by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)
Six inductees will be added to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame, reflective of industry-changing work in aquaculture, forestry, rice, poultry and cattle as well as the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
The six inductees that make up Class XXXVII are:
Aubrey Blackmon of Houston, a founding member of Perry County Cattlemen’s Association in 1970 and recipient of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association lifetime service achievement award in 2012;
Carl Brothers of Stuttgart, who spent 53 years with Riceland Foods, retiring as senior vice president and chief operating officer and whose leadership was instrumental in passage of the 1985 farm bill, also known as the Food Security Act of 1985;
Chuck Culver of Fayetteville, retired University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture executive who helped secure more than He helped secure more than $600 million in public and private funding for agriculture research and extension projects;
Mike Freeze of Little Rock, co-owner and operator of Keo Fish Farms — America’s largest producer of hybrid striped bass fry and fingerlings — who helped Arkansas become one of the top three states in aquaculture production;
The late Jack Reaper of Albion, who was a prisoner of war in a German concentration camp before starting with a 24-acre farm in White County and growing it into a model farm that included poultry, cattle and row crops; and
Frank Wilson of Rison, who began planting pine trees with his dad more than 70 years ago and started Wilson Brothers Lumber Company in 1972, followed by several logging companies and other timber industry enterprises offering more than 100 jobs in rural Cleveland County.
