News - September 2014

Using their (soy)bean: Students from 15 schools take part in virtual field trip 

LITTLE ROCK -- Hundreds of students from 15 schools statewide took part in a virtual field trip on Tuesday, learning about microscopic nematodes and their effects on plants, animals and humans.  

Understand the issues before going to the poll

LITTLE ROCK – New ethics rules for state elected officials, statewide alcohol sales and a raised minimum wage are among the five issues voters will be asked to decide upon when they go to the polls on Nov. 4. 

Warm up for deer season with chili, Wildman Wilson, Arkansas 4-H Foundation 

LITTLE ROCK -- Join Steve “Wildman” Wilson for a warmup to the 2014 deer season as he presides over Celebrating the Outdoors, a Nov. 6 chili supper that will raise money to support the 4-H Foundation. 

Agricultural and Food Law Consortium launched 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Understanding how food and agriculture laws affect land- and sea-based food, fiber and energy production is the mission of a federally funded four-university partnership that makes up the Agricultural and Food Law Consortium.  

Arkansas youths mark National with science and service projects

LITTLE ROCK -- The more than 130,000 Arkansas youth who have made the 4-H youth development program part of their lives this year will join six million of their counterparts nationwide in celebrating October as National 4-H Month.

Winter shelter for sheep and goats 

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – With the arrival of fall, sheep and goat producers should begin preparing shelters for their animals so they will be ready for cold weather or winter storms. 

Plant of the Week - Copperleaf

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Late summer can be a tough time in the garden because oftentimes plants are lolling about with their tongues hanging out -- that is if they had tongues. However, a number of plants love the heat and don’t come into their own until summer is in full swing. One of these is copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana), a tropical shrub that can give stunning foliage effect in the summer garden.

Virtual field trip brings science behind soybeans from farms to high schools

LITTLE ROCK -- There’s a lot of science that goes into keeping the world fed and more than a dozen schools and nearly 400 students are registered to take part in a virtual field tour to introduce young scientists to the research that goes into agriculture.

Moms on the Farm tour gives attendees a glimpse of food production methods

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- On Oct. 6, the third annual Moms on the Farm Tour will provide attendees with a better understanding of how farmers provide consumers with the food they feed their families as they tour local farms in the northwest Arkansas area.

Stockpiling pastures still an option for emergency grazing

LITTLE ROCK -- Most producers have harvested a good quantity of hay this summer, but the forage quality is low in many cases, said John Jennings, professor-forage for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Rainy summer open doors to ergot poisoning, Dallisgrass staggers

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas’ rainy summer has been a boon for Dallisgrass, but with that bounty comes a higher danger that grazing cattle can be poisoned by a fungus that’s common to that type of grass, said John Jennings, professor-forage for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. 

Sept. 30 Deadline for Wheat and Oat Producers to Buy Crop Insurance

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Sept. 30 is the deadline for Arkansas growers of winter wheat and oats to purchase crop insurance for the 2015 crop year. It is also the deadline for insured growers to make any policy changes, such as adjusting their level of coverage or to cancel their insurance.

Plant of the Week - Brazilian Button Flower

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Strolling through the Botanical Garden the other day, I spied a healthy, happy blue flowered plant growing in a hot, relatively dry corner of the garden.  It was new to me. The plant, labeled as Centratherum ‘Pineapple Sangria’, had clean, distinctive foliage and was generously sprinkled with distinctive thistle colored blue-purple flowers. Despite the lateness of the growing season, the plant seemed to be just hitting its stride so obviously it was not averse to growing in the heat of an Arkansas summer.

Sherrie Miles joins husband as 100-bushel bean repeat

McGEHEE, Ark. – Sherrie Miles on Thursday became the second Arkansas soybean grower to break the100-bushel-per acre barrier in two straight years – just a week after her husband Matt became the first to repeat the feat.

Unique cotton research program featured at Manila field day

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The dominant soil around Manila and surrounding farm communities favors cotton above all other crops, said Ray Benson, staff chair of the Mississippi County Extension Office. 

AFGC forage conference set for Oct. 30 

LITTLE ROCK -- The nutritional importance of beef, forage crop insurance and marketing grass-fed beef are on the agenda for the Arkansas Forage and Grassland Council annual fall conference Oct. 30 in Conway.  

Center of Excellence for Poultry Science provides advanced culinary arts coursework

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Food technologists from companies across the United States took part in a 40-hour, five-day hands-on training workshop, Global/Advanced Culinary Arts, Sept. 9-11 at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, part of the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture, on the university’s Fayetteville campus. 

Winter forages: What to plant and how much 

LITTLE ROCK -- Matching production of winter forage annuals with livestock needs can be a challenging, but research and farm demonstrations by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture can help in decision making.  

Time for sheep, goat producers to prepare for breeding season

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Breeding season for sheep and goats is looming, and several steps should be taken now to ensure a successful season, said Dr. David Fernandez, Cooperative Extension Program livestock specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Aquaculture Field Day set for Oct. 2 at UAPB

PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will host the biennial Aquaculture/Fisheries Field Day on Oct. 2.

Plant of the Week - Elderberry

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- I grew up in the prairies of central Oklahoma about 30 miles west of the great deciduous forest of eastern North America. Like farm families everywhere, we took advantage of the native flora for our dinner table eating several kinds of wild greens, making jelly from possum grapes and jam from the sand plums.  However, I’ve never had an elderberry pie (Sambucus canadensis) because its native range stopped with the woodlands to our east. 

Lake Village grower smashes soybean yield record, 2^nd to break 100 bu/acre in 2014 

LAKE VILLAGE, Ark. – You could hear David Bennett smiling over the phone on Thursday. And the only thing busier than Bennett  -- in the middle of harvest -- was his phone, “which is ringing off the hook,” he said.  

Matt Miles now first Ark soybean grower to repeat with 100 bushels/acre twice

McGEHEE, Ark. – Matt Miles of McGehee has become the first Arkansas grower to break the 100-bushel per-acre barrier two years in a row. 

Harvest photos available

Our Flickr site now has an album of harvest images.

A new invader: Kudzu bugs confirmed in Arkansas 

MARION, Ark. -- Kudzu bugs, a fast-moving, invasive pest of soybeans, has been confirmed in Arkansas, but the ones found in Crittenden County probably arrived too late to do any damage to the state’s bean crop, Nick Seiter, extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said Monday.  

Plant stress research in Arkansas and Missouri aims to increase agricultural productivity

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A team of scientists from Arkansas and Missouri has secured a $6 million research grant from the National Science Foundation to combat crop losses resulting from stresses such as drought, poor soil, insects and disease.

LeadAR application deadline extended to Sept. 16 

LITTLE ROCK – Five state legislators, 30 years of learning, scores of community success stories, and a network that is 450 members strong. That is just part of the legacy that comes with being part of LeadAR, the Lead Arkansas program.  

Don’t miss deadline for maximum grazing disaster relief 

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Livestock producers who lost money due to droughts or fires between October 2011 and 2013 could be eligible to receive recovery assistance money through the Livestock Forage Disaster Assistance Program.  

Think pounds of nutrients instead of tons of hay for winter needs

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – When ranchers buy hay, they usually think of how many tons they need to get their livestock through the winter when they should be thinking of the pounds of nutrients they are buying, said David Fernandez, Cooperative Extension Program livestock specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. 

Plant of the Week - Three Seeded Mercury

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Walking through my garden in the summertime I’m often reminded of the 1971 folk tune A Horse with No Name by the rock band America when I come across a particular weed.  To me it is the weed with no name, or at least none I know.  Then last week I discovered its identity, Three Seeded Mercury (Acalypha rhomboidea), while researching information for its ornamental cousin Copperleaf, Acalypha wilkesiana.