How H&W Farms Began

Sweaty, but ambitious, it began with two young men competing for the same farm manager position. Before becoming partners, Ben Hickey & Heath Wetherington were coworkers at Baker Farms. Both young men were working towards the same goal to improve the farm.

How that looked was different for the two. Ben, a first-generation farmer, found his taste for farming from summertime jobs with local farmers. From these jobs, he began to see how the ground could produce for a man, yet knew that it took more hard work than some people were willing to give. He liked staying busy season after season and seeing the fruits of his labor at the end of each harvest. From his everyday experience, he learned how to operate and fix heavy equipment. But it was through each season, being on the tractor and out in the fields, that he learned the work ethic that would guide him through his career.

“You just got to hustle and work hard every day,” said Ben on his growth as a farmer. 

Heath, on the other hand, was a recent college graduate, earning an accounting degree. As a third-generation farmer, he thought he had seen all he had wanted to see of agriculture. Multiple summers of tossing watermelons and racking tobacco left him searching for something different and less physically exhausting. He went off to college long enough to play baseball, earn a degree, and realize that an accounting firm was not where he belonged. He returned home and back to the generational practice he had known for so long with new knowledge and a drive to find his own success. 

“Once you get that in your blood, it's hard to get it out,” said Heath on his decision to pursue farming.  

While both were working at Baker Farms, the two young men were exposed to the same values instilled by Terry Baker, owner of Baker Farms. Terry stressed the importance of quality for customers. This meant not cutting corners, but consistently growing a product that customers could rely on. These values would follow them throughout the rest of their career.

But at the time, they were just trying to keep Baker Farms running well enough to climb the career ladder. Both were in charge of different crews with different responsibilities. Their separate skills began to show more prominently. At times, it seemed like the two were oil and water, and fire and ice, never meant to work together. All the while, the two were separately experimenting with farming on their own. A few successful small-acreage operations had given them each the taste of personal success.

It was one random afternoon after work that the two realized they had the potential to be partners. Past disagreements ran through their minds, but their separate skillsets brought the potential for something great to the table. After a good conversation, a handshake, and a realized unified passion, the two agreed to partner. 

Thus, Hickey & Wetherington Farms, or H&W Farms, began in 2007. Produce became their mainstay, with market vegetables such as broccoli, cilantro, beets, cabbage, squash, and greens. Over the next 15 years, H&W Farms experimented with a variety of niche crops. Some products stuck and found success while others, such as Daikon and Bok Choy, faded out of the rotation. 

Corn was initially just a rotational crop used to maintain soil fertility and improve nitrogen levels.  It served its purpose as a traditional rotation crop, filling fields during summer months and bringing back a nice price. It was a conversation during the 2023 corn harvest that would launch the next part of their career and make H&W the premium deer feed producers they are today. 

“Heath, whatcha think if we start bagging a little bit of that corn in white bags and selling it out of the shop?,” asked Ben.  

A couple of hundred white bags later, the side hustle was starting to turn into real business potential. They reached out for marketing advice and branded H&W Farms. With the brand came a bag design and the signature “We Grow It, You Throw It” tagline. Local business started to pick up as more people supported the promise behind H&W’s Premium Game Corn.

H&W Farms invested heavily, building grain bins, an office, and a storage facility, as well as bagging lines. As the deer corn operation continued to grow, Ben and Heath were still produce farmers at heart with plants to oversee and orders to meet. The two made one significant promise to each other: if their produce quality started to slip, they would give up the deer corn rush. 

It was by bringing on a great team that they were able to keep the bagged corn going. Jacey Wetherington, Heath’s daughter, came into the operation early to assist with marketing. Casey Hickey, Ben’s wife, joined the team to manage office duties with her accounting background. The pair then brought on industry veteran Rick Collett for his extensive knowledge and experience within the industry.

Helping to keep the operation running every day is Roger Dorsey, officially titled as “Roast Master” for his dedication to roasting products. Randall Freeman and Pam Hall, are the shipping managers who oversee the tedious responsibility of truck routing. Charlie and his warehouse crew are the hands-on line of the operation, who work hard every day to get the product you love into the bag and out the door.  And of course, none of it would be possible without the initial seed in the dirt and all of the H&W field and tractor crew that oversee the growing process.

But most of all, it takes customers like you, willing to try and trust that H&W Farms will deliver the premium product we say we will. Thank you for your interest, your order, and your support. From our family to yours, we are grateful for all of the people who make H&W possible and are glad to serve premium products to outdoorsmen and their families. 

We Grow It, You Throw It!