M E M B E R SC E N E
You only lose... if you give up. Six years of perseverance saved the farm.
Determined to succeed, long-time logging contractor turned poultry farmer, JC Marks, refused to take no for an answer when faced with adversity that tested his faith, patience, and fortitude for six long years. “You can’t give up, or you lose,” JC Marks of Marks Farms explains when asked what fueled his focus to save his Ouachita County farm and livelihood. Six years. That’s probably five years more than the average producer would have given what many thought were insurmountable odds. After a 30-year career as a logging contractor, JC and his wife, Debbie, decided to transition to raising poultry in their early 50s. The couple had always had cows and thought raising chickens would be a good fit as they aged. With Farm Credit financing, they built their first four broiler houses in 2004. Success growing for Pilgrim’s Pride had them adding another two houses, three years later. Pilgrim’s Pride shut their El Dorado plant in 2008. That affected 110 poultry producers, including the Marks. Looking at four-year-old poultry houses with no contract to grow birds was a daunting prospect, according to JC. No birds meant no poultry income. No poultry income meant no immediate way to repay their Farm Credit loan. JC vividly remembers the day he learned that when they finished their current flock, there wouldn’t be another coming. “I had a friend from the timber world who called me,” JC remembers.
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“He said the Good Lord told him I was going to be O.K. and that he should call and tell me. I’m embarrassed to say I was a bit weak in faith at the time.”
JC Marks and Quality Assurance Specialist Milly Lindsey forged a close bond during trying times for Marks Farms.
But true enough, two days later, four Pilgrim’s Pride representatives from De Queen visited his farm, liked what they saw, and offered him a contract. “That bought us more time,” JC reflects. Three years in, Pilgrim’s Pride cancelled his new contract, citing the distance to the nearest processing plant. “They offered to buy our contract, but it would have only given us half of what we still owed on the chicken houses,” JC continues. “I had to say no and take my chances even though there was no guarantee there’d be another offer.” Determined a solution existed, JC began exploring every avenue for growing birds. He was able to secure a commitment to grow three flocks of pullets from a small producer. Those two opportunities carried Marks Farms to 2011. Poultry work dried up in 2011, though, JC says. They scraped by with cows, hauling gravel, and timber work, as it was available. It was during this time that he and Debbie also began raising their grandchildren, now ages 17 and 13, fulltime. JC found work where he could for the next almost seven years. He also made a habit of networking with poultry company personnel. He called one particular Tyson manager every Monday morning for months. The man took his calls and learned his
