymouth, Washington. CREDIT: ANNA KING

East of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon -- it’s been about 5 to 10 degrees warmer than normal for most of the winter. And those usually warm conditions have buds on fruit trees and grapevines starting to “push,” or emerge early. That has farmers worried. Read More