Don Jenkins

Bird flu was confirmed Tuesday at a chicken farm in Franklin County, Wash., the latest detection in a prolonged outbreak that has now claimed more than 100 million birds nationwide. The farm will be quarantined and the chickens euthanized, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The USDA reported the outbreak affected 839,700 birds.

Washington farmers and truckers have barely touched a $28.5 million pot of money the state set aside to partially refund them for the cap-and-trade taxes they paid on fuel in 2023. They have claimed $1.86 million, or just 6.5% of the money, the Department of Licensing reported. The department started taking applications Aug. 26. It and farm groups expected the money to go quickly.

A farm labor contractor based in Kennewick, Wash., has been fined $252,475 and banned from recruiting foreign farmworkers for three years by the U.S Department of Labor. The department accused Harvest Plus LLC of housing, transportation and wage violations, and denying U.S. workers jobs. Harvest Plus provided workers to farms in Benton and Yakima counties through the H-2 program, according to the department.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 22 states have joined a national movement to block the U.S. Department of Labor from giving foreign and some domestic farmworkers the right to unionize. Mississippi became the 22nd state to enter the dispute by signing onto a suit filed Oct. 8 in the U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi by the chamber and the American Farm Bureau.

Scout Clean Energy lashed out at the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, arguing the council's endorsement of the Horse Heaven wind and solar project has "little value." EFSEC recommends Washington Gov. Jay Inslee permit the massive green energy installation on hills near the Tri-Cities, but with conditions that "existentially threatens the project's viability," according to Scout.

Rye Development promotes its Goldendale energy project along the Columbia River in south-central Washington as a cornerstone of the Northwest's clean energy future, but first it must deal with the past. The Florida-based company has sought to assure tribes and historic preservation officials it will minimize harm to archeological sites as it builds a $3.3 billion pump-storage energy plant 8 miles southeast of Goldendale. Tribes and government officials, however, are skeptical.

The Kamala Harris campaign has a lengthy "issues" page on its website that never uses the word "agriculture." The Republican Party platform posted on Donald Trump's website doesn't either. Both have records on agriculture, however. Trump made one as president. Harris co-owns the policies of the Biden-Harris administration. According to the Harris-Walz campaign, federal spending has and will help farmers and rural residents. Trump say he admires farmers and they should admire him. "Special group of people, the farmers. Nobody's done for farmers what I've done," he says.

The National Weather Service on Thursday lowered the chances that a La Nina will form this fall to 60%, down from 71% a month ago. If a La Nina takes shape, it's expected to be weak and could lack the snowpack-building, drought-busting punch of a stronger La Nina, according to the weather's service Climate Prediction Center.

A Central Washington dairy accused by the Environmental Protection Agency of polluting groundwater will sell its cows and close. Liberty Dairy, one of three Yakima Valley dairies targeted by the EPA, will auction about 9,000 cows and heifers Aug. 19 in Toppenish.

The USDA forecasts the U.S. cranberry harvest will be up slightly this year, raising prospects for prices to fall. Farmers in the four leading cranberry states will produce 82.4 million pounds, up 2% from 2023, USDA predicts.