Growers face uncertainty — tariffs, labor shortages and diminished federal support — as harvest approaches

Soon after taking office, Trump placed tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, which he subsequently paused for neighboring countries and later reinstated. The president then announced a 10% baseline tariff on imported goods from almost all countries, alongside reciprocal tariffs ranging from 11% to 50%, calculated using what some economists called a questionable formula, on nearly 60 countries during his April 2 “Liberation Day.”

Two days later, Wall Street lost more than $6 trillion in market value, prompting a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs shortly afterward, except those on China. While courts have gone back and forth on the validity of Trump’s tariffs, which he largely enacted using emergency powers without authorization from Congress, and almost none apply to imported fruit, the erratic changes alone are enough to concern Tamura and Chandler.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty because the crop can’t wait, our workers can’t wait,” said Chandler, who owns a cherry orchard in The Dalles. “If there’s a trade war with a specific country, how do we pivot away from that?”

Pears can’t sit in storage forever, as Tamura explained, and packing houses need to start shipping cherries, at most, four days after processing, so timing is critical. Growers rely on export markets to hold prices steady if there’s oversupply domestically; every year, Oregon and Washington typically send 25% to 35% of their apples, cherries and pears abroad.

Beyond overall market volatility, Trump’s tariffs are altering trade relationships with the largest importers of fruit produced in the Gorge. According to the Northwest Horticultural Council (NHC), Mexico and Canada purchased the most apples and pears in 2024, while Canada and China were the largest international markets for cherries.

“We have all of these countries that we trade with, and we rely on these systems in order to be able to sell our commodities and actually get some money back in the end,” said Tamura. “It could absolutely have a domino effect.”

“We’re challenged by a lack of free-trade agreements and lack of movement on trade by U.S. policymakers in recent years,” said Riley Bushue, vice president of NHC, in a written statement to Columbia Gorge News. “If U.S. trade policy is heading in a different direction, we’re hopeful it will provide benefit to our growers who are export-dependent to survive as an industry.”

The potential impact of tariffs, however, doesn’t matter if fruit stays on the trees. For years, growers have struggled to find and pay enough farmworkers, and that was before Trump began his immigration crackdown.

Across the country, about two-thirds of crop farmworkers are immigrants, according to the most recent National Agricultural Workers Survey. Based on data from the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) census, the total number of hired farm laborers in Oregon and Washington declined by around 14,000 and 52,000 people, respectively, from 2017-2022, but growers’ margins remained tight.

For example, in a survey of apple growers conducted last year, NHC found that aggregate labor costs increased by 127% between 2013-2023. During that same time period, Bushue said the check growers received when their fruit sold only increased by 22%.

“A lot of us utilize the H-2A foreign guest-worker visa program. That has its own challenges, but it is a really valuable program for us just because of the labor shortages we face,” said Tamura. “There’s definitely a culture of fear in the area right now.”

As previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, the threat of deportation by federal authorities is forcing some local immigrants to stay in their homes as much as possible. Just last week, large-scale raids took place at packinghouses and fields in California.

As a result, Chandler is starting his harvest without about half of his normal labor force because they’re afraid to travel. Other local growers have told him that authorities are denying entry to their workers with H-2A visas at the border, despite following the appropriate regulations.

“Our workers, our immigrants, are a vital part of our community. It’s not us and them, it’s just us,” said Chandler. “This is not a type of work that people who grew up in the United States are really interested in — it’s physical labor, it’s skilled labor ... Our farmworkers are our partners, and we equally share their concerns.”

As Tamura mentioned, the H-2A program offers an important lifeline, but farmers are required to supply free housing and transportation while paying rates higher than the minimum wage in Oregon and Washington. From Bushue’s view, these conditions are unsustainable, driving the consolidation of orchards and a larger problem than tariffs.

“Pacific Northwest tree fruit growers have been fighting for survival, regardless of tariffs and retaliation. Labor and other input costs are the determining factor for whether tree fruit growers survive as an industry or are forced to rip orchards out of the ground,” he wrote.

Support from USDA and its arms, like the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), can typically help growers pursue necessary projects and upgrades, despite those burdens. Through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program, NRCS gave Tamura financial assistance to revamp her entire irrigation system and install micro-sprinklers, which use less water than conventional sprinklers and apply it directly to the root.

Carly Heron, district conservationist for NRCS, confirmed the Parkdale Field Office was temporarily affected by the government-wide funding freeze this past January, but her office has since completed all existing contracts. Under Trump’s direction, though, USDA is proposing to slash the NRCS’s budget by $804 million dollars for the next fiscal year, nearly a 90% reduction.

“Whatever shifts and changes may come, we’re still going to work really hard to provide all of those services to the public, as we have been doing,” said Heron.

Likewise, USDA is looking to cut the Farm Service Agency’s budget by $372 million come October. The agency supports the delivery loans to farmers starting or expanding their operations, disaster relief and payments when commodity sales fall below guaranteed levels. More than 15,000 employees resigned from USDA after the agency encouraged them to, according to congressional testimony from Secretary Brooke Rollins.

“Somehow we decided that all federal employees are now lazy and don’t do anything, which is a completely unfair characterization,” said Chandler. “Without them, how do we get through all this stuff?”

“Things can be chaotic, and they certainly are right now,” said Tamura. “We just try to keep our heads down and do what we can for ourselves, for our employees, for our neighbors and try to push forward.”