Gary C. George
The Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame will induct six new members at a March 4 luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock, the Arkansas Farm Bureau announced Wednesday.
The new members are:
- The late W.H. (Bill) Caldwell of Rose Bud
- The late Hank Chamberlin of Monticello
- Gary C. George of Springdale, chairman of George’s Inc.
- Rice farmer David Hillman of Almyra
- Longtime Cooperative Extension rice specialist Bobby Huey of Newport
- Cattleman John Frank Pendergrass of Charleston
Tickets for the 28th annual induction luncheon are $35 each and available by calling (501) 228-1470 or emailing aghalloffame@arfb.com.
“I am always amazed at the hard work and success that is reflected by those elected to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame,” said Butch Calhoun of Des Arc, chairman of the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame and former Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture. “This group is a representation of the diversity and achievement of our agricultural industry.”
Caldwell operated a dairy farm, a feed mill business, Caldwell & Sons Eggs and Sidon Mountain Brangus Ranch. His feed mill, Caldwell Milling, grew to more than 100 employees and seven locations around the state.
Chamberlin founded what is now the School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, the only forestry school in the state. In 1981, he was selected as a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters. In 1994, he was an inaugural inductee in the Arkansas Forester’s Hall of Fame.
George is chairman of the board of George’s Inc., leading a family poultry business started in the 1920s by his late grandfather, C.L. George. George was appointed president of George’s Inc. and is subsidiaries in 1980 at 30 and was named CEO in 1994. The company has more than 4,700 employees.
Hillman, a rice farmer and state representative for District 13, is one of just 10 men to serve as president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau. He has also served on the board of Producers Rice Mill, the USDA Crop Advisory Committee (Rice) and the U.S.A. Rice Council board. He is past chairman of the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board and served as a director for the Arkansas County Conservation District.
Huey spent 33 years with University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, including 20 years as a rice specialist at the organization’s experiment station in Stuttgart. During his career, he received honors including an Extension Specialist of the Year Award, an Arkansas Farm Bureau Service Award, John White Outstanding Extension Award and a “Friend of the Farmer” Award from Riceland Foods Inc.
Pendergrass is a fifth-generation cattle farmer on Pendergrass Ranch in Franklin County. The president of Pendergrass Cattle Co., he’s been honored as 2008 Arkansas Stocker of the Year by the Arkansas Cattelmen’s Association and the 2008 National Stocker Award from Beef magazine.
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