Jack D. Carey

Jack Carey has spent 35 years leading the boll weevil eradication effort in Arkansas. Now retired, Carey grew cotton, soybeans, rice and wheat in the Arkansas delta after moving to Desha County in 1971 from his native Louisiana. Carey became a statewide leader for the cotton industry, leading discussion on the potential for a statewide boll weevil eradication program with other growers and pioneered the BWE effort. He chaired the Arkansas Boll Weevil Planning Committee and served on the first Eradication Board. In 1994 Carey was named to the National Cotton Council’s Boll Weevil Action committee which helped coordinate programs throughout the nation’s cotton-growing states. Because of his leadership and influence the boll weevil is essentially no longer a threat to Arkansas’ cotton industry. Carey helped form the Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Committee in 1991 and served as chairman until 1996. A leader in the state’s cotton industry, he chaired the Arkansas Farm Bureau cotton division from 1991-2004. Carey served as the state representative to American Farm Bureau’s Cotton Advisory Committee for 12 years. Carey graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1949 and later earned a masters of education from Mississippi College. He joined Louisiana Farm Bureau in 1951, serving as Parish president for a number of years. He remained an active leader of Farm Bureau after moving to Arkansas and was elected to the state board of directors in 1990. He served 14 years on the board, including four as secretary-treasurer. During this time, he was a director of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company and the Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Company. Additionally, Carey served as a member of American Farm Bureau’s Food Quality Protection Act working group and chaired Arkansas’ committee. He served on the Southeast Arkansas Research Advisory Committee at the University of Arkansas-Monticello and on the Great River Vo-Tech Advisory panel to create farm management curriculum.