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Aaron Williams: A sixth-generation hog farmer on legacy, family farms, and more

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Aaron Williams took over his family’s hog farm in Villisca, Iowa, shortly after finishing college. And while he thought about going down a different career path, he knew the family farm — and the hogs that he had raised since he was a child — was his true calling.

After taking the reigns of the farm from his father Bruce, Aaron became the sixth generation of farmers in the family, a tradition he hopes to pass on to his own children.

For almost 20 years, the Williams’ hog farm has been part of Niman Ranch‘s collective of traditional, humane, and sustainable family farms. Aaron is proud to continue his father’s legacy and work with Niman Ranch. Aaron is also quite passionate, as you will see in our talk below, about farming the right way.

 

Roam: Talk about growing up on a farm, and what led you back to Villisca after attending college?

 

Aaron Williams: I’ve spent pretty much my entire life on the farm. 

I’m a sixth-generation farmer and my dad was the fifth-generation farmer, so I grew up around the farm. Since I can remember, my grandpa and my dad raised pigs. My first job was cleaning the hog pens, and pitching manure. 

When I was about seven or eight-years-old, I had 4-H pigs, so I always had animals I was taking care of all year round. When I got a little bit older, I had three or four different sows that I owned, and I ended up selling their pigs. When I was 12, I actually sold my first pigs to Niman, through my dad. Raising and selling pigs from an early age actually allowed me to pay for two years of college.

I left the farm and went off to college at Iowa State University and got an agricultural business degree. During the first few years of school, I thought I wouldn’t come back home, and if I did, it would be at least four or five years after I graduated.

But I worked three or four different internships through college and at every single one I talked to people that worked there about whether or not they enjoyed what they did. And to be honest, not anyone really enjoyed their careers. That made me realize that I wanted to go home and work on the farm. With farming, I could be an entrepreneur and be my own boss for the rest of my life. It’s a lot of work, but worth it. 

 

Roam: So once you did come home, you got the chance to take over the family farm. What was that like?

 

Aaron: So, at some point during my senior year, my dad was like, I’m 61, I’ve been doing this for 36 years, and I’m ready to either sell the herd or pass it on to you. I had been thinking that year about coming home, and I said, what’s the point of waiting for five years, I might as well just make this work now.

So I ended up coming back to the farm right after college and took over his herd. At the time, he had about 60 sows, and I just started growing it from there. Now, I’m up to about 200, so it’s been kind of a whirlwind in recent years, but it’s been fun.

 

Roam: Can you talk about the culture of family farms raising pigs in Iowa and how it has changed over the years?

 

Aaron: Our area, Page and Montgomery county, was the highest pig populated section of Iowa when my dad started about 35 years ago. And now, I think there are only about a handful of pork producers in our two counties. It’s simply that the whole pork industry has changed over the last fifteen to twenty years. 

Everyone used to have sows, and now nobody does. You’ve got a few hog farmers here and there but other than that, the hog industry in our area is non-existent. That’s why it has been so important to work with Niman. Working with them, we’re able to continue our farming business, which is my whole livelihood. 

Hog-farming is my full-time job, and without Niman, I wouldn’t be home farming right now. Through the partnership with them, I was able to come home and start my business, continue to grow the farm, and make a life for myself that maybe I can one day pass on to my own kids.

 

Roam: With Niman, you need to raise pigs to certain standards. That includes no antibiotics, no hormones or artificial growth products, and farms are audited by Niman staff on a regular basis for humane practices, among other rules. Can you talk about what that means to you?

 

Aaron:  I do 100 percent believe that the way we raise pigs is the best way to do it. 

The pigs live a better life. I think they taste a lot better. 

I can tell the difference when ordering pork chops at the market that comes from a pig farm that doesn’t operate at the same standards as a Niman farm. You know, there is a big difference with them being outdoors, in bedding, and not in confinement. I think it just helps a lot with the taste and the quality. I think the protocols and all the other factors, like pasture-raising, has allowed us to be part of an incredibly good quality product with Niman.

 

Roam: What are some of the difficulties you face while raising pigs to those high standards?

 

Aaron: I mean, there are obviously challenges. I think the main one is just labor. I’m out there all day, every day. I’m a one-man band, pretty much, it’s just me and my dad, and it takes a lot of work. 

It’s been nice that I’ve been able to utilize the buildings we already have on the farm. And if I do want to build something that is best for the pigs and our approved open-air structures don’t take as much capital as it does to build the structures compared to the commodity farmers.

Early on, working to Niman standards, we ran into issues with the antibiotics. But we’ve been doing this for so long, it’s not as big of a challenge these days. In the first three or four years it was tough, but since then, we’ve upheld the immunity with our sows. People don’t realize that immunity is passed on from those sows to their babies, that’s why the additional time our piglets spend with their mothers is crucial in establishing those immunities which are the very key to their overall health.

I think we do a pretty good job trying to keep our pigs healthy; you’ve got to start from day one and go until they go to be harvested.

 

Roam: And so where are you now with the farm, and what are you looking forward to?

 

Aaron: I guess the last three or four years that I’ve been just solely focused on growing my business and my herd. Over that period, all my labor has been utilized completely. In the first few years, I didn’t have as many sows as I could’ve handled. Right now, we’re to that point I want to be. 

The biggest thing that gets me out of bed every single day, and that gets me so excited, is that every ounce of energy and every minute of work I spend is seen on the backend for myself. It’s not like you clock in at a job, you collect your paycheck, and you don’t really see what you did. 

I really enjoy looking back at the end of the day, seeing what I did, and then thinking that it was a good day.

I think, in the end, the most rewarding part is going to be able to do what my dad did for me. When I’m older, I want to pass on this business to my kid, you know, to be the seventh generation of this family farming operation. I want to get this operation to the point that it will be easily transferable so my kid can continue with the business in the family.

“hog-farmer”

Meet award-winning Niman Ranch farmer John Gilbert, a family farmer pasture-raising pigs in Iowa

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John Gilbert believes that farming has a continued, prominent role to play in American daily life — in terms of the economic well-being and health, for both the land and its people.

We were introduced to John through Niman Ranch, one of the nation’s largest collectives of  traditional, humane, and sustainable family farms. John has been supplying pigs for Niman for the last 20 years, and was awarded the organization’s “Farmer of the Year” in 2017. Along with his wife Beverly, his son John C., and his son’s wife Sarah, John operates the 480-acre Gibralter Farms. The Gilberts raise antibiotic-free, pasture-farrowed pigs, milk Brown Swiss dairy cattle, and grow an array of crops and forage.  Their family farm sits along Southfork, a tributary of the Iowa River, near Iowa Falls, Iowa.

Roam recently had a chance to interview John about his experiences raising pigs and running a family farm. As you’ll see, John has a powerful message to share when it comes to the role of modern farming in America as well as the importance of raising livestock humanely.

Roam: Great to talk with you John, can you tell us a little about your family’s farming heritage?

John Gilbert: I think my ancestors started out in Connecticut, went to the Finger Lakes region, and stopped in Wisconsin. Then — and I’m not sure why — but when they got to Hardin County in north central Iowa in 1869,  they didn’t go any further.

The farm has been in the family for more than 120 years. Midwestern agriculture has always been built around the dairy cow and the pig. Those are the two primary things that generated both food and income for a lot of farmers. That’s what we’ve always maintained here.

Sometimes, we’ve had more cows, and sometimes we’ve had more pigs, but it’s still a formula that works for us today.

Roam: How did you first become a Niman Ranch farmer?

John Gilbert:  I’m old enough to be a veteran of the farm crisis years in the 1980s. There were a lot of years when you weren’t worried about whether you were making money, you’re just trying to make sure you get the bills paid. And it was about then that we started raising a few pastured pigs — first as part of a 4H project — and one thing led to another.

Later, in the 1990s, I was at a Practical Farmers of Iowa meeting and talked to Thorton area farmer Paul Willis about his project to send pork to this California company. He called a couple of months later because a group was coming from Oakland to look at farms. He asked if they could stop by our place. Three or four carloads ended up stopping; the group included Paul, some of the early people from Niman Ranch, including Bill [Niman], a few folks from Whole Foods, and Diane and Marlene Halvorsen from the Animal Welfare Institute. [Ed. Note: the Halvorsen sisters were instrumental in establishing the protocols still used to raise Niman pigs and for the concept of third-party verification. Paul founded the Niman Ranch Pork Company, giving hundreds of midwestern farmers the vehicle to supply pork to Niman Ranch.]

They took a look at the pigs in our hoop. Bill turned to me and said, “I like your tails.” At that time a lot of the producers didn’t understand that you could raise a pig without having to dock its tail. We just never liked to do that, so we never did. And Bill turned to Paul, and said, “Which way is the tail supposed to curl?” And Paul said, “To the left of course.”  And at that moment, I figured  I could work with these people. [Ed. note: A curly pig’s tail is supposed to be the sign of a happy pig.]

That was about 1998, and I’ve been working with Niman ever since. They’ve been a good partner. I’ve always really been impressed with their people and the level of dedication and perseverance a lot of them have to build something that we can all be proud of.

Roam: Raising livestock humanely is part of being a Niman Ranch partner, but can you talk about why you think people are interested in humane and pasture-raised pigs these days more than ever before?

John Gilbert: You look at the way most pigs are being raised today, and you realize that if industrialization had never happened, there’d probably be no Niman Ranch. I’m reluctant to badmouth industrialization, but the reality is that there’s a world of difference between our animals and most of whatever else is going on the market.

If there wasn’t an awakening of consumer interest, you know, this market probably wouldn’t have taken off.

The only thing that really bothers me a lot is that we’re getting about as much stratification in food availability as we do in economic distribution in the country. I worry that we are building a market that’s not available as widely as we’d like it to be.

I also don’t think you can separate the problems we have in this country with healthcare and disease without realizing that a lot of consumers are eating proactively because they worry that one major health issue could put them into in a bankruptcy. There are people who aren’t sure that their insurance coverage is that good or there are people who don’t have insurance coverage for even minor issues.

I think that there are some things that are motivating it more than just consumer preference, and I think one big one is fear of health problems and realizing that a lot of the things we eat today maybe aren’t the best for us.

Roam: I know conservation is an important topic for you and your wife Beverly, can you talk about the importance of incorporating sustainable farming practices on your farm?

John Gilbert: A wise man once told me that if you have a loss, it’s lost. You may find a way to compensate for a problem, but a loss is a loss. I’ve seen this too many times with the soil. If you have any kind of rain events, you’re going to have soil movement and soil loss. I learned a few of those lessons the hard way. With the soil, you can work the rest of your career and never really make up for the damage you can create in a few minutes.

We have to do everything we can to make the soil better and keep the water cleaner. I feel we really have a moral obligation and that it’s our duty as a farmer to find the system where we can protect the land, produce healthy products, and still pay our bills.

I’ve heard people complain that they can’t do conservation because it doesn’t pay well. In my estimation, you have a moral obligation to find a way to make it pay.

There’s a lot of evidence out there that doing things like going to no-till, using cover crops, and having more than monocultures or mono crops can be more profitable. But there’s a certain amount of people in the in the farming business that, you know, think that “work” is a four-letter word.

Niman Ranch farmer

Roam: Why is it so important for you to raise your pigs in a humane manner? How can more farmers do sustainable or regenerative farming and avoid getting caught in the system of factory farms?

John Gilbert: There’s an adage that democracy is the worst system of government devised by man… except for all the others. There’s an analogy that the modern hog confinement system is the best method to raise pigs, well, that is, except for all the others.

I hate to use the word “greed,” but in a lot of ways, that’s kind of what it is. People think having money gives them economic clout, and we see that with the packers and this commodity-driven industrialization. Because of the factory farms, Iowa has seriously impaired waters that can be tied back to the concentration of hog manure and waste from industrialized farms.

That system is not sustainable for the animal nor the rural economy. Because they have a lot of money to throw at politicians to subvert the democratic process, they get away with a lot of things. I don’t necessarily condemn an individual farmer for investing in one of those stall-based confinement systems, I just think he’s pretty short-sighted and that they are being misled by those who don’t care for the welfare of the pigs or the farmers.

There are enough young people who want opportunities, and who are really interested in raising high-quality food the right way. There’s growing interest to do things the right way.

There are opportunities to mentor younger farmers with programs through Practical Farmers and some other programs Niman is setting up. There is definitely a growing desire to have higher-quality food without having to rely on the confinement systems.

Roam: It seems like you have wanted to raise pigs in a better way for the animals for a long time, can you go into some of the reasons why?

John Gilbert: I’ve been around animals since I was a kid, but I really didn’t come to appreciate the souls of these animals until I left the farm and then came back. What amazes me is just how much these animals are sentient beings. We milk dairy cows, and they are probably some of the most wonderful creatures in the world. You learn a lot if you pay attention to them.

I have a friend and fellow farmer who once told me that he really didn’t start to appreciate husbandry until he could look the animal in the eye. I think part of it was that when he had his animals in stalls,  he was just looking at the back end of the animals, and literally couldn’t look them in the eye. Once we start seeing the animals as individuals and as beings, you know, several things happen. You realize that they have personalities and that there are differences from animal to animal.

You can also pretty quickly learn that life’s a lot better if you can mainly work with animals that have pleasant dispositions. When it came to pigs, it didn’t take me too long to realize that you should be careful which breeding stock you select because you don’t want to be fighting with them all the time. If you pick your right animals, they are more docile and easier to handle, but also, they have a better life. We hope that contributes to having a better quality product in the end.

I have to admit that there is a certain disconnect that you have when you finally get to the point to sell an animal, but that’s the business we’re in. We just want to make sure that they only have one bad day in their life if at all possible.

Whether it’s from a moral standpoint or a practical standpoint, we realize that these creatures didn’t have any choice to be here. And so we’ve got a real obligation to make sure that they have a good life.