Jonesboro Arkansas

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Arkansas Forage and Grassland Council hosts spring conference May 17 at Jonesboro

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By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

2024 Arkansas Forage and Grassland Council spring conference flyer. 

LITTLE ROCK — The May 17 Arkansas Forage and Grassland Council Conference at Jonesboro will offer livestock producers updates on forage improvement research and learn about the use of drones in agriculture.

The conference will be held at the Judd Hill Farmers Market Building, 3350 Aggie Road in Jonesboro. The event opens with registration at 8:30 a.m. and adjourns at 4 p.m. Cost to attend is $35 per person or $15 for students and is payable by cash, check or card at the door. To register or for additional information, contact Linda McCargo, 501-671-2171 or lmccargo@uada.edu.

Indoor presentations and a pasture walk to view current research and demonstration plots will be part of the event.

The spring Arkansas Grassland and Forage Council conference will focus on strengthening a producer's forage game. (U of A System Division of Agriculture file photo by Rachel Bearden).

The spring Arkansas Grassland and Forage Council conference will focus on strengthening a producer's forage game. (U of A System Division of Agriculture file photo by Rachel Bearden).

Jonathan Kubesch, extension forage specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said attendees will hear about forage improvement opportunities.

“When we say that we're strengthening your forage program we come at it both for the folks in north Arkansas as well South Arkansas, using the same principles and applying them to whether you’ve got a cool-season forage base or a warm-season forage base,” he said. “We’re not selling prescriptions we're selling principles.”

Presenters for the event are:

  • Jeremy Huff, grazing land specialist for Natural Resources Conservation Service.

  • Bud Kennedy, associate dean of Arkansas State’s College of Agriculture and professor of animal science.

  • Kenny Simon, extension instructor-forages for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

  • Bronc Finch, extension soil fertility specialist, Division of Agriculture.

  • Christine Nieman, Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  • Chris Grimes, Craighead County extension agent for the Division of Agriculture.

  • Jonathan Kubesch, extension forage specialist for the Division of Agriculture.

  • Danny Griffin, Van Buren County extension staff chair for the Division of Agriculture.

  • Jeff Dickens, Dickens Ag Drone LLC and Rantizo.

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.

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Judd Hill Foundation Pledges $1 Million to Support UAMS Northeast Regional Campus, Cancer Patients

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By Andrew Vogler

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) announced today in Jonesboro that the Judd Hill Foundation has pledged $1 million to establish the Judd Hill Foundation Fund for Excellence in support of the UAMS Northeast Regional Campus and cancer patients in the region.

“I would like to thank the Judd Hill Foundation for its continued support of UAMS, helping us to advance the most critical initiatives of the institution,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “This support of UAMS’ mission-critical work will leave a legacy that will endure well into the future and will have a profound impact on the lives of the people in Northeast Arkansas.”

The Judd Hill Foundation Fund for Excellence will invest in the Northeast Regional Campus’ highest priorities including support for education, research, clinical care and campus improvements. The funds will also be used by UAMS to provide additional support for cancer patients in the Delta, helping connect them with resources and care providers in their region. The UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is on the path to achieving National Cancer Institute Designation and increasing outreach to patients in rural areas is a major goal in that process.

Judd Hill Foundation Pledges $1 Million to Support UAMS Northeast Regional Campus, Cancer Patients

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Arkansas producers may be approaching ‘peak peanut’

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By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture 

JONESBORO, Ark. — Arkansas may never be the No. 1 peanut-producing state in the nation, with our limited purchase on the Delta and Georgia being the legume juggernaut that it is — but the state’s growers have certainly made the most of their potential.

ADVICE FOR THE NEW YEAR — Tom Barber, extension weed specialist and interim vice president of agriculture and natural resources for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, discusses the future of weed control in peanuts during the Northeast Delta Peanut Production Meeting in Jonesboro, Arkansas. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

In 2023, Arkansas peanut growers set a state record for average yield with 5,800 lbs. per acre, across more than 35,000 acres. With another 5,000 acres or so, the state would’ve likely seen a new record for overall peanut production as well.

Travis Faske, extension plant pathologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said he could easily exceed 40,000 acres of peanuts in 2024, setting the stage for record production.

“That’s about as much sandy soil as we have in Arkansas that isn’t already planting cotton,” Faske said. On March 12, Faske, who has served as the Division of Agriculture’s acting peanut agronomist for most of the past decade, was part of an expert panel addressing growers in Jonesboro for the Northeast Delta Peanut Production Meeting. About 50 growers and consultants from the area attended.

“If we get to 50,000 acres at some point, it will be because peanut prices are extraordinarily high,” Faske said.

Mike Hamilton, extension irrigation instructor for the Division of Agriculture, told attendees that researchers are zeroing in on the most efficient way to irrigate Arkansas peanuts.

“Historically, the biggest peanut states have center-pivot irrigation,” Hamilton said. “In Arkansas, we’re 90 percent furrow irrigated. Sometimes we have issues with wetting that soil bed, and getting it soaked through, which is something you don’t have to worry about with center pivots.”

As with most crops, proper irrigation is a tightrope, strung between the needs of the plant and the whims of Mother Nature, including rainfall patterns and pathogens such as Southern blight.

In 2023, Southern blight — a fungal disease Arkansas peanut growers must deal with to some degree every year — made a surprise appearance in early August, about three weeks earlier than in previous years, due to high amounts of rainfall in the area.

“It just came unseasonably early,” Faske said.

Tom Barber, extension weed specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said that Palmer amaranth, commonly known as pigweed, was the most pressing weed problem for peanut growers.

“In the area of the state where we grow the most peanuts, our pigweed populations are resistant to at least five herbicide modes of action,” Barber said. “That pretty much takes our peanut herbicides out of the game.”

Barber, who was named interim associate vice president of agriculture and natural resources for the Division of Agriculture in February, said the key to successfully controlling pigweed and other weeds in peanuts was the timely, overlapping application of residual herbicides.

“The biggest thing with peanuts is that when they come out of the ground, it’s a slow start,” Barber said. “It takes them a while to get going and to canopy. So there’s a long period of time when we can possibly have pigweed clusters. So, we use residual herbicides to prevent those clusters from coming up.”

Barber said that the long-term key to controlling pigweed, whether in peanuts or any other crop in the region, will come down to cultural practices such as crop rotation and the use of cover crops between one year’s harvest and the next planting.

“From a weed-control standpoint, talking about crop, yield and profitability — most crops are the same: We have a weed-free period at the beginning of the year,” Barber said. “That’s the critical period for weed control in all our crops.”

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.