Capital Press
by Mateusz Perkowski
At the age of 22, Amanda Staehely suffered an ankle injury that derailed the ballet career that she’d spent most of her life pursuing. Staehely began practicing ballet as a toddler, working her way up through years of training to become a dancer with the Oregon Ballet Theatre. “I was so young, I don’t remember how I got started. I don’t remember ever not dancing,” she said. But after falling and hurting her ankle badly enough to require reconstructive surgery — barring further performances in point shoes — the future Staehely had envisioned was suddenly impossible. “Your whole idea of what you’re doing with your life changes,” she said. “Everything you think you’ll be doing for the next 10 to 15 years has disappeared. You re-evaluate and find a different path.”
Backup career
As career-ending injuries are hardly unheard of in the ballet industry, Staehely had already been contemplating back-up careers before that ill-fated landing cut short her time as a professional ballerina. Initially, she pivoted to running a Pilates studio, but as time went on and she became more involved in her husband Wayne’s company, Columbia Nursery near Canby, Ore. The nursery industry afforded Staehely the chance to explore her long-held interest in politics. Before joining the Oregon Ballet Theare, Staehely had considered studying political science, and she grew up debating politics with her father, Jerry Simnitt, who operates the Simnitt Nursery near Canby, Ore. “He’d play the other side and question me, to see how strong I was in my arguments,” she said. Though she’d spent her childhood surrounded by nursery stock, Staehely said it’s really her husband who has an avid fascination with plants, while she’s more passionate about the human dimensions of the industry and how it operates in the world. “We work really well together in that sense,” she said. “We’re both very different, so we complement each other in that way.”
Advocacy work
Staehely’s advocacy for the nursery industry, which spans contentious issues such as agricultural overtime as well as more quotidian but critical matters like pest inspection funding, was recently recognized with the Oregon Association of Nurseries’ Political Awareness Award. In speaking to the Oregon Legislature, the U.S. Congress and representatives of federal agencies, Staehely is adept at conveying the varied challenges that nurseries face with transportation, labor and natural disasters, said Jeff Stone, OAN’s executive director. “She’s been an exceptional advocate for the industry at the state and federal levels,” he said. “She’s really developed the ability to talk about what it’s like to be a small grower.” In a Democrat-dominated state such as Oregon, lobbying efforts for small businesses must have bipartisan appeal if they’re going to be effective, Staehely said. Progressive lawmakers are generally well-intentioned but often don’t realize the counterproductive effects of certain policies, such as Oregon’s decision to phase out the agricultural exemption for higher overtime wages, she said. “I understand what they’re wanting to have happen, but that is a clear example of how they do not understand how agriculture works and how these employees live,” Staehely said. “I know a lot of nurseries right now, employees are upset their bosses because they’re like, ‘Why are my hours being cut?’ And they’re like, ‘We don’t want to cut, but we have to because we can’t do overtime.’” Staehely believes that agriculture is best served by educating lawmakers about the on-the-ground impacts of their policies, but the strategy isn’t always effective given Oregon’s “hostile” approach to business, she said. On the federal level, she testified before the House Agriculture Committee in favor of including specialty crop research and insurance in the next Farm Bill. Though the Republican-led Congress may be viewed as more business-friendly, Staehely said its inaction on such key agricultural legislation is becoming “embarrassing,” “They still haven’t passed it, so I don’t know if I was that effective, apparently,” she joked. “I mean, truly, if they cannot get this together, it is out of control.”
Defending ag
While setbacks are frustrating, Staehely said they shouldn’t undermine confidence in agricultural groups, who quietly, but successfully, defend against destructive policies during each legislative session. “There are so many really scary things that are put to the test on a regular basis,” she said. “And thank goodness we have those organizations and the leadership there to fight those fires right when they happen.” Currently, Staehely is enrolled in the Horticulture Research Institute’s Leadership Academy, a year-long program meant to build management, organization and communication skills, during which she’s studying how automation affects the nursery workforce. As part of her research, Staehely is interviewing nursery operators to see if mechanized processes have an impact on employee retention, including whether workers are more likely to leave their positions or simply shift into other ones. “What we’ve been finding is most of the time, employees are hesitant at the beginning to have a new machine taking their job, and they think that they’re at risk for losing a job,” she said. “But then at the end of the day, they realize, ‘Oh my gosh, this has been amazing. I’m able to go do these other jobs.’ They’re even moved up into different management positions or other positions within the company that they may not have been able to do before.” Following her father Jerry Simnitt’s footsteps, Staehely has already served as the president of the OAN and plans to continue lobbying for the nursery industry, but she’s also considering running for political office herself at some point in the future. If she does take the plunge, OAN’s executive director, Jeff Stone, said he’d an enthusiastic supporter of her political ambitions. “I would go on leave and campaign hard for her,” he said. “We need to have common-sense lawmakers.”
Amanda Staehely
Position: Co-owner of Columbia Nursery, former professional ballerina Hometown: Canby, Ore. Education: Graduate of Canby High School, extensive training in ballet Family: Husband, Wayne Staehely, and three young children