Daniel Jepsen is normally too busy to keep up with politics, but even he’s paying attention now.
The 40-year old resident of Ione, a small town in Morrow County, manages a farm that has been passed down for four generations, since his great-grandfather purchased a small piece of land in the area.
As a lifelong farmer, Jepsen said he’s long grown accustomed to adjusting operations depending on myriad factors, ranging from droughts and storms to increased fertilizer costs and new regulations. Those challenges, he said, “are just part of the agricultural cycle, I suppose.”
But as the Trump administration attempts to shut down federal aid programs to other countries, Jepsen is one of many Oregon wheat farmers worried that cuts to international programs will boomerang locally.
For decades, the federal government has purchased wheat from Oregon farmers to send to vulnerable populations overseas. In some recent years, federal agencies purchased nearly 1 million metric tons of wheat from farmers nationwide, according to Amanda Hoey, chief executive of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, a statewide trade association.
That aid has mostly been funneled through the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has provided food to hunger-stricken people in more than 150 countries, federal data shows.
“Oregon farmers have had a very long-term commitment to working within international food aid programs,” Hoey said. “Countries that need it, certainly in global crises, have indicated that food aid and the generosity of the American people and American farmers has been of benefit.”
But the agency’s fate is in limbo following President Donald Trump’s move last month to pause all foreign aid and gut the agency. A judge blocked the order on Feb. 13, allowing some programs to resume, but with hundreds of contracts paused and thousands of federal workers on leave, aid recipients and American workers continue to feel the impact.
The pause on foreign aid has ripple effects both abroad and in rural Oregon, where wheat is among the state’s most important commodities. In 2023, farmers across Oregon harvested more than 40 million bushels of wheat — equivalent to 1.1 million metric tons — with a total production value of $266 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Most of that wheat is exported. That’s because the Pacific Northwest has ideal weather conditions for growing soft white wheat, the vast majority of which gets traded to Asian countries. It is often used to improve the quality of other wheat products and for specialty foods like sponge cakes or Asian noodles, according to the U.S. Wheat Associates.
But having the federal government as a customer has provided some stability to farmers in recent years, helping to ease market volatility caused by factors such as the war in Ukraine and changing consumer habits, experts say. In other words, the increased demand has buoyed wheat prices regardless of other market trends.
“We are in a tough spot right now, and certainly (losing that business) is going to put some pressure on us,” said Craig Reeder, a wheat farmer and chief operating officer of Pacific Ag, a Hermiston-based company that harvests and supplies crop residue for farmers in multiple states. “Long term, that is an important outlet for us.”
Furthermore, all Oregon wheat farmers benefit from increased government orders. Similar to other grains, wheat is pooled at mills and export facilities, meaning that individual growers don’t decide the destination of their product and collectively benefit from any increased orders.
“When the U.S. government comes in to purchase wheat, it has a positive impact on the market, which has a trickle-down effect to local farmers,” said Jepsen, the Ione wheat farmer.
If the government doesn’t resume its purchases, some producers expect that wheat prices will drop in the coming months and force them to take cost-cutting measures like laying off workers or increasing production of other crops.
“I think it’ll take us through this next harvest, so it’ll be July or August and we’ll see what the demand does,” Reeder said. “But I think it will certainly take a bite out of us.”
For many of Oregon’s family farms that operate with thin margins, a small difference in revenue can mean serious long-term damage. Jepsen, who only employs one full-time worker, said a drop in revenue could force him to send his employee home early some days to avoid paying him overtime.
But some wheat farmers are skeptical that the foreign aid pause will significantly impact their business. The market price for soft white wheat has increased over the past month, indicating that traders haven’t been discouraged by the expected drop in government orders. Additionally, federal wheat purchases have declined in recent years, meaning farmers have been adjusting to fewer government dollars for some time, according to the Idaho Wheat Commission.
“It doesn’t affect me directly at this moment, but it might, and I don’t know what funding cuts will happen,” said Andre Rauch, a partner in his family’s business, Starvation Farms, which grows wheat and other crops in Morrow and Umatilla counties. “There’s so much uncertainty.”
While not all farmers are immediately worried about the financial impact of losing foreign aid, many acknowledge that could quickly change. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would release $20 million in frozen funds for approved contracts with farmers, specifically for conservation and other farmer programs. However, that amount is only a small fraction of the total federal aid still in limbo.
“Right now, my own personal thoughts are, ‘Let’s wait and see what happens,’” said Brent Cheyne, a Klamath Falls wheat farmer who served as the 2023-2024 president of trade association North American Wheat Growers. “I also think that to get the nation’s financial ship righted, everybody’s going to feel a little bit of pain that maybe they weren’t expecting.”
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