Bob Hale, Jr. “Love the farm, love our industry. I have a real passion for agriculture, a real passion for people. Love what I do. Love our customers.”

Hale Farms is proof that hard work–and lots of it–pays off; it turned a 480-acre parcel of land purchased in 1972 into a 30,000-acre farm with headquarters in Hermiston, OR. The Hale family, whose roots are in production agriculture, now farms in Morrow and Umatilla counties.

Bob Hale, Jr., and brother Doug started small, with a hay farm, supplementing their income with jobs in town until they had an opportunity to purchase more land, farm full-time and have their youngest brother Rick join them. The three brothers continue to operate Hale Farms and its affiliated companies, growing a diverse assortment of crops (potatoes, blueberries, sweet corn, sugar snap peas, garbanzo beans, lima beans, carrots, wheat, grass seed, alfalfa, timothy hay and field corn) using sustainable farming practices.

Hale Farms truck with a load of carrots.

A close friend and business associate of Farmers Ending Hunger President, Fred Ziari, and Vice President, Bob Levy, Bob Hale was a staunch supporter of Farmers Ending Hunger from Day One, donating onions since 2007.  Hale Farms has continued to donate to the program, including carrots in 2010. Bob says, “Farmers are contributing. This is truly farmer-based. There are hard working people in rural communities who also want to contribute to feeding people.”

Hale Farms field corn.