Washington State Department of Agriculture

The crackdown, known internally as Operation Safe California, began last week in and around San Diego and will work its way north through Los Angeles and up to San Francisco by November, according to the newspaper.

Just a month after confirming the first ever detection of emerald ash borer in the state, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and USDA have confirmed the pest is spreading.

The latest find by WSDA and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was in Walla Walla County in the state's southeast corner.

An earlier detection was in Vancouver, Washington, just north of Portland, Oregon.

The disease was confirmed in two Yakima County dairy farms by the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, that according to the State Department of Agriculture.

For the last two years, WSDA and the diagnostic lab at Washington State University have conducted over 7,000 surveillance tests for HPAI that were all free of the disease.

While dairy cows in 19 states have been infected since the start of the outbreak back in March of 2024, APHIS has seen cases in only a small number of states thus far this year.

APHIS says the detection does not change its HPAI eradication strategy.

Many schools serve local foods all year.

But on Taste Washington Day, all sorts of celebratory activities occur, including a Washington Apple Crunch noontime event and Meet Your Farmer opportunities, according to the WSDA.

WSDA data shows schools have been purchasing more food from local farms in recent years.

As part of the WSDA Regional Markets Program, the Farm to School Program helps local food businesses connect with schools to get more local food in the lunchroom.

Nearly 70 school districts and 40 farms have committed to participating in Taste Washington Day.

Colorado Department of Agriculture accepting grant applications from farms, ranches, and other ag-related businesses hiring interns for the 2027 growing season.

That's my words of advice.

Well, Derek Sanderson, the Washington State Department of Agriculture director, was just the elected president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture for 26-27 year.

Sanderson says NASDA is a group of ag leaders from around the country that do what they can to help our nation's food producers.

Well, it's an organization that consists of all 50 states, the ag directors, commissioners, or secretaries from all 50 states and four territories.

That's what he does.

I work for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and I manage our entomology research laboratory.

On this day in 2020, his phone buzzed.

My boss sent me a picture, and he goes, "Uh-oh," and I looked at it, and I said to myself Uh-oh