Stories from the Wheat Farm – Committed to Wheat Quality in Oregon

U.S. wheat farm families grow six distinct classes of wheat across the diverse landscape of the United States. Those farmers take great care in producing the highest quality wheat in the most sustainable ways possible to honor their family legacies and to ensure greater value for their customers at home and abroad. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people.

The Padget Family: Padget Ranches sits on the arid Columbia Plateau above the John Day River in Oregon, where Darren Padget’s family has farmed since 1910. Today, Darren farms with his wife Brenda and their son Logan, as well as his dad Dale, a retired wheat farmer who participated in his 68th wheat harvest in 2020. Their dryland wheat and summer fallow rotation currently produces registered and certified seed on 3,400 acres annually.

Location: Grass Valley, Ore.
Classes of Wheat Grown: Soft White (SW)
Leadership: Darren Padget: 2020/21 Chairman, U.S. Wheat Associates; Commissioner, Oregon Wheat Commission; Past President, Oregon Wheat Growers League; Past Chair, National Association of Wheat Growers Research and Technology Committee; Past Officer, Mid-Columbia Producers Board of Directors.