Chuck Culver

Chuck Culver cultivated and facilitated key relationships, establishing legal and administrative infrastructures while obtaining funding via private development and federal advocacy. He helped secure more than $600 million in public and private funding for agriculture research and extension projects during his tenure with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture (UADA), including federal funding for 25 major research and extension projects for the Division of Agriculture, UA-Fayetteville, UA-Pine Bluff, UA-Monticello and Arkansas State University. Culver also led fundraising efforts for the establishment of 30 agricultural research and extension facilities and centers across Arkansas.

Culver helped champion the major increase of the USDA Agricultural Research Service presence in Arkansas, including construction of the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center laboratory building and the establishment of two national centers: the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center in Little Rock and the National Agricultural Law Center in Fayetteville. Culver also drafted the federal Lower Mississippi Delta Development Act that led to the creation of the Delta Regional Authority.

Culver retired in 2024 after 34 years with the Division of Agriculture, having served as director of external relations and interim vice president of agriculture (2021-22).

Born in Greenville, Miss., Culver earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, as well as a juris doctorate and a Master of Laws in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He joined the UADA in 1990. Culver has previously served as counsel for agriculture and rural development for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and as a legislative assistant for agriculture in the office of U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers.

 Culver serves on the board of directors of AgHeritage FCS and Butterfield Trail Village, a church-established non-profit life care community in Fayetteville.