The seed community has lost a legend who’s being remembered as a seed grower and farmer who knew how to make long-lasting change — sometimes pushing the envelope to do so.
Tom Jackson passed away Aug. 10 at the age of 65. The seed grower (he grew his first pedigreed seed crop at just 17), farmer and joint operator of Jackson Homesteaders Farms in Killam, Alta., was known as an iconoclast who juggled a packed agenda — running for office, staying deeply involved with crop commissions and policy groups and going so far as to serve on both provincial and federal riding associations.
“Tom was always someone who showed up regularly to our meetings and events. He was a familiar face, someone we could count on seeing at all our functions,” says Chelsea Tomlinson, who operates True Seeds in Redwater, Alta., and sits on the board of the Alberta-British Columbia Seed Growers (ABCSG).
“He had a knack for getting more people involved in a conversation, even those who might have been sitting quietly in the back. Sometimes he would play the role of the antagonist, but I think his real goal was to encourage engagement and get more people talking.”
Born in 1958 in Sherwood Park, Alta., he learned the ropes from his dad and uncle, developing a deep commitment to the land, the animals, and most of all, the machinery that kept everything running smoothly on the family grain farm.
In the mid-1970s, Jackson joined the Teen Time of Edmonton Christian youth group (his faith was extremely important to him throughout his life), where a chance encounter at a ranch near Dapp, Alta., changed his life forever. While helping deworm the horses, he met Lucy Wall, who would become the love of his life.
As the 1980s rolled in, so did a new chapter for him. With the arrival of their children Naomi, Daniel, and Joshua between 1982 and 1984, the farm in Sherwood Park took on new meaning, and Jackson found himself transitioning back to full-time work on the land — this time with a family to share in the joys and challenges. But the 1990s brought major changes to farm life for Jackson. As the fields around Sherwood Park gave way to housing developments, his family also grew, with Ruth and Zeke arriving in 1993 and 1995.
That same year, a serious accident forced Jackson’s dad into retirement, prompting his youngest brother Colin to take over managing the family farm in Sherwood Park.
Meanwhile, Jackson turned his focus to advocacy, diving deep into crop commissions and policy groups, and fighting tirelessly for marketing freedom during the contentious Canadian Wheat Board debate. The latter issue would become a huge focus for Jackson.
He went on a much-publicized month-long hunger strike in 1996 to protest the Wheat Board monopoly. His goal? Getting an export license to allow him to ship his grain to the United States. He wasn’t successful, but he ended up devising other ways of making his point that the Wheat Board monopoly was stifling business opportunities for farmers.
“Tom had grown some high-quality hard red winter wheat grain, and he found a market for it south of the border,” says Jim Galloway, a longtime friend of Jackson’s and owner of Galloway Seeds in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.
“He said he could get about $2 more per bushel selling it there than he could through the Wheat Board, but of course you weren’t allowed to do that. That’s when he learned that you could bypass the Wheat Board by sending pedigreed seed to the U.S.”
Of course, there were requirements — the seed had to be cleaned, inspected, graded, properly documented and bagged.
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