The Farming Show

The Farming Show


How A News Report Unfairly Labeled Local Animal Farms As Polluters

September 15, 2025

“Animal feeding operations are increasing Whatcom’s air pollution, study finds,” read the initial headline on a misleading article in Bellingham-based Cascadia Daily News, obscuring the fact that the study it referenced did not make such a finding, and that a series of faulty assumptions led to this troubled reporting.

Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers’ Executive Director, joins Dillon with a closer look at some of the mistakes this local news report made, and why bad reporting can cause such a problem for farming.