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.

Agri-Food Innovation Summit inspires entrepreneurial scientists to make big impacts

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

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The inaugural Agri-Food Innovation Summit offered entrepreneurial scientists and inventors inspiration to make “moonshot” impacts on society and insight on obtaining startup funds.

AGRI-FOOD INNOVATION — Jean-François Meullenet, left, director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, speaks during a panel discussion at the Agri-Food Innovation Summit with Mickey A. Latour of Arkansas State University and Ranu Jung with the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R) at the University of Arkansas. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

Venture capitalists and representatives from federal funding agencies expressed the importance of collaborating and building strong teams to solve problems. The event was held Nov. 2-3 at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences in Fayetteville. More than 200 participants registered over the two-day summit co-hosted by the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, the University of Arkansas Division of Economic Development, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and Catalyst/Research and Technology Transfer at Arkansas State University.

Citing Arkansas’s rankings in food insecurity, maternal mortality and infant mortality, scientists and inventors at the summit were encouraged to think strategically about how their work could solve these and other major societal problems.

“Where there is no food, there is also no health access, so I think this link between healthy people and access to food, especially in a state like ours, is something we should be thinking about,” said Ranu Jung, associate vice chancellor and Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Arkansas. “Somehow, when we think about the ag side, we should be thinking about what this means for the health and well-being of the people. If you improve access to food, you might likely also influence other things like health access.”

Jean-François Meullenet, senior vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said he would like to see an intensification of collaborative efforts by scientists in Arkansas.

“We are a small enough state that we have a unique opportunity to partner that other states may not have,” Meullenet said.

Mickey Latour, dean of the College of Agriculture at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, reiterated that sustainable protein supply chains were an area where Arkansans could lead the charge toward more innovation.

SMALL BUSINESSES — Nurun Nahar provides tips on applying for federal grants to small businesses during the Agri-Food Innovation Summit. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo)

Navigating federal grants

Day one of the two-day summit included presentations on applying for Phase I and Phase II grants through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, also known as SBIR/STTR. Nurun Nahar, SBIR/STTR program specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, said it was essential to review the most recent request for proposal rules since they may change slightly each year. Nahar said about 18 percent of proposals get rejected immediately for not following simple submission rules. It was also important to remember the deadlines are based on the Eastern U.S. time zone, she added.

Melinda Coffman, SBIR/STTR program coordinator with USDA-NIFA, said there will be an outreach event to help applicants on April 2, 2024, in Little Rock.

Dennis Goodes, deputy assistant administrator for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, encouraged inventors to work with the service early in their startup process to create a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, which increases the likelihood of Phase I SBIR/STTR funding. The inventor retains all patent ownership with the CRADA, Goodes noted.

To provide examples of SBIR/STTR grant success stories, summit attendees heard from two Arkansas-based company leaders: Danielle Dozier of the vertical hydroponic system manufacturer GSS Group, and Joseph Batta-Mpouma, co-founder of CelluDot, which developed a nanocellulose product to mitigate herbicide drift. Katie Thompson, executive director of Science Venture Studio, led the grant success stories session. Science Venture Studios helps Arkansas science and technology-based startups apply for federal funding.

Teamwork makes the dream work

A highlight of the event was the number of private funding organizations in attendance, said event co-organizer Trey Malone, agri-food economist and assistant professor with the Division of Agriculture.

The summit provided a panel discussion led by Mike Malone, vice chancellor for economic development at the University of Arkansas, with economic developers, seed-fund managers and venture capitalists, including Bill Arnold of Big Idea Ventures GFRF Fund; Bob Kucheravy, director of science and technology for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission; Brandon Day of The Yield Lab Institute; Jeff Amerine of Cadron Capital Partners; and Kim Davis of the Walton Family Foundation.

All panel members said that displaying proof of a strong team was crucial to their decision to provide startup funding. Davis said there was also a need to build a strong relationship with transparency and solid communication for successful endeavors.

Helping connect small and big businesses in the food and beverage industry is a mission for Kim Bryden, Arkansas-based founder and CEO of Cureate. Bryden was on hand at the summit to introduce four Arkansas food and beverage entrepreneurs offering hors d’oeuvres at the event. The companies represented included Margaret Ruth’s salad dressings and marinades, Firelight Farm in Searcy, Dogwood Hills Guest Farm in Harriet and Bartleby’s Food in Fayetteville.

“The Agri-Food Innovation Summit uplifted the incredible work happening across our food system from local farmers and entrepreneurs to researchers tackling the big questions,” Bryden said.

Bryden said the business owners featured “exemplify the future” as entrepreneurs building businesses and contributing to healthier food systems for their rural communities. 

“The conference represented a critical first step toward developing additional support systems for agri-food innovators across the state of Arkansas,” Trey Malone said. “Arkansans are proud of their storied heritage of innovation and entrepreneurship in the agri-food system. We are excited to provide a path forward for modern-day agri-food innovators and we look forward to collaborating with all thought leaders across the state to find moonshot solutions to 21st and 22nd-century problems.”

In addition to Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff also brought a team to the summit which had 134 participants on the first day and 95 on the second day.

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.

Farm Foundation names Malone 2023 Agricultural Economics Fellow

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

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Trey Malone, an agricultural economist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been named Farm Foundation’s 2023 Agricultural Economics Fellow.

FARM FOUNDATION FELLOW — Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station economist Trey Malone attends the Farm Foundation Roundation in Savannah, Georgia, on Jan. 11, 2023. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

“The Farm Foundation Fellows program is a well-known and highly respected program that brings together some of the brightest minds in our profession to work and learn together on timely and important agricultural policy topics,” said John Anderson, head of the agricultural economics and agribusiness department. “With his broad interests and exceptional knowledge of policy issues and tools, Dr. Malone will be an outstanding addition to the Farm Foundation program. It will be great to have an Arkansas and Mid-South perspective on issues so well represented among this elite group of policy influencers.”

Farm Foundation’s Agricultural Economics Fellow program is a yearlong program for a faculty agricultural economist. Founded in 1933, Farm Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that works to find solutions to issues in agriculture, from farmer health and market development to sustainability and implementing new technologies in agriculture. The agricultural economics fellows program started in 2021.

The 2023 fellowship is focused on sustainable food systems and will provide an opportunity to work with diverse stakeholders on integrated systems approaches to building more sustainable food systems, with a special focus on agricultural production approaches.

As a Farm Foundation Agricultural Economics Fellow, Malone will work with diverse stakeholders to build more sustainable food systems. For example, he will meet with staff in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist and participate in the Farm Foundation and USDA Economics Research Service Ag Scholars program on a recurring basis. He will also meet with other participants in Farm Foundation’s suite of next generation programs as time allows.

Malone’s research for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, focuses on agribusiness entrepreneurship and resiliency in agri-food supply chains.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Malone to our Agricultural Economics Fellowship program,” said Martha King, vice president of programs and projects at Farm Foundation. “His perspectives on agribusiness and consumer behavior will be an invaluable resource and will serve as a unique springboard for collaboration.”

In addition to being mentored by staff in the USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist, Malone in turn will mentor participants in the Farm Foundation and USDA Economic Research Service Agricultural Scholars program, among other engagements.

Malone joined the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 2022. In November he was awarded the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Research Communication from the Food Distribution Research Society.

In addition to teaching courses through the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Malone serves as co-editor of the Agricultural & Resource Economics Review and managing editor of the International Food & Agribusiness Review.

He holds master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University and a bachelor’s degree from Rockhurst University. 

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 ag econ professor Jada Thompson wins SAEA Emerging Scholar Award

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

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jada Thompson, assistant professor in the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the University of Arkansas System, was recently recognized with the Southern Agricultural Economics Association’s 2023 Emerging Scholar Award for research.

EMERGING SCHOLAR — Jada Thompson is a 2023 Emerging Scholar Award recipient from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. The agricultural economist has focused much of her work on HPAI bird flu. (U of A System Division of Ag photo by Fred Miller)

Thompson, an economist with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has spent much of her academic career researching bird flu’s economic impact.

She said the new strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 poses a longer-running risk on the supply chain and may lead to structural changes in poultry production. The 2022 bird flu epidemic has raised questions about how the poultry industry proceeds.

The agricultural economics and agribusiness department now has three SAEA Emerging Scholar Award-winning faculty. Brandon McFadden, professor and the Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics, and Trey Malone, assistant professor, were recognized with the award in 2019 and 2022, respectively.

“Dr. Thompson has established an outstanding record of research, with nearly 40 peer-reviewed publications including not only high-impact journal articles but also Extension publications summarizing stakeholder-relevant work,” John Anderson, head of the agricultural economics and agribusiness department, stated in his nomination letter for the award.

Anderson, who is also director of the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence, stated that Thompson’s record shows that she is a versatile researcher who is able to apply her skill set to a variety of relevant problems. A common thread that is evident in her work is the link between farm-level production issues and market impacts, he said.

“This is an increasingly important line of inquiry, as her work on both domestic and international market impacts of animal disease outbreaks demonstrates,” Anderson wrote. “This kind of integrated research requires not only a solid economics toolkit but also a thorough understanding of both production systems and agricultural markets. Any one of these facets of the work is difficult to master. Dr. Thompson ably integrates her mastery of all three.”

Anderson noted Thompson’s work is highly collaborative with economists from a wide range of institutions and experts from other relevant disciplines. Her proficiency extends to the extension and teaching mission areas, where she engaged directly with stakeholders, Anderson added.

“She is an excellent instructor, having already taught a variety of courses at three different land-grant institutions,” Anderson said. “Dr. Thompson has also actively engaged in service activities, both in our department and within the profession. Across all aspects of her faculty work, Dr. Thompson is productive, hard-working, and unfailingly collegial. She is rapidly emerging as a leader within our profession.”

Malone said the SAEA Emerging Scholar award is national in scope and a “premier designation” for early career faculty members in agricultural economics.

“Jada’s applied research program as a poultry economist is top-notch, so it’s fantastic to see such a hypercompetitive award acknowledge her hard work,” Malone said.

Thompson, a northwest Arkansas native, is among a small group of agricultural economists who specialize in poultry, Anderson said. She has a long history with the University of Arkansas, earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics there. For her bachelor’s degree, Thompson double-majored in poultry science and agricultural economics. In June, she returned as an assistant professor following five years as an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

She earned her doctorate in 2016 at Colorado State University.

“When you come into agriculture as a woman, there is a smaller subset of us, and to get this award is validating and exciting,” Thompson said. “To be nominated was humbling and to win was very nice.”

2022 HPAI potential impacts

As part of the award, Thompson will give a presentation on her investigations into the economic ramifications of this highly pathogenic avian influenza — HPAI — at the SAEA annual symposium in February in Oklahoma City. Her talk will provide a comprehensive overview of HPAI, the differences between the 2015 and 2022 outbreaks, market impacts and her analysis of how the event may change the poultry sector.

“In animal health economics it is important to push the boundaries of information gathering, analysis and multidisciplinary work because of this concept of ‘One Health,’ that plants, animals and humans are interconnected on local, regional, national and global levels,” Thompson said.

Some of the discussion around HPAI include continued research on a cost-beneficial aerosol vaccine that would be the most practical option for inoculating tens of thousands of birds at once. H5N1 has had a bigger impact on turkeys and laying hens, however, because older birds are more susceptible to the virus, Thompson noted. Broilers, the largest sector of Arkansas’ poultry industry, are harvested after about two months of growth.

Questions remain on what the producer response should be if the H5N1 strain continues into 2023, Thompson said. How much to increase production to compensate for potential losses and changes in placements are at the top of the list because of issues with increased food prices and potential fear in the marketplace of continued disruptions.

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 ag econ professor awarded by Food Distribution Research Society

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Trey Malone, assistant professor in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, was recently awarded the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Research and Communication from the Food Distribution Research Society.

RESEARCH AWARD —Trey Malone was recently awarded for his work on a Journal of Food Distribution Research article. (Photo courtesy Caroline Kraft Malone)

He was selected for his work on a Journal of Food Distribution Research article titled “The Changing Role of Fat Perceptions in Fluid Milk Labeling: Would the Dairy Industry Sell More if 2% Milk Was Called 98% Fat Free?” Malone’s co-authors and fellow award recipients include Oishi Kazi and Steven Miller from Michigan State University and Christopher Wolf from Cornell University. Malone conducts research for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, and teaches in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

“This is certainly a well-deserved award,” said John Anderson, head of the agricultural economics and agribusiness department. “Dr. Malone has an exceptional ability to identify relevant problems, to conceptualize those problems in ways that provide unique insights, and to apply appropriate methods to address researchable questions.”

Anderson, who is also director of the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence, said the project Malone was awarded for is an example of how “effective and impactful his approach to research can be.”

The milk marketing study explored how perceptions of fat content may have changed over the past few decades. Malone said these changes are particularly relevant for the dairy industry as fluid milk is marketed with several fat content options. The article explored the consequences of how fat is described on the fluid milk label. Their research indicated that consumers would pay less for 2 percent fat milk if labeled “98% fat-free milk.”

“At the end of the day, even though people have different beliefs about milk fat, there is no evidence that changing the label would lead to a positive nudge in consumer willingness to pay,” Malone said.

In the research article, Malone and his co-authors note the scientific consensus regarding the link between fat and health risks has changed relative to prior decades. Studies that influenced government recommendations in the 1970s and 80s on dietary fat and cholesterol, for example, were turned on their head by 2015 when dietary guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services dropped “fat” as a “nutrient of concern” and imposed no upper limit on total fat consumption but recommended keeping saturated fat intake within less than 10 percent of total calorie intake. The article pointed to studies that found inconsistent evidence of an association between whole-fat dairy and cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Total sales of fluid milk, compared to cheese and butter, have continued a downward trend over the past 50 years, but not all varieties of fluid milk are in decline, the journal article noted. Between 2010 and 2015, trends in whole milk, 2 percent (reduced fat) milk, and skim milk sales seem to have reversed compared to prior years. Skim milk sales peaked in 1998 and have decreased to 1975 levels. Meanwhile, following decades of decline, aggregate whole milk consumption has increased each year since 2013 with 2019 being 17 percent higher than six years earlier. In 2018, whole milk passed 2 percent (reduced fat) milk as the largest milkfat category consumed.

“This article was fun to write, as it showcases the importance of cognitive processes for consumer decision-making in the agri-food industry,” Malone said.

Malone, a former professor at Michigan State who joined the experiment station in 2022, will teach a food and agricultural marketing undergraduate course at the University of Arkansas in the spring of 2023.

“I’m excited to start teaching students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. I’d like to think that my approach to food and agricultural marketing is like a behavioral supply chain logistics course.”

“We are excited to have him bringing his practical, problem-solving perspective to food marketing into the classroom in the agricultural economics and agribusiness department,” Anderson said.

Malone will also teach an agribusiness entrepreneurship course in the spring of 2023.

Malone has conducted studies to assist stakeholders in many agricultural value chains, including dairy, beef, eggs, hops, hemp and morel mushrooms.

In addition to preparing grant proposals and advising Ph.D. students, Malone is working on a new tool for business owners called the Food and Agriculture Systems Sentiment Index in collaboration with Brandon McFadden, Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics for the experiment station. The index is in review and expected to be available for use by the public early next year. Malone was also recently appointed as a mentor for the Venture Mentor Service with the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

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.