Jackie Prince has been farming in the Prairie County community of Biscoe for 40 years, starting with working for his grandfather as a teenager. He describes this year as one of the most challenging he's faced, because weather prevented him from planting his rice and soybeans.
Larry Blasdel raises cattle in the hills of Marion County and, despite industry challenges, he wouldn't have it any other way. He shares the story of his family business and spending a lifetime in the livestock business.
Though heavy rains this past spring forced Prairie County farmer Mason Sickel to push back his rice planting several weeks, he says that his crop is turning out better than expected this harvest season.
Harvest season is in full swing, so we visited Tollville rice farmer Mason Sickel to capture some of the hard work that's happening in the fields right now.
After experiencing a six-year period of economic expansion, the Arkansas timber and wood products industry is slowing down, signaled by the closing of two mills in south Arkansas. We spoke to some industry experts about the impact of the closings on Ashley and Union County communties and their thoughts on the severity and length of the slowdown.
In honor of National Rice Month and Rice Month in Arkansas, the Arkansas rice industry makes a donation to the Arkansas Foodbank each year. We attended this year's donation ceremony at the Food Bank headquarters in Little Rock and spoke with Rhonda Sanders, CEO of the Food Bank and Dan Hosman, Craighead County rice farmer and chair of the Arkansas Rice Council.
We talked to Leigh Ann Bullington at the Cooperative Extension Service to learn more about the Share Grounds Project, a new, grant-funded approach to creating certified kitchens and distribution centers for use by local farmers at the Woodruff, Cleveland and Searcy county fairgrounds.
USDA Sec. Sonny Perdue was in Arkansas Sept. 4 to participate in a "Town Hall" meeting with agriculture industry leaders and join Gov. Asa Hutchinson for the signing of a Shared Stewardship Agreement dealing with forest practices.
Technology is changing the way farmers irrigate their crops and monitor soil moisture in their fields. Farmers Jacob Appleberry and Jon Carroll say remote soil moisture sensors, which they access with an App on their phones, are helping them conserve water and cut the cost of irrigation.
Corn harvest has begun in Arkansas, so we visited Jacob Appleberry's A & A Farms in Tillar to get some footage of the work. See what's happening and learn more about what it takes to bring in the corn crop each year.
