Help spread the word.
You can help by downloading the Water Quality and Dairy Farms ad campaign (download file on this page) printing it or emailing it to your friends, neighbors, community and government leaders.
You can also help by joining our growing list of sponsors who want to make sure our family farms are in the Valley to stay. To contribute or help sponsor ad campaigns like this one, please call or email Dillon Honcoop:
dhoncoop@savefamilyfarming.org
360-815-7368For far too long a very few, but very loud, critics of dairy farming have had been the only voice heard in the Valley concerning our dairy farms.
It’s never good for the public to hear only one side. Especially when what is said isn’t true or factual.
Yakima Family Farmers is working to change that. The ad campaign is just one example. Here we confront directly many of the claims about dairy farmers, water quality and health. A closer look at the facts will show that the newspaper series in 2009 which started the action against farmers was mistaken, if not irresponsible. The same is true of a now discredited “science” study by the EPA, false accusations of anti-farm activists and exaggerations and distortions from activist lawyers.
For complete details about nitrate and groundwater in the Yakima Valley, view our “Nitrate Story” document on this website.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
DAIRY FARMS IN THE
CROSS HAIRS
Claims about environmental damage caused by the Valley’s 60-some dairy farms are repeated often in media reports – including our local media.
Are they true? Are dairies a good thing or not such a good thing for our community? That’s what we’ll explore here.
To start, let’s talk about nitrate in groundwater. Are our Valley’s dairy farms to blame?
Click here to read “The Nitrate Story.”
FARM LABOR:
ARE THE VALLEY’S FARM WORKERS EXPLOITED? OR DO OUR FARMERS OFFER THEM NEEDED JOBS AND A PATHWAY TO THE FUTURE?
Jose Torres, pictured above, is not a farm laborer. He’s a dairy farmer with his own farm. But he started as a laborer on a dairy. There are many more surprising facts about farm workers.
WHAT MAKES THE YAKIMA VALLEY SO PRODUCTIVE?
More than 75% of the hops grown in the US come from our Valley. Hops are just one of many crops grown successfully here. And hop farmers are finding out that having a variety of farms nearby, including dairy farms, can provide a big boost in sustainability.
Are you one of the 98% who doesn’t own or work on a farm?
Then we’re talking to you. In past years, as much as half the population lived on and worked on farms.
Today, only a few do. That means folks living in our rapidly growing cities have gotten further and further
from where their food comes from. Many are responding with the Farm to Table movement.
That’s great. Most food, though, is grown on family-owned professional farms that operate in regional and even
global markets. Their incredible productivity is why we have the least expensive, safest food supply in history.
We want you to learn more about your food and where it comes from.
You’ll find a lot to like in our Yakima family farmers.
