U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 4 Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check box if no longer subject of Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Butts Lampkin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) Post Office Box 988 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Laurel Mississippi 39441-0988 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol SAFM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Statement for Month/Year December 20, 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ================================================================================ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [X] Director [X] 10% Owner [X] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) Vice President-Sales --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line) [X] Form filed by one Reporting Person [_] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================ 6. 4. 5. Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship 3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7. Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of 2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock, par value $1.00 per share 3,873.1454 D (1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock, par value Custodian $1.00 per share 80 I for Child ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Common Stock, par value ESOP $1.00 per share 24,161 I Allocation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock, par value Trustee* $1.00 per share 12/20/02 P V 20,000 A $20.34 1,231,618 I for ESOP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: *Mr. Butts is one of three trustees of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan and Trust of Sanderson Farms, Inc. and Affiliates ("ESOP"), which is the record owner of 1,231,618 shares of common stock of the Company. As such, Mr. Butts, in his capacity as a trustee of the ESOP, shares with the other trustees investment power with respet to those shares of common stock and therefore is deemed to beneficially own, under applicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the shares of common stock owned of record by the ESOP. Pursuant to Rule 13d-4 of the Exchange Act, Mr. Butts disclaims beneficial ownership of the common stock owned of record by the ESOP, except for the 24,161 shares allocated to his personal account thereunder as a participant in the plan, over which shares Mr. Butts exercises sole voting power, but shares with the other trustees investment power with respect to such shares. If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 4(b)(v). Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Print or Type Responses) (Over) (Form 4-07/99) FORM 4 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================ 10. 9. Owner- Number ship of Form 2. Deriv- of Conver- 5. 7. ative Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount Secur- ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ities Secur- of Exer- 4. Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In- cise 3. Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct Price Trans- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene- 1. of action Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial Title of Deriv- Date (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner- Derivative ative (Month/ 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Month (I) ship Security Secur- Day/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity Year) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Incentive Stock Common Options $13.00 4/24/99* 4/23/08 Stock 15,000 D ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Common $ 7.188 5/01/01* 5/01/10 Stock 7,500 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common $ 7.46875 4/21/01* 4/21/10 Stock 18,000 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common $11.10 4/28/02* 4/28/11 Stock 7,500 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common $18.55 7/25/03* 7/25/12 Stock 18,000 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: *All reported option vest at 25% on the date indicated, and continue to vest at 25% on each anniversary date thereafter until fully vested /s/Lampkin Butts December 23, 2002 -------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.