24 • MARCH 2022
BUSINESS NEWS
COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
Podcaster seeks farm stories
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. 4 Dillon Hon-
coop travels the state and sets up cameras and micro-
phones and interviews farmers, ranchers and others
connected to agriculture for his podcast, <Real Food,
Real People.=
It9s unabashedly pro-farmer, but it isn9t agrarian
pap.
In one episode, a dairy farmer talks about his
mental illness. In another, a vegetable farmer warns
that if Americans <don9t wake up 4 no food!=
Honcoop interviewed his father about retiring
from growing red raspberries. <I feel great relief,= his
dad said.
The podcast ots Honcoop9s background. He grew
up on a farm and went into broadcasting. He said he
thought a lot about becoming a farmer, but decided
it wasn9t realistic. <I don9t think I could handle the
pressure,= he said.
Honcoop started the podcast two years ago and
has recorded more than 88 episodes. If one theme
runs throughout, it9s pressure. The pressure to com-
pete in markets, comply with rules and cope with
weather.
The guests are eclectic and the intended audience
is city residents. Honcoop said he wants to show that
food isn9t produced by the heartless factory farms
conjured up by activists.
<They have done a surprisingly good job of con-
vincing people they need to fear their food,= Hon-
coop said.
<I want to show the human side of people in our
food system,= he said. <Podcasting is well suited to
that because it is so personal.=
The podcast grew from his job as communica-
tions director for Save Family Farming, an advocacy
organization that spiritedly, sometimes pugnaciously,
defends agriculture. The podcast is less political,
more personal.
Honcoop goes on location, a one-man production
unit. He often conducts interviews in oelds or barns.
He and the subject are on opposite sides of a folding
table and sit on overturned buckets, hay bales, cool-
ers and sometimes chairs.
Honcoop, 39, grew up in a county known for
milk and red raspberries. He graduated from Lynden
Christian High School, earned a communications
degree from Trinity Western University in Langley,
British Columbia, Canada, and was a radio reporter
and station manager.
He hosts <The Farming Show= on Saturday
mornings on KGMI in Bellingham, an issue-oriented
program.
Honcoop9s podcast interviews move from per-
sonal stories to contemporary challenges. In episode
58, Wapato farmer Manuel Imperial talks about com-
ing to the U.S. from the Philippines absolutely broke
Dillon Honcoop interviews Washington farmers and ranchers for his podcast, ‘Real Food, Real People.’
Listen to the podcast
To listen to “Real Food, Real People” go to: realfoodrealpeople.org
and not speaking English.
Thirty-seven years later, he9s <an American,
owned by the bank,= he jokes. He provides a tuto-
rial on the perilous economics of row crop farm-
ing. <If we don9t wake up, as Americans, no food
4 seriously.=
The podcast has insights into newsy topics. In
episode 83, Luis Guitron, who manages farmworker
housing, talks about the stress caused by unrelenting
COVID rules. <At what point do these guys get to
relax?= he asks.
There are success stories, aspirational stories and
nostalgic stories.
For episode 46, Honcoop interviewed his 90-year-
old grandfather, Lawrence Honcoop, who was a dairy
farmer in Whatcom County for 45 years. <I had four
boys who could really milk cows,= he boasts.
For episode 88, Honcoop interviewed one of the
boys, his dad, Randy, who says that farming was
scary but also thrilling.
<I9m very relieved to not have the pressure of
having money at risk,= Randy Honcoop said. <I feel
very blessed in my life to have had that opportunity
to have my own farm.=
Honcoop said he plans to start season three this
month and hopes for more seasons after that.
<It will come down to whether we have continued
sponsorship support,= he said. <My pitch to poten-
tial sponsors is, 8Hey, help us keep farming here in
Washington.9=