The ArFB AgTech Training Lab recently made its first stop of the school year at Morrilton High School. The trailer holds three simulators that allow students to experience industrial equipment being used in the workforce and earn credit toward certifications. The trailer remains at each school for one week, allowing time for students to get some experience in the simulators. The schedule calls for the AgTech Training Lab to visit 36 other schools throughout the school year.
A number of issues during the past several years have compounded farm stress, and Farm Bureau has been working to address this critical issue. Rebecca Simon with the Cooperative Extension Service joined us to share some everyday ways farmers can cope when things aren't going as planned.
This week, we talk to Sen. John Boozman after one of his recent farm visits this week, and we hear from Cooperative Extension Service expert Julia Fryer on produce safety issues after Hurricane Laura. We also catch up with the Benton County Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee's Brenda Patton about the challenges her group has faced during COVID-19.
Construction on a new poultry education center at Southern Arkansas University is nearing completion. The facility will add "hands on" poultry education to the growing agriculture program at Southern Arkansas University. Dr. Jeff Miller, chairman of the SAU Agriculture Department, explains why poultry education is needed to train future professionals for this important industry in Arkansas.
Rip Weaver, program assistant with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, spoke with us about ways the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed state agencies into the digital age, with in-person meetings, trainings, farm tours and other activities taking a back seat to virtual get-togethers.
Drew and Laura Davis of Bono (Craighead County) and Monica Paskewitz of Melbourne (Izard County) earned the top two Young Farmers & Ranchers awards this month during Arkansas Farm Bureau’s annual Officers & Leaders Conference, which was held “virtually” for the first time in its 72-year history. The awards honor young farmers and ranchers ages 18-35 for the general excellence of their operations and their hard work and innovation.
We talked to Dr. Karen Ballard, professor of program evaluation for the Cooperative Extension Service’s Community, Professional & Economic Development Department, and Dr. Julie Robinson, associate professor in the Community, Professional & Economic Development Department, about their work on virtual teaching and professional meetings and how use of this technology is expanding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, weather takes center stage. We hear from a National Weather Service Senior Forecaster John Lewis, Ag Extension Rice Agronomist Jarrod Hardke and Sevier County livestock and poultry grower Bruce Jackson about how excessive winds and rainfall from Hurricane Laura could impact Arkansas agriculture. We also get some tips and information for Arkansas small meat and poultry processors interested in the state’s new $5 million grant program for expanding processing capacity.
Kallem Hill grows broiler chickens for Wayne Farms in Perry. He has 18 poultry houses and, like other growers in the state, has suffered extended “out times” and other issues from the Covid-19 pandemic. In this update, Hill explains how Payment Protection Program assistance allowed him to pay his employees and says that things are slowly getting back to normal.
