Farming: A Family Affair in the Mississippi Delta

From his earliest days, Thomas Neblett could usually be found on a farm – often out among the soybeans, corn, cotton and rice fields of his family’s 9,000 acres in the Mississippi Delta.

Today, he is up before dawn and working well into the evening hours managing his own farming operation Sunrise Farms Partnership, with approximately 3,600 acres in Jonestown, Mississippi. But it wasn’t always a given that Neblett would go into the family business. His father Rives Neblett was a successful attorney and wasn’t hands-on in his farming operation the way many farm owners may be. The younger Neblett knew he was free to explore the world and discover his own passion and way once he graduated from high school, but that the farm would always be there.

“We’re a little different in that my dad was a farmer, landowner, a lawyer, a real estate guy, commodity trader and he didn’t have his hands directly in the pie on the farm,” said Thomas Neblett. “He let me know you don’t have to drive a tractor and be out on that farm if that’s not what you want to do. And he let it be known early on that he didn’t want me to feel like I had to farm or that that was what he wanted me to do.”

When Thomas Neblett graduated from high school, he took the path that many Americans follow, and he headed off to college. While a freshman at the University of Mississippi, Thomas went into kidney failure and needed an emergency transplant. That confirmed his growing belief that college was not the path to his future.

I knew then that farming was what I wanted to do – I can tell you for a fact – but this land we own and what my family has been doing for four generations, I think is literally in my blood.
Thomas Neblett

Farming in His Blood

“School was not for me and by the time I got to college, I was over it,” noted Thomas Neblett. “I knew then that farming was what I wanted to do – I can tell you for a fact – but this land we own and what my family has been doing for four generations, I think is literally in my blood.”

His father, Rives, would agree. His own grandfather, also a lawyer, launched the farming family dynasty in the late 1920s when he began acquiring farmland while practicing law. And on Thomas’ mother’s side of the family, the farming gene reaches back to his grandfather Charlie Lowrance who was a successful farmer and ginner in Arkansas.

“Thomas has grown up in the operation, worked on the farm in the summers and over the holidays and was active in learning the ropes through my farm managers,” shared Rives Neblett, owner of Allendale Planting Company in Shelby, Mississippi, one of the premier farming operations in the Delta. “I had hoped Thomas would finish college, but when he came home at 19 and said he wanted to go into farming, I knew his mind was made up.”

Rives Neblett shared his own farming family history and some of the best advice he had ever received from his own father.

“He told me, you can’t come back and farm for five years until you have proven yourself in another profession working for someone else,” said Rives. “It was the best advice that anyone ever gave me because it would have been tempting to return and start farming for my father right after college. Knowing that I couldn’t, I went to law school, got a degree and went to work for IRS for a few years, then for a firm in Mississippi. I took a similar approach with Thomas when he decided to go into farming.”

Failure Wasn’t an Option

Rather than having Thomas work for him on the family farm, Rives Neblett turned to his longtime Regions Agriculture Banking Leader Alan Sims.

“I took Thomas to the bank and asked to borrow enough money to farm about 2,400 acres – a stretch for me, Thomas, Alan and the bank given Thomas was only 20 years old – but I had developed a relationship with Regions, and if I was putting Thomas in that position, I’d make sure he was succeeding,” shared Rives.

Sims concurred.

“Even with the existing relationship, a bank doesn’t make a loan to someone simply because they can pay it back, the business plan had to make sense – and it did,” said Sims.

It seemed there was nothing to worry about from the very beginning, Thomas Neblett confirmed.

“I was confident enough in myself – I wouldn’t allow myself to do it if I didn’t think I could make it,” Thomas said. “I love what I do. I didn’t realize you could have a passion about something and not consider it work. The work is there – and it can be tiring and frustrating, but there is never a day I wake up and don’t want to go and do it.”

When I got started, we knew we were working with Regions. There are a lot of turnovers in banking, but Regions hasn’t changed.
Thomas Neblett

All About the Relationship

“My dad has been a long-time Regions customer and has a great relationship with the bank,” said Thomas. “When I got started, we knew we were working with Regions. There are a lot of turnovers in banking, but Regions hasn’t changed. Alan has been able to keep a close eye on our business.”

Sims agreed.

“I remember that meeting: Rives, long-tenured relationship, asking for that start-up loan with Thomas. We sat down and Rives had a well-prepared loan request we reviewed and tweaked, and we were able to make the loan,” said Sims. “The rest is history.”

Sims noted on that day, Rives pulled him aside and said, I can teach him farming, but I’d like you to teach him the rest.

“Thomas has a work ethic like no other and has done really well,” said Sims. “He’s made tremendous yields on his farm and has been very successful since starting his farming operation a decade ago.”

Sustainability is Key

“From the very beginning in the 1970s, we stressed land forming in our operation and irrigation,” shared Rives Neblett. “We were some of the first people to start an actual program of land forming – engineering/forming the land so you can thoroughly irrigate it.”

He explained that in the Delta, that was the way to go given the climate. They had to have the ability to irrigate. Allendale Planting Company started that program and as they developed the land forming of the land, they worked with the soil conservation services putting highly erodible land next to streams into a Conservation Reserve Program for conservation and recreational purposes.

Thomas Neblett has continued and expanded the processes to ensure sustainability and soil health.

“One of the biggest things I have learned since I started this business is how important drainage is – getting the water off my fields quickly and efficiently so I can grow my crops,” Thomas Neblett noted. “My dad and his farm managers have been pioneers in developing land and putting in pipes, digging new ditches and keeping that land from eroding.”

My dad has told me my whole life, in order to stay where you are in the world, you have to work harder than everyone else – if you do that, it will pay off.
Thomas Neblett

Trusting Your Instincts

Thomas Neblett credits some of his success with his ability to assess the appropriate risks that have the potential to yield strong rewards.

“One major thing I’ve learned is that what you read and what people can tell you doesn’t mean anything. It is what you can do and what you believe yourself that matters,” said Thomas. “I’ve picked up land that people have said was worthless and turned it profitable. More often than not, I’ve made it work. I’ve made mistakes, but the good decision have outweighed the missteps.”

And he credits his dad with instilling in him the strong work ethic that has driven his success.

“My dad has told me my whole life, in order to stay where you are in the world, you have to work harder than everyone else – if you do that, it will pay off.”

Thomas and his wife Beth are instilling this same work ethic in their three girls, ages 4 through 12, who represent a sixth generation of this farming family.

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