About the Commission

The Oregon Wheat Commission is a producer funded and governed program. Our mission is to improve the profitability of Oregon wheat growers through Marketing, Research and Grower Education programs. The Commission cooperates with U.S. Wheat Associates and Wheat Marketing Center to provide technical assistance to customers and develop markets. The majority of the Commission’s research funding goes to researchers at Oregon State University and USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory, focusing on variety development, genomics, quality, fertility and weed management. The Commission also funds, in part, the efforts of the Oregon Wheat Growers League as the industry’s grassroots representative conducting grower education and advocacy efforts.

The Commission is composed of five producer commissioners, one public member and two handlers from the various growing regions of the state. Our responsibility is to allocate assessment funds to specific programs designed to find solutions to immediate and long term issues faced by the wheat producers of Oregon.

Commissioners and Staff

Staff of the Oregon Wheat Commission

Amanda Hoey, CEO

Amanda is the Chief Executive Officer for the Oregon Wheat Commission (state commodity commission) and the Oregon Wheat Growers League (private growers association). She represents Oregon's wheat industry in local, state, national and international arenas.

Amanda has over a decade of executive leadership experience and a close connection to the Oregon Wheat industry, growing up on a dryland wheat farm in Wasco County. She previously served as the Executive Director for Mid-Columbia Economic Development District. Amanda graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Degree in Economics from Whitman College. She is an alumnus of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon and was a Marshall Memorial Fellow through the German Marshall Fund. Serving in her role as CEO she works to strengthen the wheat industry in the state. From enhancing resources for ag research to addressing policy challenges that would otherwise hinder farm profitability/viability, the work of Oregon Wheat is critical to ensuring vibrant rural communities.

Tana Simpson

Associate Administrator
Email Tana
503-467-2161

Tana Simpson was raised on a small farm in rural Clackamas County. She graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business Management and a minor in Animal Sciences in early 2000.

Simpson joined the Oregon Wheat Commission in late 2000 after a brief stint at the Oregon Hazelnut Commission. She serves as the Associate Administrator supporting the Commissions’ financial records and bookkeeping, state and federal compliance and other tasks as needed.

Corey Shrader

Program and Office Coordinator

Email Corey
503-467-2161

Corey originally hails from Western Pennsylvania. Just miles from the of the heart of the Pittsburgh steel industry and a short drive from the coal fields of West Virginia. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s degree from Urbana University in Ohio.

In 2014, Corey relocated to Oregon with his family, where he previously worked for the University of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau prior to joining the Oregon Wheat Commission in 2021. He serves the Oregon Wheat Commission in the Program & Office Coordinator role.

The Informal Story: Formation of the Commission

How the Oregon Wheat Commission was Formed

By Marion T. Weatherford *pictured to the right

The author of this informal story of the formation of the Oregon Wheat Commission, Marion T. Weatherford, was extremely active in all phases of the state's wheat industry and agricultural pursuits in general. His various activities included a term as President of the Eastern Oregon Wheat League (now Oregon Wheat Growers League) after serving on key committees and lesser offices in the organization; 10 years on the Oregon Wheat Commission, four years of which he served as chairman; twenty-one years as chairman of the P.N.W. Grain & Grain Products Association representing the Wheat Commission, five years as President of the Oregon Agricultural Research Council, and two years as President of the Agri Business Council of Oregon. His many other activities combine with those mentioned to catalog him as one of the most devoted and dedicated individuals in the state who has worked in the interests of the wheat industry as well as Oregon agriculture in general. Read his informal account of events leading up to, and the actual formation of, the Oregon Wheat Commission.