The Summit Group grew out of entrepreneur Bruce Rastetter’s home farm, which eventually would become Summit Farms. Bruce also founded a feed management business, a building construction business, and a hog feeding business, merging them in 1994 into Heartland Pork Enterprises. This company grew to become the 13th largest hog producer before being acquired by Christensen Farms in 2004. In 2004, Bruce founded what would become Hawkeye Energy Holdings and the 2nd largest pure-play ethanol producer in the U.S., which was sold to Flint Hills Resources in 2010.