The Whitaker’s Of McGehee
ROB MILLS
MCGEHEE, ARKANSAS
Once upon a time in a world that doesn’t exist anymore, the Whitaker family began farming land located on the outskirts of McGehee, Arkansas in 1890.
Decades passed. Two World Wars were fought, a civil rights revolution took place, and generations of Whitakers struggled to make ends meet. “One constant that has been with me since I began farming was that I wasn’t going to struggle the way my parents did.” Those are the words of Jim Whitaker, the patriarch of Whitaker Farms.
Jim Whitaker and his son Scott will be featured speakers at the 27th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference, to be held in Jonesboro, Arkansas on January 30th & 31st, 2024. It is an event presented by MidAmerica Farm Publications & AgWiki.
The farm is known for its production. The family is known for their innovative approach to rice growing, based in their belief that environmentally responsible agriculture is not only necessary for the health of the planet…it also makes money.
According to Whitaker, the long-term ability of the American grower to exist is anchored in a trinity of influences. “Farming must make sense economically; the farmer can’t work himself to death for nothing. Environmental practices based on sound science will hold down costs and sustain the land. Our society needs to understand the issues at hand, then they will demand that the right choices for our future be made. It all works together,” he said.
The army that makes the trains run on time at the Whitaker homestead consists of the brothers …Jim & Sam, their wives Lesli & Alicia, Jim’s daughter Jessica & family, Jim’s son Scott and Sam’s two sons John & Harrison. They are joined by two dozen or so Grandfather’s, Father’s & Son is from the McGehee area, who are family to the brothers. “We’ve been fortunate to have great coworkers who’ve worked for us,” he said, noting good coworkers are hard to find anywhere today, including the ag business.
THE NEXT GENERATION
One “laborer” who worked the Desha County, Arkansas fields was Scott Whitaker, who learned that being part of the owner’s family didn’t entitle him to anything.
“You learn that on the farm sons are at the bottom of the ladder, “he said. Scott Whitaker remembers his first encounter with farmland wasn’t so good. “Dad had taken me out into the fields when I was three or four. I wound up falling and crying,” he remembered. He eventually made his way off the farm and into a college classroom, graduating from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
In Jonesboro he went to work for the USDA, mentoring under Dr. Michelle Reba and learning the government research side of Ag. “It was a 40 hour a week job. The last one I’ll probably ever see,” he said with a smile in his voice. The last two years of college he worked for Lance Ramthun scouting all the major crops in north Arkansas. After COVID struck, he eventually made his way back to McGehee and the family jewel. “Mom and Dad said it was time,” he mused, adding “I’m a believer in divine intervention, the timing was perfect.”
After honing his skills with the USDA and scouting thousands of acres for Lance, Scott worked under consultant Robb Dedman and eventually became the in-house rice agronomist for Dad & Uncle Sam. But something else happened, “coming back to the fields showed me I belonged in the fields, it’s not a 40 hour a week job.”
The women of Whitaker Farms take very different approaches, when giving their time & input.
Lesli and Alicia, the wives of Jim and Sam, make themselves known behind the scenes. But Jessica, Lesli’s daughter, has become not only a spokesperson for the Whitaker philosophy of farming, but a nationally known figure in the world of conservation.
An undergraduate of the University of Arkansas, having obtained her master’s degree at Arkansas State University, Jessica Whitaker Allen is a mother, Rice Stewardship Coordinator for Ducks Unlimited, and works with her dad on the family farm.
“She worked closely with Dr. Merle Anders and longtime consultant Robb Dedman to create the initial data set for the RiceTec initiative called Smartrice,” Jim said.
Add then, her growing national media footprint, she and her father recently appeared at the “TED” event in Detroit. The “TED talks” are an international forum founded by Canadian human rights lawyer Richard Warman. They are held globally for the purpose of giving numerous voices a stage to discuss the major issues of the day. The Whitaker’s appearance in Detroit became part of a special broadcast by PBS. Jessica’s appearance was so well received that she personally was invited to the recent women’s “TED” event in Atlanta.
Her presentation spans from scientifically based warnings about global warming and its effect on farming worldwide, to her biting sense of humor. She recently told the Detroit audience that she was “from a town of 4,000 population with one stoplight.” She later stated that if the American farmer were to disappear, the nation would be “hungry, naked, and sober.”
THE FUTURE
The Whitaker’s in a way, are like the “modern stone age” family sung about years ago in American animation. They are much a part of historic Arkansas as anyone who has a postal address in the Razorback state. Rural Arkansas can still be an area that holds on for dear life to times and ways of doing business, that have passed elsewhere. The Whitaker family has gone in a decidedly 21st Century direction.
Jim Whitaker is in many ways a stand-alone guy. He advocates what many consider to be unacceptable environmental policies. Yet there is probably no one better in the United States to carry the torch of what is called sustainability than he. He is a man whose mindset is profit before idealism, formed in a childhood of making it one day at a time. He looked the science of idealism in the eye and decided somebody was telling the truth, an inconvenient truth if you will.
When asked about AI & satellite technology, he believes it will bring the next agricultural revolution…whatever that looks like. Jim is more concerned about keeping farms in operation, and the younger generation involved. He states “What needs to happen is that the government and farmers need to come together. Farmers need to mentor the new generation. Government needs to enable the young farmer to buy out the retiring one. This will keep the farmers on the land. Consolidation is inevitable, but this partnership will keep the ag industry and lifestyle alive.”
His son Scott says “In my life I work for the future of my family. I am going to do everything I can do to preserve what we’ve built. I want my children to inherit this.”
Like Gerald O’Hara said in “Gone with The Wind,” “Scarlet, the land is the only thing worth working for, dying for. It is the only things that lasts” ∆
ROB MILLS: Contributing Writer