This week, we learn about a potential $5 million grant to help Arkansas meat processors expand. We also talk Catfish Month in Arkansas with Chad Causey of Catfish Farmers of America, and we discuss the recent outbreak of VSV that’s hitting horses in the state.
Dewayne Goldmon of Pine Bluff grows corn, rice and soybeans on 1,400 acres. He worked full-time for Bayer Crop Sciences in technology development and research while farming “part-time” for more than 20 years. He and his wife Debra were the Southeast District and Jefferson County Farm Family of the Year in 2019. Goldmon served on USDA’s Advisory Committee for Minority Farmers and is executive director of the National Black Grower’s Council. He sat down with us to discuss farming, his career and recent events.
This week, we learn about a new partnership involving the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and UAMS to help with COVID-19 testing in rural areas and we hear about more funding for rural broadband in the state. We also talk to Sara Gardner, who was recently named to the National 4-H Council’s Young Alumni Advisory Committee.
John Michael Bearden and his wife Rachel have a cow-calf and hay operation in rural Hot Spring County. They recently cut and baled hay to feed their cattle this winter. In this update from their farm, John Michael explains the challenges they've had with the weather and supply chain issues resulting from Covid-19. But he also says the pandemic has had positive aspects as well.
This week, we talk to the new, interim director of the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart, and we learn about new funding for research on improving management of crop burns. We also hear from University of Arkansas Professor Steven Ricke, who was recently honored for his work on poultry broilers and food safety and we get details on the Double Your Dollar farmers market program in Northwest Arkansas.
We talk to Heather Friedrich of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture about the Double Your Dollar farmers market program she oversees in Northwest Arkansas.
Just in time for National Farmers Market Week, Fayetteville Farmers Market co-manager Teresa Mauer provides an update on this year's market and the adjustments they've made during the pandemic.
JA Farms Feed in Bismarck is expanding. Owner Jeremy Allen tells us about adding a pellet mill to his growing operation and installing a robotic stacking unit to make handling orders faster and more efficient. Allen says he hopes to have the pellet mill operational by the end of the year.
For a number of reasons, peanuts are one of the more attractive crops for Arkansas delta farmers right now and Delta Peanut is completing construction on the state's first peanut shelling facility in Jonesboro. We spoke to Andy Vangilder, peanut specialist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, about this year's crop and why production is increasing in Arkansas.
