Arkansas Water Resources Center broadens focus of annual conference

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Water Resources Center will co-host its annual conference July 16-18 to address a broad spectrum of water issues including stormwater, source water protection, groundwater, and stakeholder perceptions and education.

WATER QUALITY — Jacob Major takes stream soil samples in a Beaver Lake watershed tributary. Work such as his will be a part of the next Arkansas Water Resources Center's annual conference. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

The conference will be July 16-18 at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences, 1371 W. Altheimer Drive in Fayetteville.

“The conference has expanded in recent years beyond its traditional research focus and our organizing committee has grown, too,” said Brian Haggard, director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center. “This year, our conference has a new name — the Arkansas Agriculture, Forests, and Water Conference.”

The event was previously called the Arkansas Water Resources Conference. Haggard is also a professor of biological and agricultural engineering with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

The Arkansas Water Resources Center collects, analyzes, and provides water quality data to support municipalities, state agencies and watershed groups as they develop and implement management plans and practices. Located in Fayetteville, the center is part of a national network of water research centers investigating irrigation, wastewater disposal, groundwater, erosion, pollution and ecosystem problems.

The conference organizing committee includes representatives from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Divisions; the Arkansas Drinking Water and Forests Collaborative; the Beaver Watershed Alliance; the Illinois River Watershed Partnership; and the Arkansas Water Resources Center.

Over the course of two and a half days, the 2024 conference will cover relevant topics for stakeholders statewide, and highlights presentations covering northwest and central Arkansas, as well as the east Arkansas Delta.

Conference session themes include:

• Water myths and disinformation

• Science behind the water stories

• State, program, and watershed updates

• Source water protection

• “Know the Flow” and educational/outreach opportunities

• Conservation efforts, floodplains and forests

• Groundwater, a USGS special session

• Stakeholder perceptions of groundwater risks and their value

A detailed agenda will be released prior to the conference at the Arkansas Water Resources Center website.

The early registration price of $100 includes the popular conference T-shirt. The registration price goes up to $200 after July 1, and conference T-shirts will have to be purchased separately if supplies are available.

Discounted registration of $50 is available to students and county extension agents through the support of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and to landowners through support from the Arkansas Farm Bureau and Arkansas Discovery Farms.

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.

Conference brings muscadine, bunch-grape researchers to Arkansas on Oct. 3-5

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Muscadine and bunch-grape growers and researchers have tended to move in their own circles. Until now.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will host the North American Grape Breeders and Vitis-Muscadine Alliance Conference on Oct. 3-5 at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Science, 1371 W. Altheimer Drive, in Fayetteville.

Fruit breeder Margaret Worthington holds "clamshell" containers of muscadines during a tour of the Fruit Research Station in Clarksville in 2021. (U of A System Division of Agriculture file photo)

“To my knowledge, the conference is one of the first national attempts at a collaboration of people working with Vitis and Muscadinia,” said Renee Threlfall, a research scientist, enology and viticulture for the division’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and director of the Arkansas Quality Wine program. “Muscadines are very ‘regional’ so many U.S. consumers have never heard of them, never mind having tasted a muscadine grape or a product made from muscadines.”

“Vitis” is the genus that encompasses all grapes, whether they’re grown for food or wine. Bunch grapes — which include those used for wines, raisins and eating fresh — and muscadines, each belong to a separate subgenus. And that’s where things get interesting.

Muscadines, with their distinct flavor and thick skins, have 20 chromosomes, one more than bunch grapes. However, researchers see benefits in creating a hybrid of the two. That decades-long quest is driven by several factors such as being able to lend some of the muscadine’s disease resistance to the table grapes.

“Breeding efforts between these genera have already begun, resulting in new grape cultivars, some with attributes like Vitis, some like Muscadinia, but also many with attributes of both,” Worthington said. “This project is important because we believe there is much more to be gained in future collaborations, bringing the best of two powerhouse grape species together.”

The conference is the culmination of work conducted under a Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA. Threlfall and Margaret Worthington, associate professor and fruit breeder for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, obtained the grant in 2022.

The event is comprised of the North American Grape Breeders Meeting on Oct. 3. The following day includes a tour of the Division of Agriculture’s research vineyards and wineries. Oct. 5 is the Vitus-Muscadina Alliance Conference.

The conference will include discussions of breeding, production, marketing and economics. Threlfall also said the results of a survey on consumer preferences for fresh-market grapes will be revealed at the conference.

“We conducted an online survey of more than 900 consumers from all U.S. regions, asking their preferences for fresh-market grape options,” Threlfall said. “These preferences will be used to inform future breeding efforts.”

Attendance is by invitation. For more information, contact Renee Threlfall at rthrelf@uark.edu.

Learn about the Division of Agriculture’s grape-breeding program.

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

Income Tax School offers in-person, virtual training for advanced income tax preparation

By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — For Arkansans interested in advanced income tax preparation, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture will offer five in-person and virtual Income Tax School training courses later this year.

TAX PREP — At the Cooperative Extension Service's Income Tax School, Arkansans will learn advanced income tax preparation from two experts. Five in-person and virtual training courses will be held later this year. (Division of Agriculture graphic.)

The Income Tax School is offered through the Community, Professional and Economic Development unit of the Cooperative Extension Service. Each of the two-day courses will provide information about the latest tax code updates and insight into what taxpayers can expect for the 2024 tax season.

“As one of only a few tax school options in Arkansas, we offer high-quality, affordable federal tax education that fits your schedule,” said Kim Magee, director of the Income Tax School for the extension service. “We provide the information you want and continuing professional education you need every year.”

In-person training will be offered in four Arkansas cities:

Jonesboro: Nov. 13-14 at the Arkansas State University Delta Center for Economic Development, 319 University Loop

Fayetteville: Nov. 16-17 at the Don Tyson Center, 1371 W. Altheimer Drive

Hope: Nov. 27-28 at Hempstead Hall, 2500 S. Main Street

Little Rock: Nov. 29-30 at Cooperative Extension Service State Office, 2301 S. University Avenue

A virtual option will be offered via Zoom Dec. 6-7.

The cost of the course is $270 for those who register before Aug. 25, or $310 after the priority registration deadline. Registration is available at uada.formstack.com/forms/tax. Classes run 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. A certificate of attendance will be awarded after class is dismissed on the second day.

Curtis Davis, a certified public accountant with more than two decades of tax experience, and Bill Laird, a retired Internal Revenue Service agent, will be instructors at the schools. The course will offer a general review of current tax regulations and updates on changes in existing tax laws.

The Income Tax School is approved by the IRS as a continuing education provider. Participants can earn 16 hours of continuing professional education credit, including two hours of ethics.

For more information, contact Kim Magee at 501-671-2081 or kmagee@uada.edu.

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

Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing to host poultry welfare symposium Oct. 12

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

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing will host its 8th annual symposium on Oct. 12 in a hybrid format, with speakers focusing on poultry welfare and what the industry is doing to increase knowledge in this area.

CFAW Symposium 2022 speakers - Amelia Woods. Photo provided by Department of Poultry Science

There is no cost to attend either in-person or online. The Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization, PAACO, will be offering seven continuing education credits for those in attendance.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The in-person event will be held at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences,1371 W. Altheimer Dr. in Fayetteville, and lunch will be provided.

Registration is available online.

“In a state that is one of the nation’s largest producers of broilers and turkeys, poultry health and welfare are top of mind for us,” aid Shawna Weimer, director of the Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Our speakers are bringing a broad set of perspectives on this issue and no matter how long we’ve been in this field, there’s always something we can learn from our colleagues.”

The agenda:

• 9 a.m. — Welcome — David Caldwell, director of Center for Excellence of Poultry Science and Weimer.

• 9:15 a.m. — “Thinking Outside of the Box to Tackle Poultry Welfare: A Nutritional Immunologist's Perspective”— Elizabeth Bobeck, associate professor at Iowa State University.

• 10 a.m. — “Enriching the Environment for Broilers”— Leonie Jacobs, assistant professor at Virginia Tech.

• 11 a.m. — “Birds Flying High: Cage-free Houses and Skeletal Welfare of Laying Hens” — Prafulla Regmi, assistant professor at the University of Georgia.

• 11:45 a.m. — Lunch

• 12:45 p.m. — “Poultry Welfare Adulting: Where, What, How” — Amelia Woods, poultry welfare manager, PAACO.

• 1:45 p.m. — “Current Issues in Turkey Welfare” — Brian Wooming, DVM, Cargill veterinarian.

• 2:45 p.m. — “Communication, Culture, and the Five Domains” — Dallas Wynn, senior manager of animal welfare for Tyson Foods.

• 3:30 p.m. — Poultry Welfare and the Building of Customer Relationships - Whitny Haley, Director of Animal Welfare for Simmons Foods.

• 4:15 p.m. Closing remarks — Weimer.

To learn more about the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, visit https://foodanimalwellbeing.uada.edu/.

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.

About the Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing

The University of Arkansas has a deep-rooted relationship with the food animal industry in the areas of outreach and applied research. The Tyson Center for Food Animal Wellbeing (CFAW) team works closely with three units within the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture: the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, the Department of Animal Science, and the National Agricultural Law Center. The CFAW goal is to improve animal health, handling, and productivity through husbandry practices that optimize animal welfare.