Chase DeCoite, director of Beef Quality Assurance for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, took part in this week’s Animal Wellbeing Forum in Russellville, hosted by Arkansas Farm Bureau and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service. He took time to explain the importance and benefits to ranchers of participating in the Beef Quality Assurance Program.
We spoke to Leigh Ann Bullington of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service about "The Warehouse," a program helping the needy in the community of McCrory. Bullington provides nutrition education and cooking demonstrations.
Arkansas Farm Bureau announced Tuesday its support for changes made Monday by legislators to SB 550 that would transfer liquid animal waste permitting authority to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC).
Arkansas Women in Agriculture recently held its annual conference. We caught up with to group's president, Monica Paskewitz, who explained the reason behind the group's creation, its growth and success and why more of Arkansas's farming and ranching women should get involved.
We spoke to Dr. Mark Jansen, associate professor and chief medical officer for UAMS, about the critical need for recruiting new doctors and health care professionals to Arkansas’s rural areas and to med student Shady Francis, who provided a testimonial on how participation in the M*A*S*H program helped convince him to pursue a career in health care.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is holding workshops around the state to certify produce farmers and bring them into compliance with the Food Safety and Modernization Act, a law passed by Congress and signed into law in 2011. We spoke to Assistant Professor Amanda Perez, who is leading workshops, and Clyde Fenton, a program associate working for the U of A Division of Agriculture in Food Systems and Food Safety.
Saline County farmer Damon Helton has opened a second version of his popular Olde Crow General Store. The new location on North Main in Benton, which will be called "Crows Station," is part of an effort to revitalize the downtown area and will create a food "hub" for customers, featuring fresh produce, along with his pasture raised beef, pork and poultry and a variety of food truck offerings.
The week of March 10-16 is National Groundwater Awareness Week, an annual observance to highlight the responsible development, management and use of groundwater. Stuttgart row-crop farmers Trent and Terry Dabbs explain why groundwater is important and share some of the measures they and other Arkansas producers have implemented to conserve and protect this critical natural resource.
On Tuesday, March 12, more than 100 Arkansas Farm Bureau member farmers and ranchers visited the Arkansas State Capitol to share their concerns with legislators and to attend the signing of proclamations declaring March 10-16 as Arkansas Agriculture Week and March 12 as Farmers' Day.
