You can’t get there from here.
But Willard Jack did.
Farmland stretches across the Mississippi Delta as far as the eye can see and then some.
There are farms that stretch back over generations and generations to the 17 and 1800s. Many men came home from the Civil War and hitched up their plows and mules and started passing down their dirt.
But Humphreys County resident Willard Jack was a farming pioneer. Like many farmers, the gentleman farmer grew up on a farm but it was nowhere near the Mississippi Delta. It was in Canada – actually southwestern Ontario, just over the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit, Michigan.
Jack graduated from Chatham Kent Secondary School in 1969 and Ridgetown College in 1972. Following his studies, he joined the family farming operation, Brookstone Acres, working alongside his father and brother, Dennis Jack.
On February 26, 1977, he married Laura Lee Pratt of Merlin, Ontario.
Jack passed away recently but not until building a foundation of farming for future generations of the Jack family – Silent Shade Planting Company.
“There was a tremendous urban pressure on the farmland there,” Jack said in a prior interview. “A lot of auto factories and there was a lot of pressure on land and there wasn’t a lot of land.”
He’d thought about moving further north and then perhaps west but he decided to migrate south. At the age of 29 in 1979, he uprooted his family and came to Mississippi. There was no connection to Humphreys County other than the real estate agent who brought him through the area way back then.
“He drug us through some of the worst swampiest little holes you ever saw but he drove by some pretty good land along the way,” he said. “It looked like a good place to farm to me and that turned out to be a good decision.”
Jack literally imported himself and his wife, Laura Lee, and planted himself right smack in the Delta and created Silent Shade Planting Company. Since his initial investment, Jack had cultivated his land holdings to nearly 9,000 acres. And he got his second generation of farmers dug deep in the Delta soil as well.
“I made my first crop in ’80 and have been here ever since,” he said in a 2016 interview. “I grew soybeans the first year and then wheat the next year. Then I added cotton and rice. Started small and learned how to grow those crops.”
Even though his planting and harvesting skills were top notch, Jack and his family had to graft themselves into the local way of doing things.
“It took a while. We had to learn the culture and the learning curve was sharp,” he said. “But we’ve managed and have grown and have been successful. I have a son and daughter who are basically running the business (Stacie and Jeremy).”
In our phone conversation a couple of years back, Jack still had much of his Canadian way of pronouncing certain words that still confuses plenty of folks. He always had to assure them of his Humphreys County zip code and Mississippi residency.
“But then they ask, ‘No, where are you really from?’ They know I’m not from Mississippi, no matter what I say,” he said.
With the help of cable and satellite and the internet, Jack could connect to his beloved Canadian sports but finding someone to commiserate with over hockey wasn’t the easiest thing in SEC country.
“Glenn Helms, who owns the grocery store in Belzoni, is the only other hockey fan I know of,” he said. “It really came together good for us when the boys started to play football.”
Both of Jack’s sons (Jeremy and Gregory) played at Humphreys Academy then attended MDCC and Mississippi State. Gregory lives and works in Naples, Florida. With the farm in the hands of his children, Jacks enjoyed spending time traveling and relaxing at Lake Washington.
“I’ve been very fortunate. Very few people immigrate to the Mississippi Delta and very few farmers immigrate that far in their lifetime,” Jack said.
His success on the turnrow stemmed from being a strong proponent of embracing new technology and practices, using sustainable farming methods, and advocating for the agriculture industry. Over the years, Jack served as the president of the Mississippi Soybean Association and the Mississippi director of the American Soybean Association. He was appointed by three different commissioners of the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce to serve on the Bureau of Plant Industry advisory board. He also served as the vice president of Holmes Gin and was an active member of the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, the Mississippi Rice Promotion Board, the Rice Council and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation.
His contributions to agriculture were recognized in 2000 when he was chosen Mississippi Farm Bureau Farmer of the Year and in 2001 as the Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year. Most recently, in 2023, he was honored with the prestigious Pinnacle Award from the American Soybean Association, recognizing a lifetime of exemplary service, leadership and dedication to the industry he loved.
More than any accolade, Jack’s greatest legacy lies in the example he set for his children and grandchildren. He believed deeply that dreams could be achieved through faith, perseverance, planning and hard work. He lived each day with purpose and encouraged others to do the same.
The Canadian was right at home – firmly planted in the Mississippi Delta.
