Our Family Farmers

Caleb Banowetz has always had an interest in raising pigs. In 2018, Caleb took over the family’s hog farming work, becoming a fifth-generation Banowetz farmer as a junior in high school.

Trish and Nolan Zachman farm in a small town two hours west of Minneapolis, Minnesota where they grow a variety of crops, pasture-raise pigs for Niman Ranch, care for a number of other animals - in addition to raising two young children and running a farm stay experience.

Kody McCleary is a fourth-generation farmer at McCleary Farms in West-Central, Illinois. In 2016, they began working with Niman Ranch, allowing the McClearys to raise pigs once again in the fresh air with space to roam and use their farm’s existing infrastructure.

Eric Boor took over his great-grandfather’s nine-acre farm in southern Iowa four years ago. He and his wife Mikala transformed the property and now raise pigs with their two young children.

Wahl was originally pushed to grow his sheep herd by his oldest daughter, who was about 10 years old at the time.

Aaron Williams is a sixth-generation hog farmer on Williams Family Farm in Villisca, Iowa and a second generation Niman Ranch producer, following in his father’s footsteps—a first generation Niman Ranch farmer starting in their 1998 program.

Gibralter Farms is a multigenerational family farm in north central Iowa, straddling the Southfork, a tributary of the Iowa River.

The Iowa State University (ISU) Western Research Farm was started in 1946. Over 75 years later, the 280-acre farm continues this legacy through research and demonstration projects highlighting sustainable practices.

April Wilson is a third-generation hog farmer. Her family farm, Seven W Farm, was established in 1959 by her grandfather Ernest Wilson.