Tom Goodwin is the owner/managing member of HardBall Farms, LLC. He has been in the pork industry in some facet over the course of a decade. In addition, Tom graduated from the University of Idaho College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a bachelors degree in Agricultural Business emphasis in Economics. Since college Tom has been expanding HardBall Farms; into a brand working mainly with pork products; however, his works in alternative energy consulting and product value adding as well. Furthermore, he has developed relationships throughout the Treasure Valley of Southwestern Idaho in the food service industry as well as the pork production industry. Tom is active in the Idaho Pork Producers Association and serves on their board of directors. A recent Pork Leadership Academy (PLA ) graduate, Tom has developed a network of professional pork producers from many walks of life as well as has received exposure to the many opportunities the pork industry has to offer and its many threats it faces.

Who HardBall Farms is

HardBall Farms is a locally owned and operated meat production company. They Practice all facets of sustainable agriculture to meet consumers demands. They have a fully functional brand with HardBall Farms Brand pork products servicing restaurants, supermarkets, and other food service outlets. HardBall Farms is involved in the community as a member of the Idaho Pork Producers Association; in an effort to support locally grown pork products and to aid in the continued development of the pork industry in Idaho. Through raising and purchasing only locally grown Idaho pigs HardBall Farms is an Idaho Preferred company. Whether they are selling products to restaurants, buying pigs from Idaho producers, or buying feed supplements from the local feed stores; there is one true bottom line, HardBall Farms is an Idaho company, proud to sell, proud to buy, proud to be Idaho.

How HardBall Farms came to be

HardBall Farms began back in 2000, as HardBall Hogs, with a dream and a 4-H project. Tom started with a sow and some 4-H fair sale money; specializing in selling 4-H project pigs, feeder pigs, and butcher hogs. To Tom this proved to be a fun job between all day at school and football/wrestling practices in the evenings. Needless to say it was enough to handle while in high school. As time passed there became more and more demand for their premium quality, grain fed, butcher hogs; so in turn, they grew. HardBall Farms increased their sow herd to a whopping 6 to meet the demand of the butcher market. After a year or so with the increased growth, Tom decided college was where he needed to go to get a degree in Agricultural Business; the emphasis of the degree changed from Animal Science to Economics by the time he was done, but the underlying reasoning was the same, to go back and build a pork empire. His parents, Jim and Jo Ann were the glue that held this 4-H project on steroids together; when he left to get an education of sorts, they took over truly every facet of the small business. They held the customers in place and kept to the status quo of selling project pigs, feeder pigs, and premium butcher hogs. Upon Tom's graduation from the University of Idaho in 2006, he came back home with the same dream still in his mind; build a pork empire. He started researching how to "brand" products, how to get everything in the supply chain in order; all in an effort to sell pork products to the masses through restaurants, supermarkets, and other food service avenues. This is the path that has lead to where HardBall Farms is today. Effort + opportunity = success is the best equation for business Tom was ever taught.

Where HardBall Farms is heading

HardBall Farms is an ever changing company; with the motto of "Growing the Future" they are always on the cutting edge of improvement on their business model, whether changing strategies to improve on status quo or making their successes "not enough".
Coming to HardBall Farms in the near future is a processing facility being built to provide all kinds of plant protein meals and processed feeds for company use, as well as sell to customers that are looking to feed a quality feed developed to improve efficiencies. HardBall Farms goal for this facility is to keep cost down, give customers a great complete feed for their animals, and to provide an alternative avenue for farmers to take their culls from seed plants.
Another venture HardBall Farms will be stepping into is incorporating Berkshire genetics in their swine herd. With the successes of Kurobuta pork from the Berkshire genetics throughout the world; they just could not resist brining this great trait on board in their operations to improve upon an already outstanding product offered to their customers. With HardBall Farms current genetics, grain based feed formulations, and future incorporation of the Berkshire in their herd; they will be at the top of a very short list of premium pork products available to consumers in the Treasure Valley, and eventually the Pacific Northwest.