Gov. Hutchinson appoints two new state plant board members

Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed the president of a cotton-oil mill and a lifelong farmer to Arkansas’s State Plant Board on Thursday (April 26).

John Fricke of Bryant will represent fertilizer and cotton oil mills. His term expires March 17, 2020. Fricke replaces Larry Jayroe. Sam Stuckey of Clarkedale will represent cotton growers. His term expires March 17, 2020. Stuckey replaces Danny Finch.

“With their decades of experience in agriculture, John Fricke and Sam Stuckey will bring a fresh perspective that will help guide the Plant Board in its significant role in our state’s number one industry,” Hutchinson said. “I was fortunate that Arkansas has a deep bench of leaders to choose from, and I was pleased that John and Sam agreed to step up for the state’s agriculture.”

Fricke is president and CEO of Planters Cotton Oil Mill in Pine Bluff. He worked for Planters in 1998 as a commodity merchandiser and became president and CEO in 2007. Planters’ 65 employees crush 250,000 tons of cottonseed annually to produce cottonseed oil, cottonseed hulls, cottonseed meal and cotton linters.

Stuckey has been mayor of Clarkedale since 2001. Stuckey graduated from Lepanto High School in 1973 and from the University of Arkansas in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and a minor in agriculture business. In the years since graduation, he has worked on his family’s farm raising cotton, rice, soybeans, corn, wheat, and grain sorghum. He is a director on the Crittenden Gin board.