Construction on a new poultry education center at Southern Arkansas University is nearing completion. The facility will add "hands on" poultry education to the growing agriculture program at Southern Arkansas University. Dr. Jeff Miller, chairman of the SAU Agriculture Department, explains why poultry education is needed to train future professionals for this important industry in Arkansas.
Kallem Hill grows broiler chickens for Wayne Farms in Perry. He has 18 poultry houses and, like other growers in the state, has suffered extended “out times” and other issues from the Covid-19 pandemic. In this update, Hill explains how Payment Protection Program assistance allowed him to pay his employees and says that things are slowly getting back to normal.
A $10 million endowment was presented to the University of Arkansas System recently by the Fryar Family Charitable Foundation. The donation was to establish the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence. Dr. Ed Fryar sat down with us this week to discuss the idea behind the Center and the agricultural impact he hopes it will make not only in Arkansas but across the nation.
This week, we talk cotton crop news with Bill Robertson, cotton agronomist with the University of Arkansas, and we learn more about the poultry industry’s COVID-19 problems from Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Bruce Tencleve. We also hear about a major food drive being led by the Arkansas Extension Homemakers Council.
James and Ashton Dixon of Magnolia are new members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. James is a fifth-generation poultry farmer and a lcoal firefighter, while Ashton is completing a nursing degree. Learn all about this unique couple's story in our latest video.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson proclaimed Nov. 24-30 as Turkey Week in Arkansas during a special ceremony on the steps of the capitol Nov. 26. Members of the poultry industry were on hand for the ceremony and to recognize the importance of turkey and poultry production to the state in advance of Thanksgiving. We spoke with Marvin Childers, president of the Poultry Federation and Wes Ward, Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture following the observance.
For the second year in a row the average cost of the traditional Thanksgiving meal reflected a modest increase, according to Arkansas Farm Bureau’s 34th annual survey of food items typically included in the holiday feast. This year’s meal will cost $57.75 for a family of 10, up $4.82 from last year’s average of $52.93, but still a relative bargain at less than six dollars per person.
We visited with members of the Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative, a group of small-scale family Arkansas farmers raising chickens, turkeys, cattle and pigs. Learn more about their unique operation.
Thanksgiving is upon us. And that means turkeys. Wild turkey was the bird of choice for the Pilgrim’s first Thanksgiving feast shared with the local indians. Butterball is the choice of Logan County poultry grower Brian Weisenfels. Listen as he tells about raising turkeys in this edition of Arkansas Ag Cast.
O’Neil Wooten and his family are poultry farmers growing broiler chickens on their farm in Strong, Arkansas in Union County. Watch and learn their story of resilience in a difficult business that they happen to love.
