Mar 16, 2015
Richard E. "Dick" Bell
The U.S. rice industry is deeply saddened by the passing of Richard E. "Dick" Bell, 81, in Stuttgart, Arkansas on March 13. Bell was president and CEO of Riceland Foods for more than 23 years. In 2005, he was named Arkansas's first Secretary of Agriculture, a post he held until he retired in 2012.
Bell joined Riceland in 1977 as executive vice president and chief operating officer, and was elevated to the chief executive position in 1981. He retired from Riceland in 2004.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, in a statement following Bell's death, said, "His vast knowledge of the entire agricultural landscape, and the respect he earned from everyone in the agri-world, made him the best choice to launch our state's Agriculture Department when it was created."
Bell, a native of Illinois, earned graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois-Urbana, and joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service in 1959 as an agricultural economist. Bell served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and then as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs from 1973-1977. Bell also served as president of the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation and Chairman of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. In recognition of his accomplishments in the international trade arena, Bell was awarded the USDA's Distinguished Service Award in 1975.
"Dick Bell greatly expanded the economic importance of the rice industry in Arkansas and the United States," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. "He combined a deep expertise in agriculture with a keen understanding of farm and food policy that made him an effective advocate."
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