PENDLETON — Before leaving Pendleton to head to Grant County, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden stopped by the Umatilla County Sheriff’s station to host a roundtable discussion with local growers and agricultural stakeholders.

Attending the roundtable Thursday morning, April 24, were representatives from the wheat, potato, onion, beef, dairy and food processing industries as well as Oregon House District 58 Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo.

“I thought the conversation went really well,” Levy said. “We’re hoping that the president works with the ag sectors to (concentrate on what’s important in the United States), and Sen. Wyden said he would keep working with him.”

Levy said she left the roundtable feeling like Wyden is “going to work for Oregon,” which was the most important thing to her.

Wyden said after the roundtable what he took away is that growers are worried about “the lack of predictability and certainty,” especially with regard to the effects of tariffs.

“If you were using a targeted tariff approach, which I’ve been supportive of, instead of an across the board approach, you could be sensitive to what these folks talked about,” he said.

Oregon is “a small business state,” the senator said, and small growers are “getting clobbered on their input costs” and are “paying extra for supplies.” He said wheat, in particular, has seen low margins due to high costs and low prices. Levy said Oregon is “not a business friendly state and even less agricultural friendly,” so farmers are all struggling.

During Wyden’s Pendleton town hall the evening of April 23, wheat farmers mentioned concerns over research funding cuts.

“They feel like they’re getting hit every which way,” he said. “They’re in the ring and getting punches from every corner.”

With the tariffs in mind, Wyden said he and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, introduced a privileged resolution April 8 to eliminate the national emergency President Donald Trump declared April 2 to impose broad tariffs. A privileged resolution requires a vote on the Senate floor.

Wyden said they introduced the resolution because the Constitution “makes it clear that the Founding Fathers gave the power of the purse” to Congress, not the executive branch.

“It’s just the beginning of the debate,” Wyden said of the resolution. “I’m glad that we’ve been able to, under the rules, ensure that the start of the debate is going to be bipartisan, because you don’t see a lot of that right now.”

Representing growers across Eastern Oregon at the roundtable April 24 were Randy Bracher, Bracher Farms; Steve Corey, Corey, Byler & Rew; Dr. Ehrin Dawson and Greg Harris, ThreeMile Canyon Farms; Tanner Hawkins, Hawkins Ranch; Amanda Hoey, Oregon Wheat Commission; Bill Hoyt, Oregon Beef Council/Hawley Ranch Natural Meats; Debbie Raddie, Boardman Foods; Gary Roth, Oregon Potato Commission; Brittany Szasz and Will Wise, Oregon Beef Council; Julie Rentsch, Oregon Dairy Council; Mike Ward, Ward Ranches; and Casey Huxel and Gary Frederickson, Frederickson Farming.