AMBOY, Ind. – Nick Maple couldn’t imagine life without the smell of hogs, freshly picked corn in a dryer and other odors from a farm he savors.

That’s one of the reasons he knew before running off to college that he would be coming back to his family farm in Indiana, where he’s been ever since.

Maple, 42, of Amboy, has also branched out to produce food at his own nearby farm.

“I never could see myself doing anything else. It’s just something I love,” he said.

Recently, Maple received this year’s Contract Grower Award from Indiana Pork. “It was a huge honor,” he said.

Maple and his wife, Lindsey, raise as many as 16,400 wean-to-finish hogs at one time under contract for Oracle Pork in Delphi.

Oracle Pork, after receiving the hogs to process, gives the couple more pigs weighing about 14 pounds apiece to raise until reaching close to 300 pounds about six months later.

He started raising pigs several years ago for Oracle Pork, which nominated him for the award.

“I guess they felt I was doing a good job for them. That meant a lot,” he said.

Maple raises hogs at four sites in Miami, Fulton and Cass counties in the northern part of the state.

He was president of the Indiana Pork board of directors for two years until 2020 and still serves on committees for the organization. “I still like to be involved,” he said.

Maple has also been named one of the delegates representing Indiana during the 2024 National Pork Industry Forum.

His roots in agriculture date back to his great grandfather and grandfather, who like many farmers back then, raised a little bit of everything like hogs, cows, corn, soybeans and wheat.

Maple said his father, Steve, and his uncle, Jerel, later started what’s now the family farm, which breeds and raises hogs.

The farm also produces corn and soybeans used primarily as feed for the pigs raised independently for sale to processors.

Maple said farming has been a way of life for him practically since he was old enough to walk and his father kept him busy feeding the animals and doing other chores. His father also made sure his responsibilities were completed or he ran the risk of not being allowed to participate in high school sports. “I learned a lot from that,” he said.

Maple went to Purdue University, where he studied animal science and agri-business. “There was never a doubt when I left Purdue I was coming back to the farm,” he said.

Maple said he and his wife purchased their first 50 acres in 2003 and built their first barn to raise hogs three years later.

The couple’s first wean-to-finish hogs came from the farm belonging to his father and uncle, who gave him more hogs as he expanded his operation.

Eventually, Maple said he started raising hogs strictly for Oracle Park.

Maple said the farms are separate but everyone in his family and their employees works under one umbrella.

Maple is also employed by his father and uncle, who are in their late 60’s and early 70’s, to do some of the work they’re no longer able to get to on their farm.

“Everybody works together to get everything done. If I need help, they come and help. It’s really neat to be able to work with family like that,” he said.

Maple now has about 1,300 acres used also to grow corn mostly for making ethanol and soybeans for various uses on the market.

He said the award would not have happened without help from everyone at both farms.

“It’s really a whole team effort. I couldn’t do it without them for sure,” he said.

Their daughter, Lilly, is a freshman at the Indiana University campus in Kokomo, while son, Bauer, is a senior at Maconaquah High School.