Silent Spoiler: Listeria outbreak raises food safety concerns

By Jenifer Fouch
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — From deli counters to dinner tables, food safety relies on careful research and strict sanitation. As a multistate Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to deli meats raises concerns, researchers continue to work behind the scenes to ensure food safety standards.

Food safety scientists like Jennifer Acuff at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are dedicated to improving fresh and processed food safety and protecting food products from microbial contamination. Some of her work involves understanding how pathogens like listeria survive and spread — including in ready-to-eat foods.

LUNCH IS SERVED — As a multistate Listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to deli meats raises concerns, researchers continue to work behind the scenes to ensure food safety standards. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Nick Kordsmeier)

“One of the things that my research program focuses on is trying to control environmental conditions so that pathogens are not welcomed guests into that environment,” Acuff said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is investigating a multistate outbreak of infections linked to Boar's Head brand meats. So far, 7 million pounds of products have been recalled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported nine deaths and 57 hospitalizations from 18 states.

“Whenever we see Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks, we see high hospitalization rates and alarmingly high mortality rates. And that’s because listeria has this incredible ability to cause an invasive infection,” Acuff said.

Acuff said listeria is unique because it’s what scientists call a psychrotroph, meaning it can survive and grow at cold temperatures, unlike other foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli.

This characteristic makes ready-to-eat foods like deli meats particularly vulnerable since they can remain in cold storage for extended periods. And listeria and other pathogenic bacteria, Acuff says, is particularly dangerous because it doesn’t visibly spoil food, unlike molds.

“We can’t see them on our food. There’s never an indicator to us that the food is spoiled by a pathogen,” she said. “Doing the sniff test or looking at it to see if it looks okay doesn’t tell you if listeria is there.”

SCIENCE BEHIND SAFE FOOD — Food safety scientist Jennifer Acuff is a Cooperative Extension Specialist and also a member of the Center for Food Safety, which is part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Acuff is a Cooperative Extension Specialist and also a member of the Center for Food Safety, which conducts research and develops technologies to detect, control and reduce foodborne pathogens, toxins, and chemicals, enhancing food safety from production to consumption. The center is part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

“These appointments give me really good opportunities to integrate the research findings we’re looking into with what is actually applicable to our stakeholders in Arkansas — producers, consumers and scientists alike,” she said.

Where does listeria come from?

Listeria is a ubiquitous bacterium, meaning it’s naturally present in the environment, Acuff said, and that contamination often signals a sanitation problem in food processing.

“When we see listeria associated with a ready-to-eat food product, it automatically sends up red flags because we don’t want to see it in the processing plant,” she said. “It is so easy to accidentally track it in, whether through workers’ boots or clothing, leaks in the environment, or even pests.”

The FSIS reported several noncompliance violations at a Boar’s Head plant in Virginia, including the visible presence of mold, trash and insects.

Mitigating risks

According to the CDC, symptoms of listeriosis, the illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes, can take up to 10 weeks to appear, making it difficult to promptly trace the infection’s source. Many people who are immunocompetent recover without medical care, so the actual number of cases is likely higher than reported. Immunocompromised individuals, such as pregnant people and those taking immunosuppressant drugs, are at particular risk, though.

Acuff said consumers can take steps to reduce their risk of listeria exposure. If you have any of the recalled products at home, throw them away immediately. It is also a good idea to clean any surface area the product might have encountered.

For general consumption, one effective prevention method is to heat deli meats to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, reducing the risk of listeria infections. Acuff also encourages consumers to be proactive about food safety when dining out, especially during an ongoing outbreak.

“People should feel empowered to ask a restaurant where their deli meat comes from. It’s okay to ask for more information,” she said.While it’s impossible to produce food in a sterile environment, Acuff says it’s important to maintain strict sanitation standards to minimize risks.

“We don’t get to eat no-risk food,” she said. “So, being informed and knowing, ‘Am I willing to take this risk?’ is crucial.”

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

Lake Fayetteville monitoring reveals peak months for harmful algal blooms

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Five years of water quality monitoring at Lake Fayetteville is shedding light on the cycles of waterborne nutrients and bacteria-produced toxins, offering a better way to measure the risk to recreational users.

WATER QUALITY — Brad Austin, research scientist with the Arkansas Water Resources Center, monitors the water quality as part of studies on Lake Fayetteville (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Paden Johnson)

Water quality scientists with the Arkansas Water Resources Center, a part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, have been examining cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms, or HABs, in the 194-acre body of water since 2018. The lake was created in 1949 to supply the city’s water, but is now used for fishing, kayaking and other recreational uses.

“It’s a small watershed and recreational lake that is heavily influenced by human activity,” said Brian Haggard, director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center and a professor of biological and agricultural engineering. “Now, the watershed is urban, with still some agricultural lands, so it provides a unique opportunity to study a system that has become hypereutrophic.”

Hypereutrophic means the water has high concentrations of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. While these are necessary for plant growth, when there’s too much, they can spark a “bloom” — an explosive growth of cyanobacteria, which can produce toxins like microcystin. 

“Microcystins are the most studied cyanobacterial toxins, and many species of cyanobacteria can produce this toxin under certain conditions,” Haggard said. “There is a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus that can be released from the lake bottom, which might influence when cyanobacteria produced toxins.”

The nutrients which drive cyanobacterial growth can come from the watershed, especially during storm events which transport nutrients to the lake, he explained. However, the “legacy” nutrients, or nutrients stored within the lake bottom, can also drive harmful algal blooms and toxin production by the cyanobacteria.

Haggard said long-term monitoring of Lake Fayetteville offers practical guidance for people who use the lake, especially kayakers and dog owners, to avoid exposure to microcystins, which can make both people and animals sick.

Even though the City of Fayetteville, which owns the lake, put up a sign recognizing the potential for toxic cyanobacterial blooms, Haggard envisions a more comprehensive and data-driven approach.

“What we would like to move towards is something similar to what the forest service uses for fire risk,” Haggard said. “Are there some parameters we can measure rather easily that can help let us know if the chance of elevated toxins is high?”

Haggard said that expensive toxin analyses could be replaced by simple measurements such as water temperature and the fluorescence of phycocyanin, a pigment used for photosynthesis by cyanobacteria. These more cost-effective measurements could be used as a proxy to decide on whether the microcystin toxin concentration is too high in the lake for safe recreational use.

Since the Arkansas Water Resources Center began routine monitoring at the lake, microcystin has been observed in measurable concentrations greater than the reporting limit of 0.3 micrograms per liter throughout the year. In 2019, microcystin concentrations were measured up to 15 micrograms per liter at the lake — nearly double the recommended limit for contact in a recreational water.

Findings over five years

Haggard and his team at the Arkansas Water Resources Center published a study last year in the Journal of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers examining a subset of the monitoring data taken in summer 2020 at Lake Fayetteville. The study is titled “Microcystin shows thresholds and hierarchical structure with physiochemical properties at Lake Fayetteville, Arkansas, May through September 2020.”

“Lakes with HABs often have a pattern to when toxins are elevated, and Lake Fayetteville tends to have greater total microcystins during late spring, early summer and then again in fall,” Haggard said. “These peaks in total microcystin coincide with natural hydrodynamics of the lake, that is stratification – when the warm and cold layers set up – and turnover – when those layers remix bring nutrients from the bottom waters up to the upper layers.

“It’s not always this simple, but this has been the pattern at Lake Fayetteville. The cyanobacteria seem to produce more toxins during these periods.”

All lakes with deep enough water experience “turnover.” During the spring, the surface water warms when the deep water stays cooler. However, “when the colder water down there is not mixing with the surface any longer, you can lose all the oxygen.”

When the oxygen is gone or limited, a group of bacteria called facultative anaerobes use nitrates to “breathe,” removing nitrogen from the lake bottom waters through a process called denitrification. After the nitrate is gone, these bacteria seek manganese and iron to metabolize for energy.

Once the bacteria move to manganese and iron, they’re dissolving manganese and iron oxides in the sediments, which have phosphorus and ammonium and other things attached to them, Haggard explained. When metabolizing the manganese and iron, the anaerobic bacteria free up phosphorus and ammonium that goes into the lake bottom water and further builds nutrients.

“In the fall, when the lake mixes, this can bring nutrients up into the water,” Haggard said. “This happens when we see the fall peak in cyanobacterial toxins.”

Haggard’s co-authors on the microcystin thresholds study included Erin Grantz and Brad Austin with the Arkansas Water Resources Center; former graduate students Abbie Lasater with the University of Arkansas biological and agricultural engineering department, and Alyssa Ferri with the crop, soil and environmental sciences department; Nicole Wagner with the biology department at Oakland University; and Thad Scott with the biology department and Center for Reservoirs and Aquatic System Research at Baylor University.

Toxin-risk framework

CASE STUDY — Lake Fayetteville offers scientist with the Arkansas Water Resources Center a case study in an urban lake once mostly surrounded by agricultural land. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Paden Johnson)

Members of Haggard’s team also recently published a peer-reviewed paper in the journal of the University Council on Water Resources. The paper focused on developing a strategy to help inform recreational users of Lake Fayetteville when total microcystins might be elevated. The study is titled “Chlorophyll and phycocyanin raw fluorescence may inform recreational lake managers on cyanobacterial HABs and toxins: Lake Fayetteville case study.” It is this initial study that the Arkansas Water Resources Center is building on to help create a toxin-risk framework like that used to warn of fire danger in forests.

“The goal is to help inform the recreational users when the risk of cyanobacterial HABs that might be producing elevated toxins is low, medium, high and very high,” Haggard said. “This way the signage about cyanobacterial HABs and toxins can be updated on a more timely basis, and it does not become a static sign that people often disregard.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Researchers awarded $5M to develop AI platform strengthening regional food systems

By University of Arkansas System

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Artificial intelligence and machine learning are being explored with several aspects of agriculture, including streamlining regional food systems.

Two Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers have joined a collaborative effort led by the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research, or I3R, to develop Cultivate IQ, an AI-driven platform that seeks to integrate sales and production data from across the farm-to-market supply chain to help plan and manage regional food supplies.

CULTIVATE IQ — Improving farm-to-market supply chains on a regional level is the goal of Cultivate IQ, a platform under development by the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research at the University of Arkansas. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

The Cultivate IQ project’s development team was recently awarded a $5 million National Science Foundation Phase II investment. The additional funding from the NSF Convergence Accelerator brings the total federal investment in the University of Arkansas-led project to nearly $6 million.

Safe and productive

Kristen Gibson, professor and director of the Center for Food Safety, and Trey Malone, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness, are part of the multi-state team of researchers and regional industry partners that are continuing to develop Cultivate IQ with the funding. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

“Regional food systems can’t work unless they’re safe,” Gibson said. “There are regulatory aspects to meet, and barriers growers may face when connecting to certain groups.”

Gibson is also offering guidance on quality assurance management goals that will be used for vetting growers.

On the economics side of things, Malone is working with the group to evaluate the agri-food supply chains and identify unique datasets that are largely in the specialty crop space for small and medium-sized farms.

“This project represents a unique opportunity for us to integrate the on-campus technology into the land grant mission,” Malone said. “I’m really excited to get started and I am intrigued by the potential that AI presents in helping farmers make their planting and pricing decisions.”

The Cultivate IQ project aims to integrate sales and production data from across the farm-to-market supply chain to help plan and manage regional food supplies. Local food buyers, including aggregators and distributors, will host their growers on the platform, extending access to market insights, production planning tools and purchase orders.

Agriculture is Arkansas’ top industry, and the Arkansas Delta is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the country, Malone noted. Northwest Arkansas also has one of the highest concentrations of small-scale farmers in the state, he said. According to the latest Arkansas Agriculture Profile, the state consistently ranks in the top one-third in the nation for agricultural cash farm receipts.

Avoiding both overproduction and underproduction can minimize food loss and can have a positive economic impact on smaller farms by opening up new market channels, says Meredith Adkins, assistant research professor with I3R and the project’s principal investigator.

“Our global food system is fragile, and disruption in the system is a national security concern,” Adkins said. “Small and mid-sized farms and mission-driven local food distributors, such as food hubs, play an important role in strengthening our regional food systems, but they face real barriers including access to real-time marketplace insights such as pricing, supply and demand. Cultivate IQ aims to enable these end users to compete more effectively by making regionally relevant data insights more accessible.”  

Collaboration leads to solutions

Adkins’ team is composed of researchers from across the University of Arkansas System, as well as the University of Florida, University of Wisconsin-Madison, local industry partners Cureate and Junction AI. The team is one of seven multidisciplinary teams from the NSF Convergence Accelerator’s Track J: Food and Nutrition Security selected to advance from Phase 1, which focused on developing proof of concept, to Phase 2, in which the concept will be fully developed and deployed.  

Ranu Jung, associate vice chancellor and I³R founding executive director, said the Cultivate IQ project advanced through the competitive process because it “will make a societal impact” and is an example of partnership and collaboration. Jung is also a senior adviser on the project.

“A collaborative approach between academic researchers, industry, government, nonprofits and other communities is important to optimize the production of food and connections between farmers and consumers, researchers and other stakeholders,” said Douglas Maughan, head of the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. “A lot of great work was accomplished by all teams in Phase 1, but there is still more to be done. The teams selected for Phase 2 are expected to build innovative, tangible solutions and strong partnerships to address food scarcity, irrigation issues, supply chain inequalities and inefficiencies, and more.”

The U.S. National Science Foundation launched the Convergence Accelerator program in 2019. It is aligned with the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, or TIP.

In addition to Adkins, Gibson and Malone, the Arkansas-based core team includes:

Thi Hoang Ngan Le, Ph.D., assistant professor, department of electrical engineering and computer science

Chase Rainwater, Ph.D., chair, department of industrial engineering

Kim Bryden, CEO, Cureate

Vance Reavie, CEO, Junction AI

Philip Sambol, project manager, I³R

Support staff at I³R, multiple undergraduate interns and graduate assistants are also working on the project under the mentorship of the co-investigators, including Benjamin Sapaning Sr., graduate assistant at I³R.

An interdisciplinary group of researchers will collaborate with the core team to support the success of the project. At the U of A, this includes the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, directed by Jack Cothren, Ph.D., who will support the project’s geospatial data models for regional crop supply, as well as the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the School of Law, represented by Associate Director Carly Griffith Hotvedt, J.D./MPA, who advises the project on engagement with indigenous communities. Marty Matlock, Ph.D., a food systems expert and ecological engineer who recently served as senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, also serves as an adviser to the team. Yasser Sanad, DVM, MVSC, Ph.D., leads University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s engagement with the project in the Central Arkansas Delta. 

Two land-grant institutions outside of the state are also collaborating, including the University of Florida, represented by agricultural economist Di Fang, Ph.D., and two team members from the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Erin Silva, Ph.D. and John Hendrickson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are experts on farm viability and cost of production analysis by market channel.

Watch the team’s Phase 1 video and learn more about how the team is “Unlocking the Power of Convergence Research for Societal Impact.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Arkansas rice companies partner with University of Arkansas campus food pantry

By Robby Edwards
Director of Communications
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In 2023, three Arkansas-based rice companies helped address food insecurity at the University of Arkansas by donating hundreds of pounds of rice to the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry.

RICE DONATION — Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Director Jean-Francois Meullenet, left, and Assistant Director Nathan McKinney, right, joined student volunteers Katelyn Helberg and Caroline Wilson for the intake of rice donations to the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry at the University of Arkansas. (University of Arkansas System photo by Karli Yarber)

Cormier Rice Milling Co., Riceland and Producers Rice Mill donated to the food pantry and pledged to donate even more. Cormier recently sent 625 pounds to Fayetteville while Riceland and Producers sent 200 pounds each, with more to follow.

Caroline Wilson, the chair for Full Circle Food Pantry, emphasized the needs of the pantry, specifically with rice. She noted how demand for rice means it goes quickly at the pantry.

“Rice is a staple crop and food that so many people use every single day,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of international students on campus who are clients at our pantry because, for international students, we are the only food resource that they are allowed to use. Most food assistance programs are limited to U.S. citizens only. For our international clients, this is literally their only option.”

Wilson also explained that international students at the University of Arkansas on a visa struggle even more because they legally cannot work more than 20 hours weekly. This creates strain on their finances and the ability to afford groceries and other essentials. 

“It’s really important for us to provide foods that are used daily in peoples’ diets,” she said. “The rice on our shelves right now may look like a lot, but that will not even last us through the semester. We just go through it so quickly because it's something that so many people love.”

Katelyn Helberg, the alternative assistance coordinator for the pantry, also said the pantry is often in need of rice. 

“Rice is something that a lot of our clients typically want,” Helberg said “We’re currently serving around 1,100 clients a month. You can imagine how many people we’re trying to distribute to, and rice is something more expensive for us to buy and supply in the pantry.”

Back in the fall 2022 semester, a group of students visited with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Dean’s Partnership Council. The students shared information about food insecurity on campus with Jean-Francois Meullenet, interim dean of the college. 

Meullenet, while serving as interim dean since July 2022, is also senior associate vice president for agriculture research with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Meullenet recognized an opportunity to use his food industry connections to help. 

“We are the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and that ‘food’ part is very important,” Meullenet said. “It was eye-opening to learn how many people in our community are in need of food. I have connections with industry, so contacting them was really just an easy first step in assisting the food pantry.” 

Meullenet worked with Nathan McKinney, assistant director of the experiment station, to coordinate the rice donations.

Wilson said McKinney came to the pantry first with a generous donation. While there, he offered his business card and said if the pantry ever needed more rice, to contact him. 

“So, we did,” Wilson said. “And we’ve continued that partnership, even when there were times when there wasn’t any rice available to donate. He stayed connected and let us know as soon as there was availability. It’s been so impactful to have that reliable source of donations coming in.”

McKinney gives all credit to the producers in the state. 

“Arkansas rice producers and rice millers have always been generous and gracious with their products, and they will continue to do so.” McKinney said. “They have pledged to give even more in the future.”

“They always give to efforts like this,” Meullenet said. “They will just bring entire pallets of bags of rice and I can tell they are excited to be aware of a need that serves a community well, like the Full Circle Food Pantry.”

Following the first donation, Helberg is anticipating more rice soon. 

“We’re expecting more than 600 pounds,” she said. “With all these 25-pound bags, we take those and portion them out based on our pantry’s portion guides. We try to portion it out so that we can distribute it more equally to many different households. We anticipate that, with this much rice, it will last us even into the spring semester.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average retail value of a pound of rice is about $1.

“We’re just so appreciative of this donation and all donations that come into the pantry,” Wilson said. “I’m really excited to continue any and all partnerships that come our way.”

According to the Division of Agriculture’s 2023 Arkansas Agriculture Profile, Arkansas was the No. 1 rice producer in the United States in 2022. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that Arkansas accounted for nearly 50 percent of U.S. rice production last year. 

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

Global supply, seasonal shift lead to lower cattle market prices

By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture 

LITTLE ROCK — After an impressively bullish first half of the year, market prices for beef cattle have fallen in recent months, owing in part to reports reflecting an increased supply.

SEASONAL SHIFT — After an impressively bullish first half of the year, market prices for beef cattle have fallen in recent months, owing in part to reports reflecting an increased supply. (Graphic courtesy CME.)

Prices for the January 2024 CME© feeder cattle contract, for example, fell from a high of $268 per hundredweight in mid-September to $219 per hundredweight by the end of November, according to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. 

James Mitchell, extension economist and assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the downturn in the markets is essentially due to two factors.

“Through the first eight months of this year, cattle markets trended higher,” Mitchell said. “We’ve seen really high prices throughout the year. Those prices were moving upward on what was mostly bullish information about cattle inventories and the size of our beef cow herd.”

Mitchell said that seasonality and a few recent reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have led to declines in futures and cash markets for cattle.

“The last two months, those prices have started to soften,” he said. Futures market prices are down significantly, Mitchell said, while local cash markets for calves have fallen less.

While falling market prices at the end of a calendar year is typical seasonal behavior for U.S. cattle markets, as cow-calf operators sell off calves in the fall, Mitchell said the decline also reflected industry reaction to two recent reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first was the USDA Cattle on Feed Report in September, when indicated larger-then-expected cattle placement in feed lots, Mitchell said.

“When you have larger-than-expected supplies, you will see downward pressure on cattle prices,” he said.

The second report was the November World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, commonly referred to as WASDE, which increased projected global beef production.

“If you see an increase of expected beef supplies in the future, that’s also a bearish piece of news about the expected value of cattle,” Mitchell said.

He said that current market activity indicates an exaggeration of the typical seasonal market trend.

“As you see prices come down more in the near-term on larger supplies, that tells me that we have a lot of producers that are just selling calves now, as opposed to retaining them, feeding them through the winter and selling them in March or April, coming off of a stocker operation,” he said. “Or it might just be that producers saw high prices and wanted to take advantage of that. Another part of that could be drought, it could be expensive feed; all those things could potentially contribute to that decision.

“I don’t think it’s a sign that anything’s broken, or that anything is inherently wrong with our cattle markets,” Mitchell said. “That’s just how they work: they’re seasonal, and they react to information.”

Drought and cattle
Much of the Southeast was affected by droughty conditions throughout the year. Mitchell said that with the relief of rain Arkansas received in October, the state’s producers were at least in better situations than those of producers in many neighboring states.

“From talking to colleagues in across the Southeast, I can tell you that they are as dry as they’ve been in a very long time,” he said. “So you have a lot of producers in that part of the country selling cattle because they can’t do anything with them. So that potentially makes it cheaper for Arkansas stocker operations to buy them.”

Mitchell said that current market trends are the perfect reminder of the benefits of crop insurance.

“We were in a very, very bullish market up to this point,” he said. “Prices just looked like they were going to continue to go up and up. It only took a couple of reports and some seasonal tendencies for those prices to decline. That’s why we have price risk management. It doesn’t matter if prices are trending down or up, you should consider PRM as part of your broader business plan. This is the kind of situation those tools are designed to protect you against.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

Farmers for Tomorrow fundraiser set for Sept. 14 at Center for Arkansas Farms and Food

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Center for Arkansas Farms and Food will hold a fundraising event 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, to support the Farmers for Tomorrow fund, a program to help aspiring farmers start their small farm businesses.

FARMERS FOR TOMORROW — Brian Foster, center left, of Sunny Acres Farms speaks with Farmers for Tomorrow fund supporters at the 2022 fundraising event. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

Dandelion Heart will provide live music, and Chef Haley O’Brien will prepare heavy hors d’oeuvres using ingredients grown by Center for Arkansas Farms and Food, CAFF, students in Fayetteville. Each guest will receive drink tickets for beers from Fossil Cove Brewing Co., Arkansas wines, or cocktails made with blackberries from the farm. A non-alcoholic version of the blackberry drink will also be available.

The event will be at the Milo J. Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 1005 W. Meade St., in Fayetteville. CAFF is a part of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Farmers for Tomorrow raised $5,000 at the inaugural fundraiser in 2022. Brian Foster and Frank Ostapowicz, two graduates of CAFF’s Farm School and Apprenticeship programs, received equal portions of the fund to help start their farms.

Foster started Sunny Acres Farms and sells produce at the farmers markets in Fayetteville and Goshen, and through community supported agriculture subscriptions. The former restaurateur also offers recipes with his produce at the markets.

Ostapowicz started Purple Finch Farms in Prairie Grove, selling produce in the region’s markets.

Foster and Ostapowicz were among the first CAFF Farm School and Apprenticeship Program participants in 2021. According to Heather Friedrich, CAFF program manager, the program is designed to strengthen and expand the region’s food and farming system, enhance local communities, and provide opportunities for farmers, food entrepreneurs, and food system leaders.

Ticket purchases and donations are an investment in the community’s regional food system, the local economy and food security, Friedrich added. Through the Farmers for Tomorrow Fund, CAFF aims to raise $10,000 annually to assist new Arkansas farmers.

Once former CAFF Farm School students or apprentices have acquired farmland in Arkansas and are ready to break ground, they can apply for start-up funds from Farmers for Tomorrow, Friedrich said. The funds are designated for purchasing tools, equipment, irrigation materials and seeds.

General admission tickets to the Farmers for Tomorrow fundraiser are $65 per person, or $330 for reserved tables of six people. Event tickets include complimentary food and drinks. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the event website, http://farmersfortomorrow.org/.

For those who may be unable to attend but still wish to support Farmers for Tomorrow, the registration form includes an option to make a donation.

The 2023 event is sponsored by Arkansas Farm Bureau, Adventure Subaru, Farm Credit of Western Arkansas and the Division of Agriculture, allowing all proceeds from the event to go directly to the Farmers for Tomorrow fund.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

First food product rolls out from Expanding Farmers’ Opportunities in northwest Arkansas Program

By Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture

Aromatic steam rose off a cooking vat in the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s Arkansas Food Innovation Center earlier this month while rows of glass jars stood ready to receive a savory, tomato-based sauce. You won’t find this product on your supermarket shelves but at the farmers markets in northwest Arkansas.

VALUE-ADDED — Farmer's Ratatouille from McGarrah Farms is the first product from the Expanding Farmers' Opportunities in Northwest Arkansas. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Farmer’s Ratatouille is the first product to roll out of the Expanding Farmers’ Opportunities in Northwest Arkansas Program, a program designed to help cut down on food waste and create value-added products for farmers. In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30–40 percent of the food supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Expanding Farmers’ Opportunities in Northwest Arkansas is a partnership of the University of Arkansas System’s department of food science; Brightwater, A Center for the Study of Food; and The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Brightwater is a division of Northwest Arkansas Community College.

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Market Promotion Program. The grant is provided by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service through its Local Agriculture Market Program.

Renee Threlfall, an experiment station research scientist, said the program helps participating farmers learn to create shelf-stable, value-added food products from their surplus produce. Students at Brightwater develop recipes for foods that are produced at the experiment station’s Arkansas Food Innovation Center, a food manufacturing facility.

Chef Steve Jenkins, department chair at Brightwater and a partner in the Expanding Farmer’s Opportunities in Northwest Arkansas Program, said his students not only develop the recipes, but also team up with University of Arkansas food science students to produce the foods.

“They provide the expertise for farmers who want to turn their surplus produce into value-added products, but who are not trained as chefs or food processors,” Jenkins said.

The Farmer’s Ratatouille is made from tomatoes, squash, zucchini, eggplant and roasted red peppers produced by McGarrah Farms of Pea Ridge. Dennis McGarrah operates the farm at three locations in northwest Arkansas, where his family has been farming since 1824. He’s been farming for 60 years and sells his produce at farmers markets in Fayetteville, Bentonville and Rogers. He also sells produce at Rivercrest Farms, operated by his son, Dennis McGarrah Jr., near Fayetteville.

FARMER'S RATATOUILLE — Dennis McGarrah, left, of McGarrah Farms observes the cooking of Farmer's Ratatouille made with ingredients from his farms. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Dennis McGarrah said he had a lot of “seconds” in squash and tomatoes and wanted to come up with a recipe for a shelf-stable product. “Seconds,” or “culls,” are vegetables that may have blemishes that consumers would reject at a farmers market.

“It’s perfectly fine produce that just doesn’t look good enough for the farmers markets,” McGarrah said. “Now I can turn them into products that can be sold year-round.”

Dennis McGarrah said he has worked with the Division of Agriculture on many projects over the years, so he reached out to Threlfall. She connected him with Jenkins, and his Brightwater students developed the recipe.

“I tried it out at home first and thought we had something,” Dennis McGarrah said. “This is the first time we’re scaling up to production level.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and on Instagram at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station recognizes employees for early career performance

By Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station has honored five faculty and staff with Early Career Recognition of Professional Excellence Awards. The RoPE Awards recognize outstanding performance.

The Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Science

CAREER EXCELLENCE — The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station honored five faculty and staff with Early Career Recognition of Professional Excellence Awards. The awards honor employees who have sustained exceptional performance early in their careers. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

The recipients are:

Classified Business and Administrative Support: Lisa Spurlin, administrative specialist, department of food science

Non-Classified Business and Administrative Support: Jenny Braun, project/program specialist, department of entomology and plant pathology

Classified Research Support: Richard Cyle Jones, research technician, Southwest Research and Extension Center

Non-Classified Research Support: Leo Bonilha Piveta, research scientist, department of crop, soil and environmental sciences

Faculty: Alejandro Rojas, assistant professor, department of entomology and plant pathology

The award recognizes full-time Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station employees who have sustained exceptional performance during their early careers, said Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

“Our faculty and staff are committed to the Land Grant missions of research, extension and education,” Meullenet said. “In this early chapter of their careers, this year’s RoPE Award recipients embraced our mission and are contributing every day to our charge to achieve scientific discoveries that benefit Arkansas citizens, expand agricultural sustainability and profitability, promote environmental stewardship, strengthen local and state economies and ensure a safe and nutritious food supply,” Meullenet said.

Meullenet said full-time employees in good standing with a majority experiment station appointment, and who have completed two to seven years of continuous service are eligible for the RoPE Award. Recipients receive a $2,500 award.

Lisa Spurlin joined the department of food science in 2021 and serves as the front desk receptionist. She is the first point of contact for students, faculty, prospective students and visitors and is credited by faculty and staff with creating a comfortable atmosphere that is fundamental for a diverse community.

Department head Jeyam Subbiah said Spurlin often steps up to fill a need when it arises, going beyond her assigned duties.

Spurlin provides a number of essential administrative services, including degree audits for graduate students, enrollment support, and submission of graduate forms to the Graduate School. She assists with travel arrangements, reimbursements and purchases for labs, tracking inventory and surplus items for the department and helping to organize events, interviews and meetings.

Jenny Braun joined the Division of Agriculture in 2018 and became fiscal manager for the department of entomology and plant pathology in 2020. She took over the duties at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when nearly everyone was working remotely. Her transition to the job was further complicated because the Division of Agriculture was transitioning to a new financial management system. The department had recently merged two previously separate departments into one, an enormous task that Braun managed expertly.

Braun managed more than 140 spending accounts, a task that department head Ken Korth said is complex because the funds are managed by several entities and come from multiple sources. These sources often come through very different systems that have varying policies. Braun oversaw spending on all the accounts, ensuring that fiscal policies are strictly followed and helped prepare regular reports and annual budgets. She also processed travel claims submitted by students, staff and faculty, and provided faculty researchers with regular accounting of balances and spending of their many grants accounts.

Braun has recently joined the experiment station business office, where she continues to serve with the utmost dedication and efficiency.

Richard Cyle Jones has been a research field technician at the Southwest Research and Extension Center near Hope for four years. Center director Daniel Rivera said Jones primarily works with the animal science program, but his expertise at welding and vehicle repair and maintenance makes him valuable across all the center’s programs.

In his nomination letter, Rivera said, “Cyle has a good deal of hands-on skil that make him indispensable to the research mission at SWREC. Studies involving high-risk, newly received cattle require personnel who are familiar with these types of animals and have the ability to evaluate the health of these animals. Cyle’s background with these types of animals make him the point person on these types of studies.”

Rivera said that Jones’ leadership experience as an Army veteran have made him instrumental in working with summer interns and part-time workers. He instills in them an understanding of how important research and record-keeping are to the success of the beef cattle research program.

In his letter, Rivera said, “During my tenure as director, Cyle has always stepped up and gone the extra mile regarding animal care and study management.”

Leo Bonilha Piveta began as a program associate in Distinguished Professor Jason Norsworthy’s weed science program in 2018 and transitioned to a research scientist appointment in 2022. Norsworthy’s research includes about 200 trials annually at seven locations. Piveta manages most trials in eastern Arkansas and assists in guiding 12 or more graduate students in their research endeavors.

“When I have a new student or hourly worker that needs training, I always make sure they are placed with Leo for the first few weeks of employment,” Norsworthy said in his nomination letter. “Leo is willing to put in the extra time and effort to ensure that a research project is completed correctly and timely.”

Beyond the fieldwork, Piveta goes above and beyond expectations when writing reports, research summaries and peer-reviewed papers, Norsworthy said. At the time of nomination, Piveta had authored or co-authored five peer-reviewed manuscripts, 17 research summaries and 93 abstracts. Norsworthy said the work is “a testament to his leadership within my program.”

Alejandro Rojas joined the experiment station research faculty in 2018 as an assistant professor in the department of entomology and plant pathology. Department head Ken Korth said in his nomination letter that Rojas has steadily built a strong program that has impact for Arkansas agriculture. His work has yielded an impressive output in publications and grant funding for research. He focuses on soilborne plant pathogens, greenhouse plant production and seed quality, addressing critical needs of Arkansas farmers.

Korth said Rojas is the lead investigator or co-investigator on more than $1.9 million in grant-funded projects. “This is an impressive total amount of funding,” Korth wrote, “but equally important is that it comes from a broad mix of sources ranging from federal to state levels.”

The funding, Korth said, illustrates how effectively Rojas’ work spans both applied fieldwork and fundamental laboratory research.

Besides being a productive researcher, Korth said, he is an effective mentor of younger scientists, currently advising five graduate students and four undergraduates in his lab. His students regularly earn awards for their mentored work at both state and national levels. Because of his reputation as both a scientist and teacher, Rojas is highly sought after by his peers to serve on their graduate student advisory committees. At the time of his nomination, Rojas was serving on 13 advising committees.

“I have had the good fortune to serve as his supervisor and watch him grow as an outstanding faculty member and contributor to the success of our department and institution,” Korth wrote. “In addition to being a skilled scientist and teacher, Dr. Rojas is simply an outstanding colleague and person. His drive and professionalism make him an excellent role model for students and a valued collaborator by other faculty and staff.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and on Instagram at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Artificial intelligence in agriculture isn’t the future; it’s now

By Brittaney Mann
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Cengiz Koparan knows first-hand the need for agricultural technology.

PRECISION AG — Cengiz Koparan is assistant professor of precision agriculture technology. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Koparan planted 1,000 apple trees in Ankara, Turkey, in 2004. The demanding work of planting, maintaining and harvesting the apples in his orchard helped inspire his mission to put advanced robotics in the hands of more farmers.

Koparan, a new assistant professor of precision agriculture technology for the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is already making cutting-edge technology more available.

“It’s no longer a future,” Koparan said about automating agricultural systems and technology. “Fifteen years ago it was the future, but now it’s here.”

Koparan’s research aims to improve agricultural practices through robotic systems. Part of his research involves using artificial intelligence to reduce labor shortages and make farm technology more approachable for producers.

Koparan said that as technologies become more complex, artificial intelligence could make them more user-friendly.

“Someone needs to form a bridge between engineering applications and the operators,” Koparan said. “AI can fill some of this gap. If a machine or robot is based on artificial intelligence, then the end user won’t have to control all aspects and parameters of the robot.”

Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture, are already investigating numerous applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Experiment station scientists are evaluating new weed control technologies, designing systems to determine yield potential from aerial imagery and studying the use of artificial intelligence and robotics in chicken processing.

Encouraging student involvement

Koparan joined the University of Arkansas System in February. He has a dual role, working for both the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering. He is in the department of agricultural education, communications and technology in the former, and the department of biological and agricultural engineering in the latter.

Since arriving in Arkansas, Koparan has established an agricultural robotics club at the university and received a $5,000 Student Success Grant from the university’s Global Campus. The grant will fund a reoccurring capstone project course beginning in spring 2024. Throughout the course, Koparan will instruct students on how to build a quadcopter and subsystems for site-specific precision agriculture applications.

The robotics club will compete in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting student robotics club competition in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 9, Koparan said.

“We need more student involvement in this type of research,” Koparan said. He said he learned a lot as a student in agricultural robotics clubs, and he sees the agriculture industry adopting these technologies more as time progresses.

Koparan received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Ankara University in Turkey in 2008 and earned a master’s degree in business management from Cambridge College in 2012. Koparan then attended Clemson University, earning master’s and doctoral degrees in plant and environmental sciences in 2016 and 2020.

Koparan’s upcoming and current research includes using computer vision-integrated unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to count blackberry blossoms. He is also developing computer vision-based variable rate spraying systems focused on weed control in soybean crops using drones and unmanned ground vehicles.

As a doctoral student, Koparan worked on various projects using unmanned aerial and ground vehicles. His upcoming blackberry blossom research parallels one of his earlier projects that used image processing to count peach blossoms. He also contributed to research on developing water quality monitoring tools using drones, which helped improve watershed management in South Carolina.

His post-doctoral work focused on precision weed management using computer vision and artificial intelligence to drive a drone-based automated spraying system.

Koparan said his knowledge of engineering concepts combined with his awareness of agricultural practices allow him to explore possible solutions to issues in the industry.

“When you know how and you know there is a need, you do it,” Koparan said.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Liquid-state poultry litter digester prototype makes struvite, biogas and clean water

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers have assembled a novel prototype system that could help alleviate the issue of excess nutrient runoff in watersheds from poultry litter.

ONE-OF-A-KIND — Jun Zhu, professor of biological and agricultural engineering, stands before a prototype of the liquid-state poultry litter digester designed to recycle water used in creating struvite from poultry litter. The system also captures biogas from liquid-state anaerobic digestion of poultry litter. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

The system turns chicken litter into a more biologically stable fertilizer called struvite, captures methane and recycles most of the water it uses. It is the first system of its kind in the United States, according to Jun Zhu, director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability.

“Over the years, techniques to treat poultry litter have been researched extensively, including composting, direct combustion, pelletization, and anaerobic digestion,” said Zhu professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “However, none of these technologies are found to be economically or environmentally friendly in the real world.”

Anaerobic digestion, decomposition of solids by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen, is the best of the current techniques, Zhu said. But that is a process that works best with liquids, and poultry litter has a very low moisture content. Zhu and his team developed a system that recycles the water needed for anaerobic digestion while creating struvite from the excess nutrients in chicken litter.

In December, two other land-grant university partners — the University of Idaho and Virginia Tech — built the three-piece system at the experiment station. The project is partly funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Foundational and Applied Science Program.

In addition to turning chicken litter into a more biologically stable product, the system can help support a poultry farmer’s energy demands by capturing methane from anaerobic digestion. Zhu said the methane can be used as a heating and cooking fuel.

Struvite is considered an eco-friendly fertilizer because only a small percentage is water soluble, and struvite releases its nutrients slowly. A two-year experiment station field study in east Arkansas by Kris Brye, University Professor of applied soil physics and pedology, showed struvite performed just as well, and in some cases better, as mined phosphate on corn, soybeans and rice. Mined phosphate is a finite resource prone to price fluctuations.

Another benefit of anaerobic digestion on poultry litter, Zhu explains, is that it removes nuisance odors. Poultry production in Arkansas generates about 1.5 million tons of manure every year. The fast growth of the poultry industry in northwest Arkansas resulted in a significant increase in litter production, which led to local disposal issues. Poultry litter contains nutrients from chicken feces and bedding material such as straw, sawdust, wood shavings, shredded paper, and peanut or rice hulls.

How it works

THREE PHASE — Yuanhang Zhan explains the three phases of the liquid-state poultry litter digester designed to reduce the liquid content to a slow-release fertilizer called struvite. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Yuanhang Zhan, a Ph.D. candidate in Zhu's lab, has optimized the carbon-nitrogen ratios for chicken litter and wheat straw in the poultry litter digestion phase to produce an expected amount of methane. Researchers chose wheat straw because of its common use as a winter crop in Arkansas.

After capturing the biogas from the digestion chamber, the system’s second phase is to use a lightly electrically charged magnesium plate in an electrolytic reactor to separate nutrients from the liquid and drop into a settling tank as struvite. Depending on the amount of phosphate and ammonium in the 1-liter mixture, about 1 gram of magnesium ammonium phosphate struvite precipitates and then is dried to form a powder.

Zhu said the electrolytic reactor was built by collaborates at the University of Idaho led by Sarah Wu to prevent water electrolysis, so no hydrogen gas is produced.

With the struvite in the settling tank, the remaining effluent is cleaned by a final forward osmosis system built by collaborators at Virginia Tech, led by Zhiwu Wang.

Forward osmosis is a water separation process that uses a semipermeable membrane and the natural energy of osmotic pressure to separate water from solids in the solution. Peristaltic pumps transfer the clean water back into the digester designed and built at the experiment station.

While most of the nutrients are precipitated by the electrolytic reactor, and between 80 and 90 percent of the water comes out clear, there is a small amount of “rejected” water created that also contains a small amount of nutrients. Zhu said his collaborators at Virginia Tech have mentioned the rejected water could be used as a road treatment for ice and snow prevention in the wintertime.

Zhu expects an upscaled system to be used at an experiment station broiler house for further tests.

OPERATION — Yiting Xiao demonstrates the operation of the liquid-state poultry litter digester. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Other collaborators on the liquid-state poultry digester have included Amanda Ashworth with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and the following University of Arkansas faculty: the late Sammy Sadaka, associate professor and extension engineer; Thomas Costello, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering; Wen Zhang, associate professor of civil engineering; and Mike Popp, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness. Yiting Xiao, a Ph.D. student in Zhu’s lab, has also been involved with the project.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

High-tech cameras focused on chicken breast defect detection

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Some research for poultry processing automation is more than meets the eye.

HIGH-TECH VIEW — Graduate assistant Chaitanya Kumar Reddy Pallerla investigates the use of hyperspectral imaging to detect a defect in chicken meat. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

A multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are testing to see if hyperspectral images can be used to detect a chicken breast defect known as “woody breast” that costs the poultry industry millions of dollars annually and decreases customer satisfaction.

Dongyi Wang, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, explains that hyperspectral imaging is a non-invasive sensing technique that combines a near-infrared sensor with a high-definition color camera to capture physical and chemical information.

“The current evaluation procedure is time-consuming and needs a sample tested through cumbersome laboratory tests,” Wang said.

Woody breast detection with a hyperspectral camera system would take just a few seconds with a computer instead of grading by hand.

“Woody breast detection by hand can be labor intensive,” said Casey Owens, the Novus International Professor of Poultry Science at the experiment station. “If hyperspectral imaging can be used in a poultry processing plant, that labor force could be diverted to another area.”

POULTRY PROFESSOR — Casey Owens is the Novus International Professor of Poultry Science at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Owens said woody breast affects up to about 20 percent of chicken breast meat. Although it can be diverted for further processing, the loss in premium as a whole-muscle product accounts for a yield loss worth about $200 million annually in the United States, Wang said.

“Woody breast is still a safe product. It just can have a crunchy texture in some cases that is not appealing to customers, but it can be diverted for further processing into products like chicken nuggets, sausage, or chicken patties where the defect is not as noticeable,” Owens said.

Woody breast meat is harder to the touch because it has less water-holding capacity and less protein content, so the meat doesn’t retain marination as well as meat without the defect.

The woodiness is more common in larger birds of 8-9 pounds versus a 6-7-pound bird. Owens said one theory is that the fast-growing birds may be producing muscle faster than the blood vessels can support them, leading to muscle fiber damage and therefore increased collagen deposits. 

Chaitanya Kumar Reddy Pallerla, a food science graduate student working on the project, said each image with a hyperspectral camera takes up about 1 gigabyte of data. The photo is processed by a computer and correlated with a texture map indicating hardness levels in the fillet created with Owens’ previous research. Once calibrated, the system would rely on the images alone to detect woody breast.

“What we’re trying to do is collect the spectral data, intensities that were reflected, and correlate them with texture properties,” Pallerla said. “These are rated with a texture analyzer initially, and if we find a correlation between this spectral information and the texture properties later, we do not need a texture analyzer. So, we can use this correlation and directly interpret the texture properties from the spectral properties.”

Although protein content, water holding capacity and texture properties are considered the best markers for woody breast detection, Pallerla said most researchers have not focused on those properties because of the level of irregularities in the sections of a chicken breast.

Wang said the hyperspectral camera, so far, has detected woody breast meat with about 84 percent accuracy. The goal is to accommodate high-speed sorting on a conveyor belt, or handheld portable devices, he added.

TECH TALK — Dongyi Wang, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, researches the use of robotics and machine learning in agriculture. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Pallerla said the research will help fine tune their current texture analysis map and decrease the variance in detection.

Wang and Owens conduct research for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Owens also teaches classes through the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Wang teaches classes through the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering, and has a split research appointment between the biological and agricultural engineering department and the food science department. Pallerla holds a teaching assistant position in the biological and agricultural engineering department.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Farming opportunity seekers network with farmers March 9 in Fayetteville

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — People seeking experience on a working farm will have a chance to meet with farmers at a Center for Arkansas Farms and Food networking event on March 9.

FARM OPPS — Farm School students work the land at the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food in Fayetteville. A networking event will be held March 9 at Ozark Natural Foods. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

The Farm Opportunities Mixer will be 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. that Thursday at Ozark Natural Foods Co-Op’s Taproom, 380 N. College Ave., in Fayetteville.

Heather Friedrich, assistant director for the center, said one major constraint to a small farm’s operations and expansion is labor. The event is intended to bring together farmers who are looking for farm workers and anyone interested in farm employment or experience opportunities, she added.

Complimentary food and drinks will be provided by Ozark Natural Foods.

On March 12, the center will also offer an in-person class on winter maintenance as part of Growers School programming. The class is $10 and will be held at 1005 Meade St. at the Milo J. Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville.

Registration for the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food events can be done at NWAFarming.org.

The center’s Beginning Farmer classes are available online to the public for $10 each. They last about two hours. Recordings of the classes are available for those who register at BeginningFarmer.org.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

American Society of Animal Science names Arkansas researcher distinguished service award winner

By Robby Edwards
Director of Communications
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Beth Kegley, professor of animal science for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been named recipient of the 2023 Southern Section Animal Science Distinguished Service Award by the American Society of Animal Science.

She will be presented the award at meetings in Raleigh, North Carolina, later this month.

SERVICE — Beth Kegley was named the 2023 Southern Section Animal Science Distinguished Service Award winner by the American Society of Animal Science.

Kegley conducts research for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. She also teaches animal science courses for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

“An important part of any faculty's position is service to the department, the Division of Agriculture, the college and the profession,” said Mike Looper, head of the department of animal science. “Dr. Kegley excels in all of these areas. She stays busy providing valuable service to our students, stakeholders and our professional society. This is great recognition and a well-deserved award for Dr. Kegley.”

Kegley received her bachelor’s degree in animal science from Virginia Tech in 1986, her master’s in 1989 and her Ph.D. in 1996, both from North Carolina State University. Kegley joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas System in 1996 and was promoted to professor in 2007.

Her research focus is the impact of nutrition on the immune response, disease resistance and growth performance of beef cattle.

Kegley, who grew up on a dairy, beef and sheep farm in Virginia, teaches the graduate level Ruminant Nutrition, Energetics and Mineral Metabolism courses. She supervises the Stocker and Receiving Cattle Research Facility and the shared departmental nutrition lab.

She has served as an officer in the Southern Section of the American Society of Animal Science from 2005-09 and as national ASAS president in 2019-20.

ASAS fosters the discovery, sharing and application of scientific knowledge concerning the care and responsible use of animals to enhance animal and human health and well-being. The core principles of ASAS are: animals are essential to human life and well-being; the care and use of animals are held to the highest standards of integrity and professional ethics; research and scientific information are communicated in an open, transparent and dynamic manner; career development for animal scientists, educators and producers is essential to the viability of the allied and animal industries; and animal science and the production of animal-sourced foods must continually evolve to meet the needs and values of society.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Arkansas breweries partner in Arkansas Ag Experiment Station hops study

By John Lovett
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Horticulture researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station have partnered with three breweries across the state in a quality research study of hops grown in Arkansas with a public release set Nov. 5 in Siloam Springs.

HOPS PARTNERS — Post-harvest research on hops grown at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station will be conducted with three breweries in Arkansas as part of an Arkansas Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant to study the feasibility of an Arkansas hops industry. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Following a three-year study to find varieties of hops that grow well in Arkansas, the experiment station will collaborate with Ivory Bill Brewing Company in Siloam Springs, Prestonrose Farm and Brewing Company in Paris, and Stone’s Throw Brewing in Little Rock on the research. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Ivory Bill will hold a public event beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at the brewery, 516 E. Main St. in Siloam Springs, to release a pale ale made with Crystal hops grown at the experiment station’s Fruit Research Station in Clarksville.

“We know it’s possible to grow hops in the state, but we want to know more about what brewers think about the quality and feasibility of using whole-cone, dried Arkansas-grown hops,” Amanda McWhirt, associate professor and extension horticulture specialist, said.

An initial three-year research project on growing hops was completed in 2021 at the Fruit Research Station in Clarksville. The study showed that Cascade and Zeus hops varieties had the best yields, plant health and vigor. Crystal and Cashmere showed moderate potential for being grown in Arkansas. Canadian Red Vine hops grown at the Fruit Research Station will also be evaluated by brewery partners. The horticulture team is continuing its research into growing hops, with new trials started in 2022 aimed at increasing yield through new methods of plant training.

Most of the nation’s hops for the craft beer industry are grown in northern states where the day length is longer, which results in the highest yields. The Arkansas study showed that some hops varieties could produce a viable specialty crop in Arkansas to appeal to the state’s growing microbrewery industry, McWhirt said. Renee Threlfall, horticulture post-harvest and processing research scientist with the department of food science, said she expects initial interest in hops production will mostly be small-scale growers to supply the local microbrewing industry.

The post-harvest research with the brewery partners includes evaluating the use of whole-cone hops in the brewing cycle, from bittering in the boil to “dry hopping” for additional hops aromas during late-stage fermentation. While some breweries use whole-cone hops for specialty beers, most breweries use hops that have been dried and pelletized by processors for day-to-day brewing, McWhirt said. An Arkansas-based hops industry would initially rely primarily on whole-cone hops because of the state’s lack of access to hops processors, she added.

The hops study is funded by a Specialty Crop Block Grant from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture through 2024.

“We’re so excited to be hosting Amanda McWhirt and to be part of the conversation about the future of farming in Arkansas,” Casey Letellier, owner/brewer at Ivory Bill Brewing Company, said. “We value the opportunity to connect people with the idea that drinking beer is an agricultural act.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Researchers pursue cost-effective method to remotely monitor streamflow in small-scale watersheds

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Researchers at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station have developed an economical method to monitor rainwater surges in small streams.

STREAMFLOW — A research team from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station's Arkansas Water Resources Center installs an upward scanning acoustic doppler instrument to monitor streamflow in Brush Creek in Washington County. Master's degree student Brandy Everett places the radar unit on a concrete pad used to anchor it to the streambed. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

They showed that compact upward-scanning doppler radar systems designed to monitor manmade waterways can be adapted to monitor streamflows in natural channels of smaller watersheds.

Long-term streamflow data is essential to understand changes in hydrology and trends in natural disturbances like floods and drought, said Brian Haggard, professor of biological and agricultural engineering for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Haggard is director of the experiment station’s Arkansas Water Resources Center. He also has a teaching appointment with the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering.

Fresh water is a small percentage of the Earth’s water supply, but it is vital for human wellbeing, ecosystem support, economic activity and other purposes, Haggard said. Human activity and natural changes have great influence on available freshwater sources. Monitoring streamflow under extreme conditions caused by drought or stormwater runoff is essential for understanding how these stresses affect freshwater ecosystems.

Streamflow data support municipalities that need to manage storm surge water, Haggard said. State and federal agencies and researchers need the information to build and validate watershed models for the movement of sediments and nutrients and to find and correct nonpoint pollution sources.

Haggard said that most techniques for measuring and recording streamflow data can be costly to install and maintain.

“Installing and operating a typical streamflow monitoring station represents an investment of about $50,000 for the first year and around $25,000 for each subsequent year,” he said.

The instruments are not designed to be portable and are not easily moved to multiple locations, Haggard said.

A three-year study by Abbie Lasater, one of Haggard’s former graduate students, evaluated a low-cost method for remotely monitoring streamflow in small-scale watersheds. Haggard said these are mostly smaller streams that feed into larger watersheds, such as the White River.

Lasater led the study in the upper Poteau River Watershed in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency supported the study with a $415,415 grant administered through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

Lasater used three SonTek-IQ acoustic doppler instruments, rotating them to 12 research sites to monitor streamflow discharges in the upper watershed, Haggard said. Cables connected the units to battery packs and data ports mounted above the high-water levels of each stream. The team used inexpensive pressure transducers to measure stream depth continuously.

By Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture

The researchers collected stream depth continuously at each location and storm surge data following rain events, Haggard said. The compact SonTek units provided effective and accurate measurements in the small stream settings.

Haggard said the SonTek devices are designed for measuring flow through manufactured waterways like stormwater conveyances and irrigation canals where the shape and volume of the channels are known. Central to this research was to see if they could accurately measure flow through the irregular channels of natural streams.

The research team learned some valuable lessons about using the compact devices, Haggard said. For example, it’s essential to anchor the devices securely. One unit was lost when a storm surge overpowered the concrete pad used to hold it in the streambed. Brad Austin, a research scientist for the Arkansas Water Resources Center, said they now use a steel cable as a safety line to limit how far the units can travel downstream if they break loose from their moorings.

Also, some streambeds can cover the devices with sand, fine gravel or other materials during high flows, obscuring the sensor surfaces.

Even so, Haggard said the water resources lab team continues to use the devices in ongoing research. They are currently using them to study rainwater surges in small streams in the White River Basin.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and on Instagram at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Study shows no negative health effects on limit-fed diet in ‘high-risk’ cattle

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

Placing newly received, “high-risk” cattle on a limit-fed diet may result in greater performance with no adverse health effects, according to a study by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

LIMITED DIET — A recent study at the Southwest Research and Extension Center found no negative health effects of placing newly received "high-risk" cattle on a limit-fed diet. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

Less money spent on grain is an additional benefit to a limit-fed diet, said Daniel Rivera, associate professor of animal science with the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Rivera is also director of the Division of Agriculture’s Southwest Research and Extension Center in Hope where the study was conducted.

Limit feeding restricts the amount of feed an animal receives but provides sufficient energy to achieve a targeted rate of weight gain. The practice has been shown to reduce waste and improve feed efficiency, Rivera said.

“One of the concerns people have with limit-feeding growing animals before they go to a feedlot finishing program is the fear it will lead to digestive upsets because they were restricted and then go into a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet,” Rivera said. “But that was not the case in our study.”

“High-risk” cattle include those with no history of vaccination or that were transported for an extended period and blended with other lots at a sale barn. Cattle could also fall into the “high risk” category if there is a lack of information about their past. Cattle that have undergone a preconditioning period with vaccinations and yearling cattle from a single source with a known health record are often considered “low-risk.”

Rivera said that typical management of "high-risk" cattle has often allowed for high levels of hay or forage. Conventional wisdom is that offering a feed that cattle are accustomed to — hay in this case — makes the transition to a milled diet easier. Rivera said data conflict regarding this topic, however, with some researchers noting that higher energy and less roughage results in better performance but greater health problems. One theory is that the energy is typically in the form of starch, which can result in sub-clinical acidosis, thereby increasing health problems. The current Arkansas study examined limited feeding complete feed pellets made up of high levels of byproducts and lower starch content. 

The study compared recently received cattle given 1.75 percent of their body weight in a grain byproduct pelleted feed with those given 2.25 percent of their body weight. Another group (the control group) was assigned 2 percent of their body weight in grain by product pellets and free access to Bermuda grass hay. All diets provided an antibiotic to control parasites. The study began in January 2022.

At about 2.8 pounds a day, the average daily weight gain for cows on a restricted diet of 2.25 percent body weight in grain pellets and no hay, was the same as those given free access to hay, along with 2 percent of their body weight in grain pellets. Newly received cattle on 1.75 percent body weight in grain pellets and no hay put on slightly less than 2 pounds per day.

Rivera noted that more work was needed to confirm the study’s findings. Cattle on restricted diets which were not responding well to treatment would recover faster once isolated from the group to have easier access to their rations. Rivera said animals tend to push out animals that show signs of weakness, which keeps them from accessing their feed and gaining energy to recover from illnesses.

The study was conducted at the Southwest Research and Extension Center in collaboration with Elanco Animal Health and Livestock Nutrition Center to gain information for producers on management practices for “high-risk” cattle. Following the 63-day study of 168 newly received cattle, results showed slightly better feed-conversion rates for the most restricted diet with only marginally lower average daily weight gain.

Rivera put the 168 yearling cows through a two-month preconditioning phase, including vaccination against respiratory and clostridial pathogens, deworming and treatment with long-acting antibiotics. The animals were also administered a growth-promoting implant. The cattle averaged 470 pounds when received from several sale barns in Texas and Arkansas. They came in two shipments one week apart. About half of them were bulls that required castration, and the other half were steers.

Cows were randomly assigned to pens containing seven cattle each. The three diet options were assigned to eight pens each. The animals were checked daily for signs of respiratory disease, and symptomatic animals were treated with antimicrobial therapy. Rivera said the cattle that did not initially respond to the treatment were separated and then able to regain health with easier access to feed. The cattle were fed twice daily and weighed on days 0, 21, 42, and 63 before being shipped to a feedlot.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

New Smart Farming Research Facility will enable cutting-edge poultry science

By Jessica Wesson
Center of Excellence for Poultry Science
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Construction is nearly complete on a state-of-the-art poultry science facility that will open new avenues of research for the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

SMART FARMING — The Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facility was built by the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science with donations from six regional stakeholders. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

The Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facility is located at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Milo J. Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville. The $1 million project will be the most advanced facility for conducting broiler research at the farm once complete, according to David Caldwell, director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and head of the department of poultry science.

“This facility will be equipped with the most technologically advanced, commercially relevant environmental control and rearing equipment available in the commercial industry today,” he said.

Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said this sophisticated facility was made possible through a generous donation from Aviagen, equipment gifts from Reliable Poultry, Diversified Ag, MTech Systems, and D&F Equipment, and matching funding from Tyson Foods, along with infrastructure funds from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.  

“I am very thankful for the amazing private support we have received for the construction of this facility and have no doubt that it will propel our research forward and make our scientists more competitive for extramural funding,” Meullenet said.

“Aviagen is honored and excited to help financially support construction of this unique project and to participate in creating the house design concepts,” said Bryan Fancher, group vice president of Global Technical Operations for Aviagen. “This cutting-edge facility will help generate new research findings and better prepare students for the future of poultry farming.”

David Bray, group president of poultry for Tyson Foods, said, “The spirit of innovation and discovering better ways to work have been fundamental to the success of Tyson Foods for more than 85 years. We’re proud to continue our legacy of supporting agriculture in Arkansas while ensuring students and faculty have the right tools to help lead our industry into the future.”

“We are honored the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas System asked us to partner with them in equipping this one-of-a-kind research house to allow poultry science students to learn,” said Lisa Kaplan, co-owner of Reliable Poultry. “Donations like these are very important to us because they assist in developing future leaders in the poultry industry, as well as advance new technology in the fast growing, ever-developing industry.”

Caldwell said the new facility will enhance capacity in a number of research focus areas, including broiler nutrition, management, welfare and environmental quality.

“The total dimensions will be 45 feet wide by 350 feet in length,” he said. “The west end will be where large floor pens are equipped with commercially relevant rearing equipment. This side will also be equipped with cutting-edge sensor and data acquisition technology to allow for research projects to be conducted with a real-time, big data approach.”

The other side will be utilized for broiler nutrition research, Caldwell said. “The east end of the facility will be a more standard ‘mini-pen’ research facility that will be very well suited for broiler nutrition and management research applications.” Caldwell added that the facility will allow for more capacity for broiler welfare and environmental quality.

Michael Kidd, professor of poultry nutrition for the Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture, said the Smart Farming Research Facility’s planned smart technology will allow researchers to conduct studies that address emerging industry needs.

“Computer vision and machine learning technologies are becoming realized tools in the poultry industry as well as our research programs, and this facility will help us execute smart-based research strategies that improve broiler breeder and broiler nutrition and welfare,” said Kidd, who also holds the Adisseo Endowed Professorship in Global Sustainable Poultry Nutrition.

Other companies provided pens, electronics and other equipment.

“D&F Equipment Sales, Inc. is extremely proud to be part of the Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facilities team along with Stewart Stainless in supplying stainless steel pens and structures. Our mission is always to support and grow our industry and to help bring knowledge and a new generation of practitioners into our industry,” said Greg Cagle, president of D&F Equipment Sales, Inc.

“With the poultry industry moving towards more advanced data collection systems, Rotem controllers are the ultimate option to gather valuable data while also controlling all aspects of a house. This allows producers to develop a higher quality product in a more efficient manner,” said Brad Bowen, regional sales manager for Diversified Ag. “Diversified Ag is excited for the opportunity to be part of this project, and we are honored that Aviagen, Tyson, and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture have put their trust in Diversified Ag and our Rotem controllers.”

NUTRITION — The new Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facility will also be used to teach students arbout poultry produciton. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

Caldwell said that the facility will also be used to teach students about poultry production.

Andrew Coburn, sonar project manager for MTech Systems, said “facilities like the Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facility will produce industry-ready graduates through hands-on educational experiences. MTech Systems is excited to provide real-time data and IOT sensors to help solve emerging and relevant industry problems, with the goal of aiding in research and preparing students for a career in the poultry industry.”

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

Arkansas researcher’s collaborative method may reveal solutions to water quality issues

By Brittaney Mann
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Preventing fertilizer run-off from farms is essential to preserving water quality. But preventive measures also help farmers get the most use from their fertilizer.

WATER QUALITY — Shannon Speir, assistant professor of water quality, will conduct research on the Beaver Lake Watershed. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

“It is about realizing that you are on the same playing field and on the same team,” Speir said. “I think that that really ends up getting the most holistic and beneficial product or outcome of the collaboration.”

Shannon Speir, assistant professor of water quality at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said partnerships with farmers allow her to efficiently conduct research while considering those farmers’ needs.

Speir joined the Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, in early August. She works within the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences, where she earned her master’s degree in 2016.

In addition to investigating how to maintain nutrients on the landscape and out of streams and rivers, she will teach courses through the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Eventually, she also plans to work with local entities to develop community outreach projects, providing education on septic systems and other aspects of water quality.

For her first research project, she will begin a pilot study on three streams — Richland Creek, Brush Creek and Roberts Creek — in the Beaver Lake watershed in September.

“A lot of the issues here in northwest Arkansas are concerns around drinking water problems,” Speir said. “Especially with the Beaver Lake watershed and the reservoir.”

The primary source of freshwater in northwest Arkansas is Beaver Lake, according to a Cooperative Extension Service fact sheet. It is “…crucial to meeting Northwest Arkansas’s increasing demands for abundant high-quality water.”

The study will help determine the location for the first Arkansas Discovery Watershed as part of the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program. The Arkansas Discovery Farms Program, administered by the Division of Agriculture, centers on engaging farmers in the conservation process by conducting research on conservation practices on farmers’ fields.

Speir also researched watersheds for her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Notre Dame. She wanted to reveal the effect of conservation on multiple farms within the watershed and see how it impacted water quality leaving the drainage area. To determine the quality of water, she measured nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

Speir was not always involved in the agricultural side of water conservation. As an undergraduate student at Texas Christian University, she focused on mercury contamination and how mercury moves from water bodies into the terrestrial food web.

“I knew that when I was going to grad school, that I wanted to stick with this contamination issue, but I didn’t know where it was going to take me,” Speir said.

At the University of Arkansas, graduate-level courses introduced Speir to the agricultural aspects of water quality. She did experimental work on vegetative agricultural ditches to see how effective those are at removing nutrients from run-off.

Jeff Edwards, department head of crop, soil and environmental sciences, said Speir’s expertise and experience will strengthen the Division of Agriculture’s research portfolio in water quality and management.

“The water issues our stakeholders are facing are not going away, and we are very fortunate to hire someone with Dr. Speir’s diverse research experience,” Edwards said. “The issues we are facing in the area of water quality are not specific to one discipline, and Dr. Speir’s collaboration-focused approach is what we need to help provide solutions for Arkansans.”

Speir earned her bachelor’s degrees in biology and Spanish from Texas Christian University in 2014, her master’s degree in crop, soil and environmental sciences from the University of Arkansas in 2016 and her Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2021.

“I think one of the most interesting things is to be able to work with farmers,” Speir said. “And I think that brings a whole other side of this.”

As a researcher, “you get to really build these relationships and see what your work is doing on the ground. It kind of ties back to that societal benefit component that I am really passionate about.”

Farmers encouraged to use potash ‘tool’ amid rising fertilizer prices

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Fertilizer prices have edged slightly downward in recent months, but remain a worrisome aspect of the 2022 growing season for farmers. In addition to supply chain issues relating to the pandemic, China has said it will cut fertilizer exports, which will cause prices to soar higher.

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station officials caution growers to choose their cuts carefully and are now offering a toolkit to help make those decisions easier and more cost effective.

“Fertilizer prices soared in 2021 and more than doubled in the last 12 to 18 months,” said Trent Roberts, associate professor of soil fertility and testing for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

https://talkbusiness.net/2022/05/farmers-encouraged-to-use-potash-tool-amid-rising-fertilizer-prices/

Trent Roberts, associate professor of soil fertility and testing for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Arkansas study shows soybeans yield 10.5% more with cover crop

KUAR | By John Lovett/ UA Division of Agriculture

A three-year study conducted by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station shows that cover crops can improve yields in soybean fields. The study also answers a lingering question about wheat-double-crop systems.

The cost of a cover crop system is comparable to a traditional system with tilling and no cover crop because tilling is taken out of the equation, according to Trent Roberts, associate professor of soil fertility and testing for the experiment station and a soil specialist for the Cooperative Extension Service.

Roberts is holder of the Endowed Chair in Soil Fertility Research for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and gave a presentation on the cover crops and soil health study in soybean rotations as part of the 2021 Arkansas Rice and Soybean Field Day Online.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2021-10-31/arkansas-study-shows-soybeans-yield-10-5-more-with-cover-crop

Trent Roberts, holder of the Division of Agriculture's Endowed Chair in Soil Fertility Research, records a session on managing soil fertility in soybeans for the 2021 online soybean field day.