Three college students have joined Arkansas Farm Bureau for the summer as interns. The interns will assist several departments within the organization and work to advance their skills, while also learning more about Arkansas Farm Bureau’s grassroots impact within the state and across the nation.
Arkansas Farm Bureau state leaders and policy specialists met via tele-conference Tuesday with livestock producers to inform them about the U.S. CARES Act Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, known as CFAP. Only producers directly affected by the coronavirus who lost 5% or more raising cattle, swine or lambs are eligible for this program. Cow-calf cattle operations are the dominant livestock production in Arkansas.
County winners for the 73rd annual Arkansas Farm Family of the Year Program have been selected. The county winners will be visited by a set of judges to determine eight district winners, who will be announced June 16. The state winner will be announced Dec. 6 at the Farm Family of the Year luncheon in North Little Rock.
Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Women’s Leadership Committee and the Farm Bureau Foundation have donated $50,000 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas to help offset projected shortfalls as a result of COVID-19. The ArFB Women’s Leadership Committee has a lengthy history of support for the Ronald McDonald House, which provides a “home-away-from-home” for more than 38,000 families sent to Little Rock for life-saving medical care for their child.
The Farm Bureau Insurance companies announced Thursday a $500,000 gift to the six foodbanks that cover the state of Arkansas, anchored by the Arkansas Foodbank, which represents 33 counties in Central Arkansas.
Late last week, the Department of Homeland Security designated food and agriculture one of 16 critical sectors in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, and said that workers in those industries should stay on the job. Arkansas Farm Bureau and a consortium of agriculture industry groups have come together to thank Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson for his response to the COVID-19 crisis so far and request that he designate agriculture as essential at the state level.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau has instituted a work-from-home policy amidst the concern about the spread of novel coronavirus, which has led local governments and businesses to adjust how they conduct business. This policy will continue through March 30. During this period of remote work, ArFB employees will be accessible and responsive to members and stakeholders, by phone and email, as they would normally.
Applications are now available to high school students for the summer Medical Applications of Science for Health (M*A*S*H) camps. These two-week M*A*S*H camps will be offered at 35 different medical facilities throughout Arkansas and are designed to expose rising high-school juniors and seniors to healthcare-related careers.
Rich Hillman of Carlisle, recently elected president of Arkansas Farm Bureau, was selected Tuesday for a two-year term on the American Farm Bureau board of directors. He was elected to represent the Southern Region by delegates serving at the organization’s 101st annual convention in Austin, Texas.
