R. Keith Walden

Inducted in 2009

Mar 2

Sahuarita - Pima County

Inducted in 2009

Throughout his 88 years, R. Keith Walden worked hard and had a vision to make the world, at least his part of it, a better place than when he entered it. The oldest of five children born to Arthur Frisbi and Eva Walden, Keith burst onto the scene on the Fourth of July in 1913 in Santa Paula, California. He was descended from a line of individuals who believed they could do anything they set their mind to, a philosophy that influenced his thinking throughout his life.

His great-grandfather, the first of the Walden clan to move from New York to California, made the grueling journey west on horseback. He joined a wagon train around Kansas City and arrived in San Francisco in 1842. Two years later, he sent for his wife and children. They made the journey by ship, coming around the Horn. The voyage took eleven months.

Keith's father was a banker and farmer. He owned an 80-acre citrus and walnut farm and partnered with a brother on a fruit and vegetable farm in the San Fernando Valley. Keith and his siblings were called on to help around the farms, hoeing weeds and whatever else needed to be done. Keith's son Richard remembers his Dad discussing drying the walnuts in the dehydrator, "they had to dry the walnuts after they were harvested before they could send them to the walnut shelling plant or whomever they sold them to," he said. "It was a 24-hour-a-day job. I think he slept, on weekends, at the dehydrator down on the farm and changed out the trays when needed."

When Keith was twelve, his uncle sent him to the Los Angeles central produce market to sell a truckload of melons. Afraid that the older buyers would take advantage of the boy, his uncle told him to bring back anything he didn't sell, and they would feed it to the hogs. For the first three days, he didn't sell a thing. On the fourth day, he sold half a truckload; the next day, he sold everything. The seasoned buyers finally got the message that just because he was young didn't mean he was an easy mark.

At the age of sixteen, Keith faced a significant challenge when he contracted polio and was confined to an iron lung. Despite the odds, he persevered and spent a year at the Children's Orthopedic Hospital in Los Angeles. His survival and return to his beloved field of agriculture are a testament to his resilience and determination.

Keith's first job after college was working for the Limoneria Ranch, where he learned the science of plants. When the ranch's plant pathologist was accidentally killed, the ranch manager gave him a crash course in plant diseases and a crew of forty men to manage.

In 1937, at 24, Keith leased ten acres and started a nursery growing young citrus trees. The majority of the citrus trees in the area had been planted some 30 years earlier. With an expected productivity of approximately 40 years, Keith understood that numerous acres of trees would soon need to be replanted and positioned and positioned himself to be able to supply the new young stock.

Keith managed the Ford-Craig Ranch during World War I, operating his citrus nursery. In the mid-40s, he saved money and purchased 960 acres underwater in the Tulare Lake bed. An astute businessman, Keith knew that the land below had good soil. He sold half of it to pay off his debt.

His subsequent acquisition was 800 acres south of Bakersfield. Keith refused to borrow money from his father's bank and submitted a proposal to the Security First National Bank (now Wells Fargo). The proposal was approved with the stipulation that the banker's brother, "Witch," find water on the property, which was successful.

Before leaving California, Keith demonstrated his forward-thinking approach by venturing into cotton farming and being one of the first to adopt anhydrous ammonia (NH3), a development from World War II. His understanding of good soil management and rotating crop rotation improved soil conditions and increased yields, showcasing his strategic thinking in the agricultural industry.

Recognizing the increasing cost of farming in California, Keith sought advice from industry experts Sterling Hebbard in Yuma and Kemper Marley in the Salt River Valley. Their counsel, combined with his strategic thinking, led him to relocate his operations to Arizona, a decision that would prove to be a critical factor in his continued success.

In 1946, he formed Farmers Investment Co. (FICO). When asked why he didn't put his name on the company, he joked that he wouldn't put it in case it didn't work out. With additional capital from Colonel Henry Crown of Chicago, Keith purchased the 10,000-acre Continental Farm in the Santa Cruz Valley south of Tucson in 1948. He moved his wife and two sons, Richard and Thomas, to Continental in 1949. The community had an exciting history. Bernard Baruch, Joseph Kennedy, and J.P. Morgan founded Continental in 1914. They planned to grow guayule, a plant that is a source of rubber, since it was feared that the Germans might cut off the sea lanes blocking rubber imports. The project was abandoned when the war was over, and the property is believed to have been sold to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in 1922. Keith bought the property from InterContinental Rubber Company.

Keith ran as many as 9,000 sheep at Continental and, in 1953, opened a cattle feeding lot that grew to 20,000 head. The lot would eventually close in 1976 when it was no longer compatible with the town of Green Valley's growth.

When concerns arose about companies like DuPont and Union Carbide becoming heavily invested in synthetic fiber, Keith began experimenting with other crops. Richard said that his Dad "tried all the stone fruits, tree nuts, and sixteen varieties of grapes. He chose pecans over grapes because they have a longer harvest window and can be harvested by machine."

In 1958, with acquisitions throughout the southern and central part of Arizona, FICO was the largest grower and shipper of lettuce from its Aguila Farm in the United States. By 1967, they had become the largest grower, ginner, and grower-seller of cotton in Arizona. In 1965, Keith began planting pecans in the Santa Cruz Valley and Maricopa, Arizona. Today, FICO operates the largest irrigated pecan orchard in the world, growing and processing about 10% of the nation's crop. FICO also operates a pecan farm in Albany, Georgia.

Keith and his wife Barbara had two sons: Richard and Thomas. Since 1983, Richard has been president of FICO, the holding company for Green Valley Pecan Company. Sadly, Thomas died in an aviation accident in 1973.