Many Roots, One Passel: Reflecting on Two Years of Growth, People, and Purpose
Written by Pat Joyce, Chief Executive Officer
As Passel Farms approaches its second anniversary, it is worth remembering that our story is both new and old.
Passel Farms was formed in May 2024, but the work behind began long before the name appeared on a sign, a paycheck, a farm report, or a website. Our company brought together the talent, resources, relationships, and investments of two established businesses to create something stronger: a larger, more focused, more integrated pork production company built for the long haul.
The word passel means “a group.” For us, it has become more than a name. It is a reminder of who we are and how we work: a group of employees, growers, families, communities, and partners united in purpose. We are more than pork producers. We are a network of people working together to do right by our animals, our people, and our communities.
Our “Group” Has Deep Roots
One branch is traced through Standard Nutrition Company. Founded in 1886, Standard is celebrating its 140th anniversary this month as well which includes the businesses and people connected to its history, including Kerber Milling Company, Hawkeye Sow Centers, and Schneider Milling. From these roots comes a long tradition of livestock nutrition expertise, production experience and management, producer relationships, and Midwestern presence and work ethic. Standard’s swine production and management businesses carried forward a deep and experienced understanding of what it takes to serve animals, growers, employees, and stakeholders every day with a vision that “Best People = Best Results.”
Another branch is traced through Cactus Feeders and the development of Cactus Family Farms. Cactus Feeders’ history is rooted in beef production since 1975. What began as a diversification strategy grew into a focused pork platform. With the creation of Cactus Family Farms in 2014, including the purchase of Orangeburg Foods (South Carolina) and later Swine Graphics Enterprises (Iowa), the pork business developed its own people, systems, culture, community presence, and production history, with a purpose of “feeding a hungry world, starting with family, friends, and neighbors” alongside its beef business.
In May 2024, Those Roots Came Together
The combination was not simply about getting bigger. Yes, the scale of the business changed. Passel Farms now represents roughly 60,000 sows and about 1.5 million full-value hogs marketed annually, with a footprint anchored in Iowa and reaching into surrounding Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Indiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. But the real story is not about size alone. It is about what scale makes possible: stable partnerships, meaningful careers, stronger systems, responsible animal care, and stronger rural communities.
For Standard, the formation of Passel Farms created clarity providing for the swine production and management segments of the business to focus directly on live animal production and stakeholder return. For Cactus, the combination created similar clarity by allowing the pork segment to move from diversification into singular focus. Two 30,000-sow farrow-to-finish operations became one company with one direction.
Becoming ONE Passel
But bringing two strong histories together is never as easy as drawing a new organization chart.
The first challenge was integration. Teams needed common information, common systems, and common language. The decision was made to move quickly. Rather than stretch the pain of integration over years, Passel Farms moved through major system integration in the first six to eight months. It was difficult work, but it forced teams to learn from each other, solve problems together, and begin operating from the same source of information with the same purpose.
The hard work completed in our first two years produced something important. By the time Passel Farms reached its first anniversary in May 2025, the idea of One Passel had emerged. Not two legacy companies operating side by side. Not separate systems, separate cultures, or separate futures. One group. One company. One Passel.
Families Feeding Families
If the first year was about bringing the pieces together, the second year has been about intentionally becoming who we are.
Our message today is simple: Together we are Families Feeding Families. That phrase matters because it connects every part of the business. We feed and care for animals. We create opportunities for employees. We partner with growers. We supply processors. We invest in communities. And ultimately, the work we do helps feed families far beyond our own farms.
That purpose also shows up in our values. Passel Farms has emphasized excellence, accountability, integrity and honor, teamwork, balance, dignity and respect, and trust. These are not meant to be words on a poster. They are meant to guide hiring, grower relationships, decision-making, communication, and the way we respond when conditions are difficult.
From Cactus Cares to Passel Provides
Community has also remained central to the story. Through Passel Provides, Passel Farms has carried forward the legacy of Cactus Cares, originally established in 2018. That charitable work now includes food pantry support, direct meat donations, scholarships, youth and student support, and local partnerships. The vision is rooted in a simple belief: when we feed, serve, care for, and improve the well-being of families, friends, and neighbors in a sustainable way, we make the communities where we live and work better for all of us.
The work is practical and personal. Passel Provides’ POWER Program purchases meat through university meat labs to donate directly to food pantries supporting agricultural education while delivering high-quality protein to food-insecure communities. Its Snack Kit Program serves students in Clarendon County, South Carolina, with ready-to-eat weekend food. Its scholarship program supports employees, contract growers, and their families across post-secondary pathways. Since 2020, the organization has helped donate more than 235,000 pounds of meat to communities in need.
It’s About The People
That is why the Passel story should not be told only as a business combination. It is a people story.
It is the story of employees who carried legacy knowledge into a new organization. It is the story of growers who continue to choose partnership over transaction. It is the story of teams that move and advance through difficult challenges and keep farms running. It is the story of communities that have been served by our “root” companies and people for many years and are now part of a broader Passel network. It is the story of two strong histories becoming one company with a shared future. One Passel.
Vision With Care
As we approach year three, the work is still evolving. Passel Farms is focused on building an integrated production model with investments across gilt multiplication, boar studs, feed mills, farrowing, finishing, and processing. The company’s long-term vision is to meet consumer demand and align production, market access, and customer relationships in a way that supports producers, processors, employees, and rural communities through changing market cycles.
That kind of vision requires more than assets. It requires care.
Care for animals through welfare, biosecurity, health, and daily husbandry. Care for people through safe, fulfilling work. Care for growers through transparent, long-term relationships. Care for property and the environment through responsible stewardship. Care for communities through service, food security, scholarships, and local engagement.
Carrying the Torch Forward
Two years in, Passel Farms is still young by name. But it is not young in experience, values, or responsibility.
We grow today from many roots: Standard Nutrition, Kerber Milling, Hawkeye Sow Centers, Schneider Milling, Cactus Feeders, Cactus Family Farms, Orangeburg Foods, Swine Graphics, and the many people who made those businesses what they were. We honor those roots not only in reflection, but by carrying their best lessons forward.
Many histories brought us here.
Many people make us who we are.
Many families depend on the work we do.
And together, we are One Passel: families feeding families.
