Ag Trends

Scott Heartquist clearly remembers the moment agriculture took a leading role in his family’s life.

His wife and business partner, Christie Heartquist, was recovering from a difficult medical procedure. An active homesteader, she’d spent several months recuperating and dealing with daily treatments. So, when Scott came home one day to find her excitedly sharing her research on sheep, he knew their trajectory was about to change.

“I’m expecting frustration and instead, she’s talking to me about sheep,” he recalled at a recent tour of their farm in Winkelman, Arizona. “We had the opportunity to create something, and it was in line with what we were already doing.”

The Heartquists own and operate the 110-acre Heartquist Hollow Family Farm, where they raise and process grass-fed and grass-finished sheep and cattle and heritage pigs for direct-to-consumer and retail sales in Arizona. They are undergoing a major addition to their on-site processing plant, and are close to achieving USDA certification, with financing support from AgWest’s AgVision™ program, which supports young, beginning and small producers.

Scott and Christie walk their property.

The couple’s interest in growing their own food took root during their former careers working with at-risk youth, many of whom didn’t know where their food came from. “It was evident to us that our younger population is really disconnected from their food,” Christie says. “When we got married, we knew that we wanted our kids to have chores, and to be connected to their food.”

They started with chickens, sheep and pigs on their acre-and-a-quarter plot. They made a name for themselves at the farmers market in Gilbert, offering their meat and produce as well as specialty items like bread, eggs, salsa and pickled vegetables. As demand for their products grew, the Heartquists expanded their herds, pasturing them on land in their local area. They were maxing out storage in their home with meat and other products and crowding the space they shared with their three daughters.

They started with chickens, sheep and pigs on their acre-and-a-quarter plot. They made a name for themselves at the farmers market in Gilbert, offering their meat and produce as well as specialty items like bread, eggs, salsa and pickled vegetables. As demand for their products grew, the Heartquists expanded their herds, pasturing them on land in their local area. They were maxing out storage in their home with meat and other products and crowding the space they shared with their three daughters.

“We were having to commit to processing dates a year in advance,” Christie says. “Not only were we running out of product, we had to feed our animals for longer, and it really wasn’t a good situation.”

Those dynamics led to their purchasing the ranch in Winkelman. The added acreage and ability to control their own processing were key operational improvements. The Heartquists now process about five or six cows each week, and 40 sheep and 10 pigs a month, a huge jump in production over their homestead.

But demand from their customers – and for their processor – has only continued to increase, and they are out of facility space.

“Two years ago, we started to run out of the product we could store in February,” Scott says. “Last year, we back-stocked, which helped us last until April or May. We really had to figure something out.”

Turned away by other lenders, they eventually connected with Matt Beyer, Relationship Manager in AgWest’s Tempe, Arizona, branch, who helped tailor several loan products through the AgVision program. Scott says the education and support he’s received working with an institution that understands agriculture has been invaluable.

“They understand that the ledger runs backwards in the summer here,” Scott says. “Most banks don’t.”

With that financial support, the Heartquists are adding two hanging coolers and two freezers to the plant that will allow them to put away more product for the busy seasons (fall and winter). They are also adding a second processing room and a grind room, building out the cramped facilities that exist currently. With careful planning and construction, they expect to receive USDA certification by the end of the year.

The ranch supports grass fed, grass finished cattle and 300 Katahdin hair sheep, which can tolerate hot environments. They raise a long-snouted heritage breed of pig called Mangalitsa, which produces about 50% more meat than the Kune Kunes they previously bred.

Having relocated from Alaska in 2015, the Heartquists are no strangers to harsh conditions. But the scorching temperatures and the extended dry season in central Arizona are enough to test even the toughest producer.

“In Alaska, you can keep putting on layers, but here – when you're done, you're done,” Christie says.

Reliable electricity is an ongoing challenge in their rural area. To protect against outages, Christie is applying for a grant to purchase solar panels to power their two well pumps. Currently, they water their animals by hand during outages.

For Scott and Christie, the opportunity to provide their community with a quality source of food brings meaning to their lives, and one measure of their success is in the legacy they are creating for their daughters.

Christie and Scott prepare for the market.

“It warms my heart when I see our kids work at the farmers markets,” Christie says. “They are young people who are knowledgeable and confident and can look a stranger in the eye and tell them where that cut comes from on an animal, how that animal was raised and how to cook it. Then, they can count the change backwards without a calculator.

“It’s really neat to be on the customer side and see: They’ve got it. They totally have this handled.”