The seven-part initiative, titled the National Farm Security Action Plan, is based on the idea that “farm security is national security,” according to a preamble to USDA’s written plan.

Projects ranging from floodplain restoration to improving water quality and fish passage will benefit from nearly $5 million in funding being provided by Oregon and Washington state lawmakers. 

One of the Tri-Cities’ largest employers is increasing the size of its board of directors, with a number of its current members stepping down. 

Washington is one of five states most dependent on H-2A workers in the country -- whose numbers have ballooned in the last decade to about 33,000. 

Researchers estimate the deaths, likely caused by viruses, have resulted in more than $600 million in lost pollination income and honey production, as well as the costs to replace the colonies.

President Donald Trump is directing federal agencies to withdraw from a settlement with tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon that could have led to the breaching of the Snake River dams.

Once the new Pasco facility is fully operational, it will be able to process up to 8 million pounds of milk a day –equivalent to 930,233 gallons – to produce butter and powdered milk products for domestic and global markets. 

Fruit processor Del Monte Foods is shuttering facilities in Yakima and Wapato as of early August. The closure means the loss of nearly 500 jobs. 

The company’s failure to provide records for a scheduled compliance review led state labor investigators to uncover the company’s alleged failure to inform thousands of its workers of details of their jobs and compensation as required by state law. 

While the state oversees groundwater permits, some of the water comes from surface level irrigation as part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Project. That co-mingling has made it difficult to determine who gets to use that water and what agency is responsible for it.