Column: When Local Infrastructure and Global Trade Collide: A Farmer’s Perspective
Thoughts from the Tractor Seat
By Ken Polehn
As I sit here on my tractor seat, the view stretches far beyond my orchard rows. These days, the pressures on family farms stretch just as far—across state lines, trade routes, and policy halls.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, the recent closure of processing facilities like the Cargill feed mill in Ferndale, Washington, has left farmers scrambling. With only one feed mill left in the region, what used to be a local trip now requires long hauls across the state or even into Idaho. That’s more fuel, more time, and more strain on already thin margins.
Layered on top of this is the weight of tariffs. A 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico—two of our biggest trading partners—has sparked retaliatory tariffs that target what we grow best: apples, cherries, dairy, and potatoes. Our family farm exports cherries every summer, so I know firsthand the anxiety of watching prices get squeezed from both ends—here at home and in foreign markets.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, farmers face a different kind of squeeze: the state’s new overtime laws, which drop the threshold to 48 hours this year and to 40 by 2027. In theory, fair wages for farm workers are a good thing. But the unintended consequence is fewer hours and paychecks for those who want to work, and even more paperwork and cost for those of us trying to keep the farm afloat.
California is a cautionary tale for us all. Their regulatory costs have skyrocketed 1,400% since 2006—outpacing the value of their crops. That’s a hard lesson in what happens when well-meaning policies add up year after year without considering the bigger picture. California farmers also struggle with labor shortages as immigration policy tightens and with billions in lost export sales from renewed tariff fights.
What does it all add up to? A reminder that farming is never just about the dirt under our feet. It’s about infrastructure—like feed mills and canneries—that keep us close to our markets. It’s about labor policies that balance fairness with practicality. It’s about trade deals and regulatory systems that see us not as an afterthought, but as essential to the economy and to the food on America’s tables.
So as I steer this tractor down the row, I’m reminded:
We need policies that keep local processing and transport infrastructure alive, not let them crumble.
We need labor laws that respect workers and the seasonal, specialized nature of farming.
We need trade policies that open doors, not close them, so our harvests feed the world—not rot in a warehouse.
The work ahead is about more than saving one farm or one crop. It’s about protecting the resilience of the entire food system—one decision, one policy, and one tractor seat at a time.
Sitting on my tailgate at lunch, looking over the fields with cherry harvest just days away—these are the thoughts I’d like to share. — Ken Polehn, Thoughts from the Tractor Seat
About the author:
I was born in 1961 into a second-generation farm family in The Dalles. I grew up on a tractor seat, moving irrigation pipe with my sisters before school, and spent my summers picking cherries alongside the children of migrant families who returned year after year. My wife, children, and parents have all worked the same land. I’ve served as county Farm Bureau president, sat on the county fair board, and continue to support 4-H and FFA. I’ve seen firsthand what happens when farmers are squeezed out—not just of business, but of the conversation.
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