Farms.com Home   News

Agriculture This Week: Farming always evolving

When you have grown up on a farm in the 1960s and ‘70s it is almost beyond belief the changes in farming we see today. 

It was a mixed farm for me, and that meant pigs and grain. 

In my youth I hauled a lot of ground grain to feed the pigs using cleaned five-gallon pails that originally were filled with some weed spray, or another. 

Looking back over some 40-years it seems like it was such a crazy thing, but repurposing the pails was pretty standard. I’m pretty sure potatoes came from the garden to the cellar bin in similar pails. 

Of course I clearly recall Dad taking plugged nozzles off the sprayer, his gloves getting soaked in the process, and then simply blowing out the nozzle with his breath. 

Knowing what we do now it’s a wonder what health problems were caused in a time we didn’t know better, or were reluctant to change. Dad lived to a considerable age, his heart giving out one day, but one wonders. 


Trending Video

CEO’s of the Industry with Patrick Joyce from Passel Farms

Video: CEO’s of the Industry with Patrick Joyce from Passel Farms

CEOs of the Industry, Jim Eadie sits down with Patrick Joyce of to discuss the rapid growth and evolution of one of the pork industry’s emerging large-scale operations.

The conversation explores the integration of Cactus Family Farms, the operational challenges of managing a multi-state farrow-to-finish system, and how Passel Farms is balancing scale with culture, leadership, and community impact through initiatives like Passel Provides.

Patrick also shares insights on Prop 12 repopulation projects, innovation in swine production, sustainability, animal welfare, and the future direction of the pork industry over the next decade.