Arizona Farming & Ranching Hall of Fame

2020 Arizona Farming & Ranching Hall of Fame Honorees Selected.

Article By: Janice Bryson

ARTICLE BY: Janice BrysonThe Arizona Farm and Ranch Experience has announced their selection for the 2020 Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame. The new inductees will be honored at the annual Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame Honorees Dinner to be held on March 7, 2020 at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park.

Cochise County is the home of three cattle ranching families selected this year. The Kimble family migrated to Arizona in 1919 from Oklahoma and Texas. Don Kimble, son of Ralph and June Kimble, was raised on a ranch forty miles northeast of Douglas. As the age of twelve he already ran his own cows on the family ranch. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Don taught at Cochise College for eleven years and was the rodeo team coach. Having sold the family’s home place ranch in 2013, Don and wife Lynn now ranch on Silver Creek northeast of Douglas and in Double Adobe.

The Ladd’s at the San Jose Ranch: From left Randy holding Owen, Jack Truman in front of John, Justin and Jack Ladd.

The San Jose Ranch runs ten miles along the Arizona/Mexico border south of Bisbee near Naco. Owners Jack Ladd and son John are committed conservations and have received awards for their conservation practices on the ranch. John’s great-grandparents established the San Jose Dairy in 1896 at the present site of the ranch; the family switched to cattle ranching in the 1920’s. John is currently 2nd VicePresident of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association. For many years he has served on the Border Working Group and travels frequently to Washington D.C. to meet with various government officials regarding border issues.

Rancher Roy Boss (1911- 2005) and wife Peggy also ranched in Cochise County. The Boss Ranch is located in the Pedregosa Mountains twenty-five miles from the border of Old Mexico and twenty-five miles from the New Mexico border. Roy’s father R. O. Boss bought the Reasonover homestead in 1910. In addition to raising cattle; Roy spent the last sixty years of his life raising American Quarter Horses. He was honored by the Association for fifty years of breeding Quarter Horses.

Sheep ranchers Joseph Pouquette and sons Pierre and Albert have a long history in Arizona’s sheep industry. Joseph arrived in Arizona in 1903 and started to work for sheep owners in the Ash Fork area. His father Pierre was already in Arizona; later returning to France. Joseph began acquiring his own sheep in 1910. He was in California for a short time returning to Arizona with his wife Mary and two children Pierre and Marie; youngest son Albert was born in Arizona. In 1917 Joseph brought 4,000 sheep from Utah; settling permanently in Williams in 1920. He began to raise his sheep herd with sons Pierre and Albert and other family members. His grandson Albert Jr. ran sheep until 1984 and cattle until 1991 with the help of his dad and uncle. Four generations of Pouquettes were stockmen in Arizona.

Brothers Paul and Wilford Hayden farm in Palo Verde in the Buckeye Valley. They are Arizona natives whose family

Chuck Backus on the Quarter Circle U Ranch.

have a farming history in that state going back 105 years. The Hayden’s have been farming in the Buckeye Valley since 1959. In 1987 and 1991 Hayden Farms received the Goodyear Conservation Farmer of the Year Award from the Buckeye-Roosevelt Natural resource Conservation District. They practice an irrigation system philosophy of small, frequent applications on every outer row that saved untold hundreds of acre feet of water.

Chuck and Judy Backus ranch on the Quarter Circle U in the Superstition Mountains. They purchased the ranch in 1977 and have worked hard to improve a ranch that had not been well managed with no cross fences or water development done in the last 100 years. Chuck has studied cattle genetics and attended national conferences on the subject to improve his herd. With the location of the ranch close to Phoenix, the couple have been generous with Gate to Plate tours done by the Arizona Beef Council on the ranch and have hosted many school groups.

Last but not least is Wade Noble of Yuma who is honored as a Friend to Agriculture. He is a fifth generation Arizonan on his father’s side, born in Safford. A graduate of the University of Arizona, he received his Junis Doctor from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. He is currently the Coordinator for the Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition. Wade directed preparation of a case study of efficiency agriculture and water use in Yuma which has been adopted as a primary reference on the efficient use of Colorado River water

All the honorees have much more history as farmers and ranchers in Arizona. Every five years, the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame will publish a book with all the histories of those who have been honored during those five years. The first two volumes may be purchased through www.azfare.org. Check the website for any additional information regarding the Hall of Fame.