Terry Walker Named Director of Arkansas State Plant Board

LITTLE ROCK – Gov. Asa Hutchinson has appointed Terry Walker as Director of the Arkansas State Plant Board (ASPB), a division of the Arkansas Agriculture Department, as of January 16, 2016. Walker has been employed with the ASPB for 13 years and is a graduate of the University of Arkansas.

Walker follows previous ASPB Director Darryl Little, who retired in January. Products and services such as seed, feed, fertilizer, pesticides, weights and measures, petroleum, honeybees, plant pests, nurseries, pest control services and many others are regulated by the ASPB.

Walker said he values the opportunity to continue building and growing agriculture as the top industry in Arkansas. “From row crops, to livestock, to horticultural products and fish, Arkansas products go toward providing a safe and economical food source for everyone. This is a major concern for everyone associated in a governmental and/or regulatory capacity. Not only does agriculture provide a livelihood for our producers but also puts food on our tables,” he said.

Walker began his career in 1971 with the Rice Branch Experiment Station, now the Rice Research and Extension Center, in Stuttgart. He then left Arkansas to work in the private soybean research sector, serving regions of Alabama and Tennessee. He returned to Arkansas in 1984 as project leader for the Soybean and Small Grain Variety Testing at the University of Arkansas Agronomy Department. He returned again to the private soybean industry from 1991 – 1996, and then on to manage the research of a local seed company, and later managed a cotton gin. In 2002, he accepted the position as ASPB Plant Industry Division Director, and moved to ASPB Assistant Director in 2012.

In identifying the biggest challenges ahead for the ASPB, Walker first discusses ASPB personnel and Arkansans: “Our team does an excellent job. I need to insure that they have the resources to effectively and efficiently provide the services to our stakeholders and assist them in conducting their businesses. Arkansas has a wealth of quality producers growing and providing excellent food products to be used by the general population. It is imperative those producers and products have an effective presence nationally and internationally to promote them.”

He names continued partnership and consolidation with other divisions within the Arkansas Agriculture Department as another top priority: “This unified Agriculture Department should give Arkansas a more recognizable and substantial presence on the national level when addressing issues of concern.”