News - June 2017

Microbiomes: tiny life has big impact on food safety

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — To provide healthy food animals for a safe and secure food supply, sometimes you have to dig into the guts of the matter, said Dr. Steven Ricke, director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Center for Food Safety.

Put your scouting hat on: SW corn borers, rice disease incidents on the rise

STUTTGART, Ark. – Arkansas crop producers are being encouraged to be in scouting mode as the number of incidents of rice diseases and some insect pests rise.

Tips for keeping your perennial cool season grasses productive during the summer and beyond

LITTLE ROCK – As anyone with a hand in the U.S. cattle business will tell you, fescue grass is one of the primary pillars of the industry, with approximately 2 million acres of the cool season grass grown by cattle producers in Arkansas alone.

Alfalfa stands benefit from interseeding with annual grasses

LITTLE ROCK – Ranchers and other landowners growing alfalfa, whether for forage or as a cash crop, are likely familiar with the high environmental pressures insect pests and disease that accompany warm and humid summers.

2017 Arkansas Rice College registration now open

STUTTGART, Ark. – Herbicides, irrigation and replanting considerations are among the items on the agenda for the 2017 Arkansas Rice College scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Rice Research and Extension Center.

Slaton named Fellow by Soil Science Society of America

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Nathan Slaton, a professor of Crop, Soil and Envrironmental Sciences in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has been named a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America.

Arkansas Soybean Association’s “Grow for the Green” contest looking for 120 bushel yields; entry deadline approaching

LITTLE ROCK – “Grow for the Green,” the perennial competition that challenges the state’s soybean producers to put their growing know-how to the test, is hoping 2017 will be the year for at least one grower to hit 120 bushels per acre.

Ark. State Plant Board approves emergency rule to ban use, sale of dicamba herbicides

LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas State Plant Board voted Friday for an emergency rule banning sale and use of dicamba at a time the board’s pesticide division saw the number of complaints alleging dicamba injury to non-target crops grow to more than 240.

Division of Agriculture app downloaded more than 114,000 times this year

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A friendship that started between two University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture faculty members blossomed into a collaboration for a horticulture app that has been downloaded more than 114,000 times this year alone.

Blackberry demonstration expands throughout state

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An extensive blackberry demonstration effort is stretching across Arkansas to include 17 extension agents.

Hearts of Our Heroes camp offers Gold Star kids a chance to connect

FERNDALE, Ark. – Throughout each summer, the Arkansas 4-H Center hosts dozens of camps designed to offer unique experiences to a range of populations, both young and old, giving Arkansans from all walks of life the chance to experience the fun and challenge of both indoor and outdoor activities.

New factsheet instructs surge irrigation practices, how-to

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Mississippi State University have developed a factsheet about surge irrigation, the first of its kind in the south.

Higher ground: Arkansas farmers, ranchers advised to prepare for TS Cindy

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas livestock producers are being advised to make preparations for the arrival of what will be left of Tropical Storm Cindy once it’s done with the gulf states.

June 20, 2017

Jumping oak gall, oak anthracnose: unsightly, but generally harmless

LITTLE ROCK – Of all the hazards a tree lover in Arkansas must endure, the occasional wasp gall or fungal infection among the leaves of his or her favorite oak tree might be the least worrisome.

June 19, 2017

Ken Hubbell, Eureka Springs Community Center Foundation and the Uncommon Communities Program recognized with highest honors at annual community development conference

LITTLE ROCK – One Arkansan and two community development organizations each received one of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Community and Economic Development program’s highest honors.

June 16, 2017

Sickle cell camp provides opportunity for sufferers to see they’re not alone

FERNDALE, Ark. – Almost by definition, summer camps offer visiting youth the chance to do things they just aren’t normally going to get to do in their day-to-day lives: Constructing rockets from water bottles, canoeing and zip-lining, to name a few. But for kids attending the Sickle Cell Support Services camp, now in its ninth year, the five-day camp offers something more: The opportunity to see that although they may suffer from a rare disease, they are certainly not alone.

June 16, 2017

Division of Ag researchers release luna moths near Jonesboro

JONESBORO, Ark. — While their workdays are dedicated to studying the kinds of insects most Arkansas growers dread — pests that rob crops of their nutrients and producers of their yields — entomologists with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture do occasionally find time to work with some of the more beautiful beneficial creatures of the insect world.

June 15, 2017

Horse shows, 4-H programs provide accountability, leadership

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — When Nathania Mckenzie, 17, joined 4-H at the age of 11, she really didn’t know if she’d stick with it.

June 14, 2017

Dicamba drift complaints up sharply in 2017

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — More than 50 complaints of crops damaged by dicamba herbicide drifting from neighboring farm fields have been reported to the Arkansas State Plant Board so far in 2017.

June 14, 2017

Concerns over lawn watering often exaggerated, experts say

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The popularity of vibrant lawns, from suburban yards to rural ranches, is often cast as a primary culprit in the ongoing war to manage water and wastewater properly. But experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture caution that the public’s perception that lawns require a lot of watering isn’t always the case.

MarketMaker resources featured at Chicago conference

CHICAGO – A Professor of Economics with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is providing national leadership to a program designed to connect local growers with new customers. That program will be featured this week at United Fresh 2017, a multi-expo and conference event in Chicago and one of the largest gatherings of businesses operating across the produce industry.

Division of Ag’s community development program names Arkansas Goat Festival organizer winner of people’s choice award

LITTLE ROCK – A Perry, Arkansas resident was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the recent community and economic development conference in Little Rock for a five-minute presentation promoting the Arkansas Goat Festival.

Homemakers council extends help to African orphanage

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A two-woman mission to teach sewing in one of the world’s least developed countries has brought benefits far beyond making clothing for the five Malawi mothers and in-house seamstress who were their students. 

Arkansas wheat forecast falls 8 percent from May

LITTLE ROCK – The U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusted its forecast for the 2017 Arkansas wheat production, dropping by 8 percent between May 1 and June 1 to about 6.05 million bushels. The yield forecast dropped from 60 bushels per acre in May to 55 bu/ac in June.

July 20: Workshop to show how to do business with NASA

LITTLE ROCK – The agency that put the first man on the moon now wants to teach entrepreneurs how to make that giant leap by contracting with NASA. 

Arkansas Rice Expo feeds minds, stomachs

LITTLE ROCK – New tools for soil fertility, new technologies for weed control and live cooking demonstrations are on the agenda for the 2017 Arkansas Rice Expo, Aug. 4, at the Grand Prairie Center.

Research pursues resistance to rosette virus in roses

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture scientists have identified a rose genotype that resists infection by the rose rosette virus, a pathogen that disfigures and kills rose plants.

Pelkki: Arkansas hardwood prices should remain strong

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Hardwood pulp prices should remain strong, pulp pinewood may be brighter in the coming decades, but pine saw timber will likely remain static for the foreseeable future, according to predictions for Arkansas’ $6.3 billion forest industry.

Wrestling, jazz and poetry: How cultural collision built a community  

LITTLE ROCK – Professional wrestling and poetry. Pasta making and punk rock. Not only do opposites attract, but in Des Moines, Iowa, they also became the catalyst for a cultural awakening.

MAINBAR: Survey finds majority of Arkansas farmers markets seeing rise in customers, vendors

LITTLE ROCK – A new survey has found that a majority of the state’s farmers markets are seeing a rise in both customers and vendors, said Ron Rainey, extension economist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

SIDEBAR: Number of Arkansas farmers markets accepting SNAP benefits rises

LITTLE ROCK – Farmers markets and farm stands are expanding their role in helping decrease food security in Arkansas, said Ron Rainey, extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Two eggs are better than one in helping Ugandan children grow

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When it comes to having a positive effect on physical growth, two eggs are better than one, and one egg is better than having no source of protein and nutrients critical to growth and development, according to a pilot study among Ugandan children conducted by University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture researchers.

Hungry fall armyworms laying early siege to rice, pastures

PERRYVILLE, Ark. – They’re called fall armyworms, but this year, they’re not even waiting for summer to bring their appetites to Arkansas’ lawns, pastures and rice fields.

Former head of Division of Agriculture, Jim Martin, dies at 84

LITTLE ROCK – Former Vice President for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, James “Jim” Martin, died Saturday, June 3, at his home in Decatur, Alabama. He was 84 years old.

Farmers can’t get a break. More storms bring flooding, replanting woes

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Every week Arkansas farmers hope to put the devastating storms of late April and early May behind them, and every week, nature brings another round of heavy rains, high winds and hail.

Getting a handle on a two-faced grass

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Johnsongrass, with its tall seed heads and long leaves popping up everywhere along Arkansas highways, pastures and lots, was introduced to the United States in the early 19^th century because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ricke receives lectureship award, discusses Salmonella research

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Steven C. Ricke, director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Center for Food Safety, received the W.C. Frazier Memorial Lecture award from the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May.

Sevier County 4-H club makes long haul for Pocahontas donations

DE QUEEN, Ark. –  As definitions of “neighbor” go, the 280-plus miles gap between De Queen and Pocahontas might push the envelope for some folks looking to lend a helping hand. But for members of the Lakeside 4-H Club, based in De Queen, responding to calls from those in need after natural disasters has become almost reflexive.