Arnott Duncan

Board Chair and Agronomist, Duncan Family Farms

Arnott Duncan is a fourth generation Arizona farmer who owns and operates Duncan Family Farms in Goodyear, Arizona. After receiving his degree in agronomy and plant genetics from the University of Arizona in 1982, Arnott returned to the Southwest Valley to work on his family’s cotton farm. In 1985, he decided to leave the family farm to establish his own farming operation. He began by growing cotton and a few hundred acres of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables in the Goodyear area.

Arnott married his wife, Kathleen, in 1986. By 1990, they were raising two sons and an increasing variety of fruits and vegetables on their farm. In 1994, the farm expanded into organic production. Duncan Family Farms now grows year round in Arizona, Oregon, and New York. All crops are certified organic and include specialty vegetables, culinary herbs, microgreens, and organic baby lettuces for processors who provide bagged salads to retail and food service industries. 

As his business has evolved, Arnott has managed to blend the best of traditional farming with the latest in agricultural technology. The establishment of a variety of innovative programs has led Duncan Family Farms to receive numerous awards and to become nationally recognized as a ‘showcase’ of progressive and environmentally sensitive farming techniques.