Evan Streeter specifically remembers one crisp October morning last year when one of his sows was nursing a litter of 16 piglets. The sun was bursting through the trees and in the distance, orange, red and yellow leaves gently danced in the morning breeze.
“I mean there’s nothing like that – it’s incredible,” Streeter said proudly.
A first generation farmer, Streeter is the owner of Streeter Heritage Farms in Chester, South Carolina. He raises pigs and tends to his vegetables the way nature intended. Streeter believes that treating animals and the earth with care results in a healthier product on our tables, and prioritizes the care of his livestock over profit.
An early start to farming
At 12 years old, Streeter was handed a hen who couldn’t lay eggs anymore. For the older farmer, the hen was no longer of any use, but Streeter made it his top mission to nurture and comfort her. “I would go out there and take care of her, and in my eyes, I was a big time farmer,” he exclaimed.
After a week of caring for the hen, he walked out to check on her after school and found little brown eggs laying in the nest. “That was definitely when I got hooked,” Streeter said.
After graduating from high school, he knew he had to pave his own way in life.
In rural South Carolina, there’s not an abundance of opportunities. While the state’s job growth outpaced that of other states since 2020, most of those jobs are in manufacturing. A local farmer offered Streeter room and board in exchange for a job as a farm-hand.
Streeter knew this was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.
He quickly proved his capabilities, and convinced the farmer to hand over two sows, or adult female pigs. From those first two sows, Streeter expanded his first farming operation to more than 20 pigs, and just five years later, he was named South Carolina Hog Farmer of the Year.
Opportunities continued to emerge for Streeter. At one point, he was offered a chance to purchase one of the largest hog farming operations in the Southeast. The massive operation had four confinement houses with approximately 2,500 sows, and produced 75,000 piglets each year.
Before finalizing the sale, he spent a week at the farm familiarizing himself with operations. He described it as the worst experience of his life.
“Every sow in there had sores on their shoulders, sores on their hips,” said Streeter. “A third of them had blood on their mouths from chewing on the metal bars in front of them.”
Streeter said the smells were awful and most of the sows were kept in four-foot long by two-foot wide cages where they couldn’t even turn around. “All of the sows looked really sad and depressed, heads hanging low, ears hanging low, they didn’t really look happy at all.”
After spending only one week there, he was horrified. He knew that farming was a business and understood that animals are a source of food, but felt that there had to be a better way.
An unexpected dream requires changing the status quo
After walking away from what some would have considered the opportunity of a lifetime for a young farmer, Streeter was left to figure out how he could fulfill his dream in a different way. He wanted to raise pigs that would be healthy and safe for humans to eat, while also treating the animals with care and dignity. From this first experience at a commercial pig operation, he understood how the business impacts the animals, the farmers, and the people who consume them.
The experience helped shape the guiding principles that would be part of Streeter Heritage Farms.
In January, at just 25 years old, Streeter was named Farmer of the Year by the South Carolina Farmer and Agribusiness Association at their annual conference.
Today Steeter’s farm is a place where livestock is raised the way nature intended, as he puts it, with conservation and animal happiness a top priority. The pigs are raised in open pastures and in woodland environments. “I believe this results in a more beneficial product for our consumers as well as America’s ecosystem,” said Streeter.
After eight years, Streeter now has 60 sows, roaming 20 acres of free range forest land. He raises about 1,000 piglets each year. “My story is a dream come true one,” Streeter said. While only a fraction of what a corporate farm might produce, he fulfilled his promise to respect animals, and is providing a healthier, cleaner food source for his customers.
Queens University News Service stories are prepared by students in the James L. Knight School of Communication with supervision and editing from faculty and staff. The James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte provides the news service in support of local community news.
