2026 Pioneer Farmer of the Year

Jerry Devillier 

​I farmed rice with my dad for a couple of years and started farming on my own in ’53, I was nineteen then. I had another job, so I started out with just thirteen acres. It was just a little bitty patch that was more of a nuisance, but it got me started.

It wasn’t too many years after that I had a little bit of base built up, but not enough to farm, so me and my brother, Sammy, and my dad formed a partnership, and we bought a bunch of acreage. My dad never wanted to farm too big, he only farmed about 300 to 400 acres, but when Sammy and I went into partnership with him in 1958, we increased the acreage.

My greatest joy of being a rice farmer was just seeing the rice grow, you know, and then seeing it at harvest time. I was always glad to see we had a good stand.

“The hardest part of rice farming was quitting. That’s the worst. I’ve been an early riser all my life, I’d always wake up at five o’clock in the morning before I married and make coffee for my mom and dad. It’s just a habit with me, I guess. When you wake up and you don’t have anything to do it’s hard. When you get as old as I am you don’t have many friends left to go visit. I’ll sit and watch television and get three-day-old news.

I still deer hunt, but this year it will depend on whether my sore back gets straightened up. I’ve sat and counted cars for I don’t know how long, over a year now, I guess, I’ve got now to where I can look at ‘em and not count ‘em,” laughed Jerry.” The laughter left Jerry’s eyes as he sadly concluded, “It’s tough when you’re used to getting up and having something to do and now you’ve got nothing to do,” concluded Jerry who turns 92 in September.

I feel very blessed to have my wife Mary by my side and my three sons Randy, Culley & Steve that I get to see on a daily basis. When all the kids, grand kids & great grands show up we have a feast and still making happy memories, it’s a good life.