News in brief

Farm Bureau keeps Veach as president

Manila farmer Randy Veach was elected to a seventh term as president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau on Friday at the organization's 80th annual convention in Hot Springs.

Veach, who farms cotton, soybeans, rice, wheat, corn and milo near the Lost Cane community in Mississippi County, is the Farm Bureau's 10th president since its creation in 1935.

"I'm deeply committed to agriculture and understand the great responsibility we have to advocating and strengthening the interests of agriculture," Veach, 64, said in a release about the election.

Voting delegates also re-elected Rich Hillman of Carlisle in Lonoke County to a seventh term as vice president. Hillman, 51, grows rice, soybeans and wheat.

Two new members were elected to the bureau's board: Caleb Plyler, 34, of Hope whose 1,362-acre ranch has more than 300 Charolais cattle, and Dan Wright, 54, of Waldron, a poultry and hay grower.

-- Glen Chase

Christmas tree farms dwindling in state

The latest Census of Agriculture shows the number of Arkansas Christmas tree farms fell by half between 2007 and 2012, the most recent figures available.

The numbers weren't incredibly big to begin with. The state had just 59 Christmas tree farms in 2007 but had only 29 at last count. The census also shows the number of acres devoted to growing Christmas trees in Arkansas declined from 562 in 2007 to 227 in 2012.

"There are a few reasons for the decrease in farms in Arkansas -- one is that we don't have the climate to grow the species that people want such as noble, Fraser or Douglas firs," said Tamara Walkingstick, associate director of the Arkansas Forest Resources Center.

Demand for trees has sagged and while "prices for farm grown trees have not gone up, the cost of growing them has," she said. "It's hard for tree growers to make money.

Oregon has the largest number of Christmas tree farms -- 1,517 farms on 53,605 acres.

-- Cyd King

State index up 1.70; USA Truck hits high

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 1.70 to 380.51 Friday.

Twelve stocks advanced, and five declined.

USA Truck gained 5.7 percent and hit its third straight 52-week high.

Acxiom grew 3.7 percent in heavy trading.

For the week, 11 stocks were up, and six fell.

USA Truck jumped 16.8 percent for the week.

Windstream lost 4.2 percent for the week.

Total volume of the index was 23.9 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 22.6 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 12/06/2014

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