Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Mark Lambert provides an update on the flooding and challenges caused by this week’s heavy rains and the impact on farmers and ranchers.

Heavy rains have hit Arkansas farmers and ranchers hard this week, and Arkansas Farm Bureau President Rich Hillman has a message for all of those struggling to deal with the impact.

In addition to growing rice, soybeans and cotton, Lee County farmer Nathan Reed also has a land-leveling business. Rather than blowing the budget on new equipment, Reed buys and fixes up discarded, decades-old tractors at a fraction of the cost. He is using the savings to invest in land and expand his farm.

Arkansas Farm Bureau hosted a Connectivity Summit June 3 with lawmakers and other stakeholders from across Arkansas to advocate for affordable, reliable high-speed broadband service for its members and for Arkansas.

The Olds Farm in Rosboro, Arkansas is a place for students in the region to experience true hands-on learning. Now with the help of the Caddo Career Consortium they've dedicated a new Show Barn that enhances the ways agriculture is taught in the area. The barn is already housing animals and hosting events, but if you listen to anyone attending the dedication ceremony they'll tell you this ag-focused community is just getting started.

The Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act of 2019 was passed to help strengthen local farm and food economies and expand access to locally grown and produced foods. The Act asked state agencies, including schools, to set a goal of purchasing at least 20 percent of food from Arkansas producers. We visited Newton County to learn how one local rancher is working to provide meat for the local school system.

Crawfish are an Arkansas favorite... to eat. Yet few in the state raise their own. Is crawfish farming viable here? One farmer in Southwest Arkansas has made a successful hobby harvesting crawfish, but he hasn't done it without learning a few interesting lessons along the way.

In 1996, Arkansas Farm Bureau Women's Leadership Committee began a partnership with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas that continues today. This month, the committee and staff at Ronald McDonald House commemorated the 25th anniversary of the partnership with a special event, during which the women's committee made its annual $4,000 donation. The donation will be used to purchase food and supplies to feed families staying at Ronald McDonald House to be near seriously ill children receiving treatment at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Our second VLOG in the series "A Day In The Life" is up and this time we follow Bill Jackson at Jackson Farm in Lawrence County. Follow Bill around as he shows us his orchard, cattle and even meet Kuzco the llama.

Thanks to some generous donations from Rocking F Ranch in Patterson, 13 students in Woodruff, Cross and Jackson counties will be able to show pigs in the Three County Fair this fall. Ranch owner Wes Fairchild and his son Tucker talked about the benefits of owning and showing animals like these.