The UA Fruit Research Station near Clarksville held its first hops workshop August 15. Hops are what adds bitterness and aroma to beer. Watch our latest video to see how Extension horticulture specialist Amanda McWhirt and her team are exploring opportunities for farmers to grow hops in Arkansas to feed the growing local craft brewing industry.
Arkansas Farm Bureau has launched an expanded, weekly Arkansas AgCast. This week’s inaugural edition focuses on the challenging season for soybean growers and features interviews with Newport soybean farmer Derek Haigwood, chairman of the U.S. Soybean Export Council and United Soybean Board of Directors member, and Dr. Jeremy Ross, Extension Soybean Agronomist.
Roger Pohlner of Fisher is the new chairman of the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board. We visited with him at the recent Rice Field Day in Stuttgart and learned about some of ways the board hopes to improve profitability for the state’s rice farmers this year.
During a recent field day at the Rohwer Research Station, Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service agronomists Jason Kelley and Jarrod Hardke updated southeast Arkansas farmers on the condition of the state's corn, rice and soybean crops after one of the wettest spring planting and summer growing seasons in memory.
James Meeks is a fifth-generation farmer who has become known across Arkansas and region for his tomato, watermelon and "u-pick" produce operation near Hamburg in Ashley County. He and his business partner have overcome regulatory and workforce challenges and built their Triple M Farms into a key tomato provider for Walmart, Subway restaurants and a number of roadside vendors. He spoke to us about his love of growing tomatoes, industry challenges and the uncertain future of the business.
This year has been a roller coaster ride for many Arkansas producers. Jackson County's John “Bubba” Sink, who farms rice, corn and soybeans, shared the high points and the low points of the season in this interview.
Peach farmer Mark Morgan and his family run Peach Pickin' Paradise in Lamar just outside of Clarksville, where they grow almost two dozen varieties of peaches and nectarines. With peach season in full swing in Arkansas, Morgan took a few minutes to tell us how the crop looks this year and what "peach pickers" can expect when they head out to get this sweet summertime favorite.
By Memorial Day weekend, only half of Arkansas’ cotton acreage for 2019 had been planted, but as cotton extension agronomist Bill Robertson tells us, figures obtained by the Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Program show planted cotton acres now exceed 580,000. That means this is the fourth year of increased cotton acreage and the highest planted acreage since 2012. Learn more in this edition of Arkansas AgCast.
Abraham Carpenter Jr. talks about how weather has made this perhaps the most difficult planting season he's faced during his decades of growing produce. Carpenter and his family run Carpenter Produce, multi-generational farm in Lincoln County that has been in operation for more than 50 years.
A Horticulture Field Day was held recently in Hope. Dr. Amanda McWhirt, horticulture extension specialist with the University of Arkansas, talks about the research going on at the Southwest Research and Extension Center and the crops they grow there, particularly blueberries and blackberries, watermelons and muscadines.
