News - September 2024

Sept. 30, 2024

Oct. 16 conference offers insight on rural economic development

LITTLE ROCK — An upcoming conference, co-hosted by the Cooperative Extension Service, will offer participants the chance to learn how to access state, federal and private funding resources for rural development projects.

Sept. 30, 2024

Arkansas 4-H to celebrate National 4-H Week

LITTLE ROCK — Since its inception more than 120 years ago, the 4-H youth development organization has prepared participants to be engaged, healthy and productive citizens. From Oct. 7-12 Arkansas 4-H members, leaders and volunteers will celebrate the program during National 4-H Week.  

Sept. 30, 2024

Crop physiologist Larry Purcell spins full circle in retirement

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Larry Purcell might be the most highly educated and scientifically cited bicycle mechanic in America.

Sept. 30, 2024

New extension poultry specialist to help producers navigate food safety risks, regulations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After a successful career in the poultry industry, Bill Potter has joined the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture hoping to give back to the industry and the university that means so much to him.

Sept. 27, 2024

Red oaks take root in restoration of bottomland hardwood forests

MONTICELLO, Ark. — As trees start changing colors this fall, a new generation of red oaks will be planted across 40 acres in eastern Arkansas, just a small parcel of the ultimate goal to restore 600 acres of hardwood forests in the state in the next three to five years. Over the next few weeks, a team of researchers will plant various oak species seedlings at the Pine Tree Research Station in Colt.

Sept. 26, 2024

Multi-state study offers recommendations for keeping bermudagrass greener all season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Whether it’s a football field, a golf course, or a home lawn, a new multi-state study offers recommendations for keeping some varieties of turfgrass greener, longer.

Sept. 26, 2024

New culinary nutrition and food safety associate joins Cooperative Extension Service

LITTLE ROCK — Quadarius Whitson knows food provides more than just sustenance. 

Sept. 25, 2025

Finding nature’s hidden threshold for saltiness in the space where forests meet streams

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Riparian zones, the areas where forests and streams meet, are intimately connected. Yet a holistic understanding about these zones is lacking because such work requires a combination of aquatic and terrestrial sciences.

Sept. 25, 2024

U.S. cotton industry awaits results of port worker negotiations

JONESBORO, Ark. — The nation’s cotton industry is holding its collective breath as the Sept. 30 negotiations deadline creeps closer to keep East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports open.

Sept. 24, 2024

Study offers improvements to food quality computer predictions

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Have you ever stood in front of apples on display at the grocery store trying to pick out the best ones and wondered, “Is there an app for this?”

Sept. 23, 2024

Loy: Effects of Fed rate on ag, consumer spending may take weeks to emerge

LITTLE ROCK — The effects of the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut in four years on consumer spending and agriculture will take weeks to reveal themselves, said Ryan Loy, extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. 

Sept. 23, 2024

Batchelor remembered for decades of contributions to agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jim Batchelor, a former state agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and first president of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Alumni Society, is being remembered for love of agriculture and desire to help others. 

Sept. 23, 2024

Legislators express support for land-grant research, extension work in Arkansas

HARRISBURG, Ark. — Increasing funding for land-grant work in Arkansas agriculture may take some persuasion, considering how few legislators have ties to agriculture or understand UADA’s impact in every Arkansas county.

Sept. 23, 2024

USDA Deputy Secretary Torres Small to lead next National Ag Law Center Webinar

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Students, faculty and student mentors interested in agricultural and food law can hear directly from an attorney who rose from a law office in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to become second-in-command at the United States Department of Agriculture.

Sept. 20, 2024

Workshop to cover basics of high tunnel production  

PARAGOULD, Ark. — The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service is hosting a workshop to teach growers and gardeners how to use high tunnels to extend their growing season.

Sept. 20, 2024

Southeast Arkansas District Fair to kick off Sept. 23

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Think you’ve got a green thumb? Know your way around the kitchen? Fancy yourself a quilter? The 85th annual Southeast Arkansas District Fair could be your time to shine.

Pre-harvest marketing, crop insurance a duel strategy for business sustainability

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Many things in farming could be considered a gamble, including the weather and pest management, but locking in a price on at least some of the crop doesn’t have to be.

Tropical Storm Francine slows harvest, impacts quality for Arkansas crops

LITTLE ROCK — “It’s going to be a long fall.”

Sims is here to help defend our forests

MONTICELLO, Ark. — With Arkansas’ multibillion-dollar forestry industry to defend, forest health researcher Laura Sims has been named director of the recently announced $16.8 million Arkansas Forest Health Research Center based at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Chicken house electricity audit provides clues to curbing ‘peak demand’

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Today’s meat chickens were bred to grow faster with higher feed conversion ratios, but that also makes chicken house climate control even more important.

New extension faculty member Hackman sees forestry as ‘the mesh between art and science'

MAYPORT, Fla. — Though he grew up in row crops, Jacob Hackman found his calling in forestry

Extension welcomes new animal health and wellbeing specialist

LITTLE ROCK — From her first days working on a family farm, Kirsten Midkiff knew she wanted to find a life in agriculture.

Arkansas pumpkins face increased pest pressure; growers urged to scout often

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ future jack o’ lanterns are facing a scare of their own, with the early arrival of melonworms that can cause significant yield loss for growers.

Vitis vinifera and muscadines: Grape breeders seek the best of both grapes

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Muscadines may be the folksy American of the grape world, but they have many qualities like disease resistance and unique flavors that are desired in the more popular Vitis vinifera (bunch grapes) species. 

Dinner at the Vines event to benefit Arkansas 4-H

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas 4-H Foundation is gearing up for its 4th annual Dinner at the Vines event on Sept. 24 — complete with garden party, lakeside dinner, online and live auctions and entertainment — all benefitting Arkansas 4-H.

Updated flu, COVID-19, RSV vaccines now available

LITTLE ROCK — As children return to school and families resume busy fall schedules, it’s important to stay safe and healthy by getting updated COVID-19 and flu vaccines. Adults aged 75 years and older are also recommended for RSV vaccines. 

UPDATED: Tropical Storm Francine timing 'couldn't be worse' for Arkansas crops

LITTLE ROCK — With rice ready to harvest and cotton bolls open, Tropical Storm Francine is set to hit Arkansas crops at the worst possible time.

Tropical Storm Francine timing ‘couldn’t be worse’ for Arkansas crops

LITTLE ROCK — With rice ready to harvest and cotton bolls open, Tropical Storm Francine is set to hit Arkansas crops at the worst possible time.

Baxter County to offer ‘Women in Ag’ workshop series throughout fall

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — The Baxter County Cooperative Extension Service will offer five workshops throughout the fall as part of its “Women in Ag” education effort.

Center for Agricultural Data Analytics welcomes Samantha Robinson as new faculty

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Behind the scenes of modern agricultural research are the statisticians who help make sense of the data and guide the design of studies before they even start.

USDA’s latest farm income estimate a tale of black swans, record yields, tenant farmers

LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest farm income forecast, showing a somewhat rosier picture than it forecast in February, is a tale of record yields, black swans and tenant farmers.

Nutrition and dietetics researcher joins Bumpers College, Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Joanna Fiddler, whose research focuses on the role of micronutrients in maintaining health, joined the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture as an assistant professor of human nutrition and dietetics in August.

Silent Spoiler: Listeria outbreak raises food safety concerns

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — From deli counters to dinner tables, food safety relies on careful research and strict sanitation. 

Nearly 400 attend grand opening for NE Rice Research and Extension Center

HARRISBURG, Ark. — “When something happens once a century, it’s pretty special.”

Mississippi River continues to trend lower; draft restrictions in place for shipping

JONESBORO, Ark. — Barges plying the shrinking lower Mississippi River have to reduce their draft, meaning operators will have to cut the amount of cargo their boats carry to meet the latest restrictions.

Extension to host last produce safety training of 2024 in September

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas fruit and vegetable growers will have one more opportunity in 2024 to attend a produce safety training offered by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The final training of the year will be held Sept. 26 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the State Extension Office in Little Rock. 

Upcoming webinar to address legal issues in farmers' right to repair equipment

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Can farmers legally repair their own equipment?

New machine learning model offers simple solution to predicting crop yield

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A new machine-learning model for predicting crop yield using environmental data and genetic information can be used to develop new, higher-performing crop varieties.

National Ag Law Center launches national stakeholder survey

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center, it all started with one question: How can we help you?