HEARTLAND CATFISH - Key Persons
Heartland Catfish Company was founded in 1996 by William Tackett, his son, Jim Tackett, and son-in-law, Joe Walker. However, the foundation for the company's success was built decades earlier, when 6-year-old William Tackett began working for one penny per day. Over time, William developed his work ethic, dedication, integrity, determination and Christian principles. These guided the growth and success of one of the largest vertically integrated entities in the U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish industry.
Mr. Tackett and his wife, Marue, began farming in 1948 in Arkansas. In 1964, Mr. Tackett and his family moved to Belzoni in the Mississippi Delta to farm rice, soybeans and cotton. Then, in 1968, he built his first catfish pond in Humphreys County. The next several years saw the family move to Leflore County and Sunflower County, where they continued to farm rice, corn and soybeans, built more catfish ponds and began a catfish hatchery with brooder and fingerling operations.
produce 3,000 to 4,000 eggs per pound of body weight per year. These fish lay the eggs in specialized boxes that are then collected by hand and taken to a hatchery to hatch into "sac fry."
William Tackett, his son, Jim Tackett, and his son-in-law, Joe Walker, began farming catfish in the Schlater, Mississippi, area. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, their operation, known as Tackett Fish Farms, grew to be some 9,300 water acres of catfish production, making it the single largest catfish operation in the world. As Tackett Fish Farms sold its production to various cooperative processing plants over the years, the family began to consider operating their own processing plant.