In the early 1980s, Craig and Patti Hill were at a crossroads.
The couple had begun to build a thriving farm near Ackworth after they married in 1978. “It was always about work, building more hog buildings, renting and buying more land, and buying newer and larger machinery,” Craig says. “It was based on the promise that the next year was always going to be better.”
This optimism, however, ran smack into the 1980s farm crisis. Soon, double-digit interest rates, shriveled exports, plunging commodity prices and forced farm sales ruled the day.
This coincided with personal tragedies for the Hills. Craig’s father died suddenly in 1982 from a heart attack. Patti’s father also suffered a fatal heart attack the following year. “There was a lot of emotion in the early 1980s, with losing family and a farm [economic] cycle that deteriorated further and further,” Craig recalls. “We struggled to make our [loan] payments. We walked away from some farmland that we had bought and some ground that we rented. We went to [the Farmers Home Administration] to restructure our debt.”
The Hills were not alone. “The worst part was witnessing what was happening to the community, to neighbors and friends who were in FFA and 4-H with me,” Craig says.
A smattering lost their farms. A few divorced. Some even died by suicide.
Then, Craig noticed something.
“It wasn’t how hard you worked, or how skilled you were with [animal] husbandry,” he says. “It often came down to policy decisions made by government, such as monetary policy or the farm bill. I knew as an individual I couldn’t have much impact. I had to be part of an organization with other like-minded folks.”
So, he joined his county’s Farm Bureau board, eventually becoming its vice president and president. From there, he went on to serve on the Iowa Farm Bureau’s board of directors before becoming vice president and later president from 2011 to 2021.
“I enjoyed working so much with other farmers, and it went beyond Farm Bureau,” he says. “There were just so many good people from so many organizations and politicians who had agriculture’s heart. It gave me an opportunity to have an impact on policy decisions or on new tools that farmers could use, whether it was an insurance product or technology.”
Back on the farm, the Hills kept up with the times. They nixed tillage by shifting to mainly no-till. They boosted productivity by selectively applying herbicides, insecticides and fungicides and using seed traits to manage pests. They helped to advance seed technology by hosting on-farm corn hybrid and soybean variety trials conducted by the Iowa Crop Improvement Association and Iowa State University.
“Craig appreciated the statistical integrity and unbiased information these tests provided for Iowa farmers,” says Rod Swoboda, an editor emeritus of Wallaces Farmer.
It’s for these contributions and others to agriculture that Craig and Patti Hill are 2025 Iowa Master Farmers.
Sticking together
Craig’s involvement in the Farm Bureau meant being away from the farm 70 to 280 days annually. “I couldn’t have done anything without such a supportive wife,” he says.
Before they married, Patti’s only exposure to agriculture was horses on the acreage on which she grew up near west Des Moines. She received her first dose of farming’s reality in 1977.
“Craig had asked me to come down to walk beans,” she says. “So, we were out in the field, pulling all the weeds, and he told me he’d be right back.”
After entering and exiting an adjacent cornfield, Craig’s mood darkened.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked.
No, not at all, Craig reassured her. He had just realized the summer’s drought had decimated the corn. At harvest, the field yielded only 28 bushels per acre.
“That was my first real taste about how weather can hurt or help agriculture,” she says.
Patti quickly settled into her role as farmer and mother when they married. Son Adam was born in 1982, followed by daughter Abbie in 1987.
Patti recalls filling myriad family niches as their children grew up and Craig traveled on Farm Bureau business.
“Even today, my daughter’s friends will tell her that ‘if we needed something, we could call your mom and she would bring it to us,’ ” she says.
Patti was equally at home doing farm chores.
“One time, [Craig] was leaving the house on a trip and, all of a sudden, I pulled him back in. All the sows had gotten out [of their pen], and they were going everywhere,” Patti recalls. “He said, ‘I’m really sorry, I really have to go to this meeting, but I’ll go get our employee to help.’ So, I got the kids on the school bus, and by the time our employee was able to arrive, I had got all but the last 10 sows in. You just figure it out and do it.”
Farm Bureau connections
Craig drew upon his farming experiences — such as his 1977 drought-ravaged corn — to help create better policies for farmers.
“Craig’s work was instrumental in creating Revenue Assurance, which provided protection for farmers against revenue lost by low prices and/or low yields,” says Marty Schwager, Iowa Farm Bureau executive director. “In 1996, this product was written into the farm bill and continues to be the most popular form of crop insurance used by farmers.”
Craig met farmers in the 23 countries he visited on Farm Bureau business. “When you travel, you find out that farmers all over the world are more alike than not alike,” he says. “There’s a lot of commonality among farmers.”
Serving as Iowa Farm Bureau president also gave him the opportunity to meet world leaders ranging from China President Xi Jinping to President Donald Trump.
“I was with President Trump when he signed into law the last [2018] farm bill, and also when he signed market facilitation payments [to compensate farmers affected by tariff action],” he says.
Moving forward, agriculture faces challenges, he says.
“I worry about trade,” Craig says. “The tariff conversation could have dramatic effects on agriculture.”
Regulatory overreach also concerns Craig, particularly with tools such as pesticides. “I think [certain regulations] are unwarranted, and they could cause a lot of problems in agriculture,” he says.
Conversely, he’s optimistic about the future. “From the time we started farming, we’ve nearly doubled our average yields,” Craig says. “At the same time, our data is so much better, and it enables us to better apply our inputs, such as crop nutrients.”
For this to continue, however, it’s vital that farm organizations continue working together to represent farmers, he says.
“We’re a very small minority [of people],” he says, “but we’re a significant force in America today because of our efforts in working united.”
Reflection
Craig and Patti are currently transitioning the farm operation to Adam. Abbie, an attorney, lives with her family on the original Hill farmstead, 1 mile away from where Craig and Patti now live.
“We’re very fortunate because our [seven] grandkids live nearby,” Patti says. You can’t ask for anything better than that.”
This also gives them a chance to savor honors, such as being named Iowa Master Farmers.
“Before he died last year, Bill Northey called and asked if he could nominate me for the Master Farmer award. I just thought so much of Bill,” Craig says of the former USDA undersecretary, Iowa agriculture secretary and 2016 Iowa Master Farmer. “It’s a huge honor. I’m humbled by it.”
Patti notes they never could have received the award without the family working together. “Farming with family is just wonderful,” she says.
“If you stick together as family, you’ll get through anything,” Craig says.
Pig giveaway
By 1998, Craig and Patti Hill had grown their swine operation to a 300-sow farrow-to-finish unit.
They endured several price cycles, but had never seen a price crash that rivaled the one that year. Adjusted for inflation, late 1998 hog prices broke through previous record lows set in 1933 during the Great Depression, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis analysis.
“We had a friend who owned a flooring business, Tim Phillips, who asked about the hog prices,” Craig recalls. “When I told him, he said, ‘This is terrible. Why don’t you bring a load of pigs to my facility and give them away?’ ”
So, Iowa Farm Bureau teamed with several farm organizations to create the “Great Pork Giveaway.” Iowa hog farmers unloaded their pigs at Phillips’ lot, put down straw and built a panel fence. Thousands of people attended a pig raffle, and the Farm Bureau paid processing costs for the hogs.
“The word got out to the media, and we had CBS, CNN and a number of other national news organizations there,” Craig says. “We wanted to bring some attention to a tough time in agriculture, and with the help of a strong friend, we did it.”
Masters at a glance
Name: Craig and Patti Hill
Children: Adam Hill and Abbie Hill Schurman
Location: Ackworth, Iowa
Operation: Grow soybeans and corn and have a farrow-to-finish swine operation on a mix of 2,000 acres of owned and rented ground currently being transitioned to son Adam
Leadership: Various leadership positions in Iowa Farm Bureau over 32 years, including state president from 2011-2021; trustee to the Council on Agricultural Science and Technology; appointment to the USDA Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee for grains, feed and oilseeds (Craig). Warren County Assessor’s Office Review Board (Patti).
Nominator: The late Bill Northey, 2016 Iowa Master Farmer