It’s no secret the Southwest Valley is fertile farmland, thanks to the Agua Fria, Gila and Salt rivers that flow through its environs.
Many may not know, however, about a robust Depression-era program that operated in Litchfield Park to teach aspiring farmers everything they needed to know — and there was a lot they needed to know — to become masters of their craft.
When Litchfield Park founder Paul W. Litchfield was tapped to judge a Future Farmers of America competition in 1936, he was touched by competitors’ dreams of owning their own farms and the difficulties of fulfilling those dreams.
