Bentz says tariffs and unstable markets are battering Eastern Oregon farmers as wheat prices stagnate and oversupplied cherry crops collapse.

The family farm remains the backbone of this nation’s food system. If we lose that connection between the land and the people who love it, we won’t just lose farms. We’ll lose the foundation of rural America itself.

When people talk about raising the minimum wage, most picture fast food workers or baristas. What they don’t picture is the family farmer—like me—who grows the fresh fruit those same workers eat at the end of their shift.