Arkansas 4-H awards college scholarships, sponsorships to outstanding youth

By Tracy Courage
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — Years of detailed project work, community service and leadership efforts have paid off for 32 4-H members in the form of college scholarships. 

The Arkansas 4-H Foundation recently awarded $24,000 in college scholarships to youth across Arkansas. Amounts ranged from $500 to $8,000.

“These scholarships directly help our 4-H members continue to excel,” John Thomas, managing director of the Arkansas 4-H Foundation, said. “These would not be possible without generous donors, many of whom are former 4-H members who want to pay it forward for future generations.”

The Arkansas 4-H Foundation has awarded more than $170,000 to 4-H members this year, enabling them to attend summer camps and leadership and citizenship trainings. The foundation also provides sponsorships for more than 40 students with winning record books to attend National 4-H Congress in Atlanta each year, a trip valued at $1,500 per person.

Record books reflect each student’s achievements in leadership, community service and work in their chosen projects. 4-H offers more than 70 projects spanning the arts and humanities, healthy living, civil engagement, animal and plant sciences, engineering and technology.

This year’s scholarship recipients include:

Sue Marshall Scholarship — Abby Frizzell of Johnson County and Kristin Lehmann of Conway County each received $8,000 to pursue collegiate studies in family and consumer sciences.

Ada & Tyrell Anderson Scholarship — Emma Gardner of Washington received the $6,000 scholarship awarded to a 4-H member from Madison or Washington County to attend a college or university in the University of Arkansas System.

Robert D. and Betty F. Oliver Scholarship — Jordan Thomas of Pulaski County, $4,000.

Rick and Lynette Cartwright Scholarship — Alec Frachiseur of Sevier County, $3,500.

Raydus Ree and Virginia Williams James Scholarship — Weston Penny of Washington County, $3,500.

C.A and Joye Vines Scholarship — Kallyn Sossamon of Saline County, $1,000.

Farm Credit Cooperatives Scholarship — Hannah Riggan of Hot Spring County and Alex Trombley of Howard County each received $1,000 to pursue an agriculture-related course of study in college.

Dennis R. Millard Memorial Scholarship — Savannah Barrentine of Grant County received the $1,000 award, which recognizes a person who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, community service and mentoring of other 4-H members.

Rotary Club of Fayetteville and Dale Killian Scholarship — Janna Morse of Washington County received the $1,000 scholarship, which is awarded to a Washington County student enrolling at the University of Arkansas.

Gladys Klepfer/ Bo & Peggy Cobb Scholarship — Rob Phillips of Arkansas County and Savannah Loving of Johnson County each received a $1,000 scholarship, which is awarded to members who have served as volunteer camp counselors at the Arkansas 4-H Center.

John W. White Scholarship — Erin Holland of Van Buren County received a $1,000 award to pursue agriculture or human environmental sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Zack O. and Jennie D. Jennings Scholarship — Annabelle Ferren of White County received the $1,000 award for outstanding leadership.

Division of Agriculture Livestock Scholarships

Ethan Wolcott, Hunter Frachiseur and Madison Bagley, all of Sevier County, each received $1,000. The scholarships are awarded to youth who have exhibited livestock at the Arkansas State Fair and Livestock Show within the past year and who plan to pursue an agriculture-related major in college.

Oaklawn Jockey Scholarships — $625 each
Rylee Kelley, Searcy County.
Riley Pearce, Faulkner County.
Mollie Leonard, Van Buren County.
Caylee Turner, Little River County.

Larry Sandage Arkansas Forage and Grassland Council Scholarship — Grace Rutherford of Clark County received the $500 scholarship to a pursue studies related to a career in forage, grass or the cattle industry.

Regions Bank Scholarship — Emmarie Savell, Izard County, $500.

Raymond Cox Scholarship — James Daniell of Clark County, Tayte Christensen of Benton County and Magon James of Arkansas County, each received $500 for outstanding 4-H work.

Maeda Asbell Scholarship — Josalyn Allbritton of Chicot County received $400 for outstanding 4-H work.

For more information about 4-H, visit https://4h.uada.edu/. To learn more about other extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @AR_Extension.

Cooperative Extension Service to recruit volunteer Health Ambassadors in six counties

By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — A new Cooperative Extension Service project is seeking to improve the health of rural counties by recruiting local volunteers, who will receive training and deliver extension health programming to their communities.

AMBASSADORS IN TRAINING — Carl Trahan-True conducts "Wellness Ambassador 101" session IN 2014. The Cooperative Extension Service is revamping the Health Ambassador program in six counties with the help of NIFA grant funding. (Division of Agriculture photo by Kevin Quinn.)

Arkansas ranks 41st out of 50 states for access to clinical preventive care services, making it difficult for Arkansans – especially in rural communities – to access health care screenings and other services that monitor well-being and anticipate problems. The Extension Health Ambassadors project will work with these communities to identify and find solutions to their health problems.

The training program is a partnership between the Cooperative Extension Service’s Community, Professional and Economic Development department and the Family and Consumer Sciences department. The program will equip community volunteers with the health education and teaching skills necessary to lead extension-based health programming in targeted rural counties.

Bryan Mader, extension assistant professor and health specialist, said that by providing this training for volunteers to share with their communities, extension health programming can reach more Arkansans.

“The primary goal of the Extension Health Ambassadors project is to amplify the reach of county Family and Consumer Sciences agents in delivering health programs to a larger audience than the agent is able to do by themselves,” Mader said.

The new program is similar to a previous extension project, Extension Wellness Ambassadors. That project took place from 2013-2014 and used a community-based recruitment model to train volunteers to deliver extension health programs. It recruited 60 volunteers who contributed 5,600 hours of volunteer time and led 434 health education sessions.

The primary difference between programs is the collaboration between the CPED and FCS departments. CPED will play an important role in the project by using an asset-based community development strategy, which Mader said “works with and within a community to identify its strengths – such as people and resources – and uses a person-centered approach to form solutions to community issues.”

This strategy will allow project leaders, agents and volunteers to identify community health issues and work together to address challenges related to the “chronic disease burden in Arkansas and the health disparities between urban and rural populations,” Mader said.

Hunter Goodman, assistant professor of Community, Professional and Economic Development for the Division of Agriculture, said the asset-based community development strategy is also designed to help county extension agents in their efforts to strengthen and improve the communities they serve, including by “building local leadership capacity for engagement on aspects of quality of life and community vitality.”

“At its core, asset-based community development underscores what’s vibrant in the community, centers the community at the heart of local decision making, activates individual participation, strengthens community leadership and emphasizes local relationships,” Goodman said.

The project recently received funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Rural Health and Safety Education grant program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Six Arkansas counties — Clarke, Cleburne, Hempstead, Phillips, Pope and Mississippi — were selected to participate in the project for the two-year project period. Project activities will begin on Sept. 1, 2022, and end on Aug. 31, 2024. Mader said the project will begin with an initial three communities that will “work with the project team to navigate through the community engagement, recruitment, training and delivery components.”

Mader said he is optimistic about the interest among potential volunteers for the project. Arkansas has one of the highest levels of volunteerism in the country, with 30 percent of Arkansas residents reporting having volunteered within the last year in 2017, according to Aspire Arkansas.

“This means there is a rich pool of community members who are interested in helping make their communities better,” Mader said.  

Mader said extension’s goal for the Extension Health Ambassadors program is to recruit and train 30 volunteers from six counties over two years.

“Success for this program would result in extension working alongside community members to address their identified, or felt, health needs and working collaboratively with the community to create viable solutions to their health issues,” he said.

As the USDA defines 55 of Arkansas’ 75 counties as rural, Mader said a long-term goal of the program would be to find additional funding to expand its impact to additional counties.

Drought pressing U.S. cattle inventory numbers to lowest levels since 2015

HEAT WAVES — The United States’ cattle inventory has shrunk to its lowest numbers since 2015 thanks to the drought sprawling across the western half of the country.

By the U of A System Division of Agriculture

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The United States’ cattle inventory has shrunk to its lowest numbers since 2015 thanks to the drought sprawling across the western half of the country.

HEAT WAVES — The United States’ cattle inventory has shrunk to its lowest numbers since 2015 thanks to the drought sprawling across the western half of the country.

James Mitchell, extension livestock economist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said total cattle inventories stood at 98.8 million, “falling below 100 million for the first time since 2015.”

Mitchell said the numbers, which came out the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s June 22 Cattle Inventory Report, were somewhat better than expectations.

“While inventories posted a year-over-year decline, National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates were higher than pre-report expectations, with analysts expecting larger decreases in cattle numbers,” he said, adding that the NASS estimates were not a significant departure from pre-report expectations.

“Drought has been the main factor contributing to the decline in the number of beef cows and replacement heifers,” Mitchell said. “Total beef cow slaughter through June is 14.6 percent higher year over year.”

Mitchell said beef and dairy cow inventories were 2.4 percent and 0.5 percent lower compared to July 2022, respectively.

“The report confirms another year of beef cow herd liquidation with little evidence of anyone looking to expand,” he said.

“Regionally, drought pressure this month has been a big concern in the Southeast,” Mitchell said. “The effects of drought are shown in the auction data. For example, auction receipts for Arkansas show a 20 percent increase in slaughter cattle sales.”

For the first 30 weeks in 2021, 20,942 head of slaughter cattle went to auction. This year that number rose to 25,033.

The full report is available on the USDA-NASS website.

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.

Dr. Mark Cochran Set to Retire from Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

After guiding the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture through a decade of growth, vice president for agriculture Dr. Mark J. Cochran will retire effective Sept. 30.

During his tenure, Cochran encouraged the growth of the entrepreneurship and commercialization of research products and obtained funding to continue the Division of Agriculture’s research and extension work, enabling the traditional land grant mission to remain strong in Arkansas.

“After 39 rewarding years in the University of Arkansas System, retirement is not a decision that was made casually or in haste,” he said. “It’s been an honor to lead the Division of Agriculture and there is still much that can be accomplished. However, the time has come to pass on that responsibility to the next leader of the division and to enjoy time with my family and especially my granddaughter.”

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/09/dr-mark-cochran-set-to-retire-from-arkansas-system-division-of-agriculture/

Researchers Aim to Strengthen Bee Pollinator Populations

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Bees are critical in food cultivation but in recent decades the number of bee colonies has sharply declined and is a significant threat to the world’s food supply. Scientists in Arkansas are doing research that could lead to ways to protect the world’s bee populations.

Olivia Kline, an entomology doctoral student at the University of Arkansas, works in the research program of Neelendra Joshi, associate professor of entomology for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. He specializes in research on pollinator health, fruit entomology, integrated pest management and pesticide toxicology.

Their research focuses on blue orchard bees, a type of mason bee native to Arkansas and many other areas in the U.S. Joshi said they are easy to identify because of their iridescent blue color. They nest in tunnels left behind by other insects, like the galleries carved out of trees and wood structures by boring beetles.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/08/researchers-aim-to-strengthen-bee-pollinator-populations/

Neelandra Joshi, associate professor of pollinator health, fruit entomology, IPM and pesticide toxicology, shows how masonry bees build nests in tubes designed to simulate the kind of cavities the bees prrefer to use for nesting. (UA System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Neelandra Joshi, associate professor of pollinator health, fruit entomology, IPM and pesticide toxicology, shows how masonry bees build nests in tubes designed to simulate the kind of cavities the bees prrefer to use for nesting. (UA System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)

Polk County Offering Become A Master Gardener Training Course

All classes, except the September 23rd class, can be attended via zoom at UA Cossatot Adams Bldg. in De Queen.  The first class on September 23 should be attended in person at Polk County Extension Service in Mena. 

If you plan on attending via Zoom in De Queen, please contact Sevier County Extension Service at (870) 584-3013 or email Rex Herring at rherring@uada.edu to register by August 27.   

If you plan on attending the classes in person in Mena, please contact Polk County Extension Service at (479) 394-6018 to register by August 27.

Fall Armyworms Appearing in High Numbers in Arkansas pastures

TRUE ARMYWORM - A key characteristic of true armyworm larvae is a brown net-like pattern on the head.

Media contact: Mary Hightower          mhightower@uada.edu               501-671-2006

July 15, 2021

Fall armyworms appearing in high numbers in Arkansas pastures

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

Fast facts

• High numbers of armyworms seen

• February’s deep freeze had little impact on populations

• Cattle producers should scout in the field

 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The fall armyworms surging through Arkansas pastures and lawns apparently don’t understand the concept of a killing freeze.

Like the old saw, this army travels on its stomach, and searches for tender plants to eat. The armyworms can often render a lush pasture nearly barren in a day.

“Right now, we’re seeing populations well above treatment thresholds in southern, southwestern and western Arkansas from Mena into Fort Smith and Van Buren,” said Kelly Loftin, extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “We’re seeing reports in north-central regions like Cleburne County over into Greene County.”

Numbers have been increasing each week for the last 2 1/2-3 weeks. Fall armyworm catches have been highest in the following:

• heavily fertilized Bermudagrass hay fields

• irrigated Bermudagrass hay fields

• hay fields where Signalgrass is present

• newly planted bermudagrass and crabgrass fields

“It’s a pretty intense year,” he said. “It’s a shocker.”

The deep freeze that took over much of Arkansas, Texas and other parts of the South back in February should’ve put the kibosh on fall armyworms.

“Armyworms overwinter as adults in south Texas,” Loftin said. “If we look at the temperatures we had in February, we would’ve expected more winter mortality.”

"Because of the extended rains during the spring, many ranchers had both quantity and quality issues in their first cutting of hay, making it all the more imperative to protect what’s left in meadows and pastures, for future grazing or cutting,” he said.

Scout pastures

John Jennings, professor and extension forage specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said lots of infestations are being reported.

“Often the armyworm moths are attracted to the most tender growing forage, so new growth on recently cut hay fields, well-managed pastures and newly planted summer forages like millet, sorghum/sudan, and crabgrass are at greatest risk,” he said.

Damage from small armyworms often shows up as light-colored grass tips similar to frost or as small patches of green tissue missing from the leaf surface called windowpane feeding. Damage from larger worms is more obvious with leaves and young stems being eaten.

“Producers should scout all fields closely with in-field observations and not from the pickup windshield,” Jennings said.

Find additional information at the extension armyworm page; https://www.uaex.edu/farm-ranch/pest-management/insect/armyworms.aspx

Download the fact sheets: “Managing Armyworms in Pastures and Fields,” https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-7083.pdf and “Fall Armyworm Recognition and Management” at https://bit.ly/3wFGKen.

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

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Arkansas Remains Largest Rice Producing State

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas is easily the top rice producing state and it’s no surprise it leads the nation in rice exports, according to the State Agricultural Trade database released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rice exports accounted for $722 million of the state’s total of $3.1 billion in agricultural exports, the report stated. Scott Stiles, extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture said that of the $3.1 billion 78%, or $2.4 billion, was attributed to plant products. The report covers the 2019 calendar year.

According to the report, following are the commodities ranked by their respective contribution to the total export value.
• Rice — $722 million
• Soybeans — $679.3 million
• Cotton — $427.3 million
• Other feed grains: barley, oats, sorghum — $73.2 million
• Corn — $71.4 million

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/07/arkansas-remains-largest-rice-producing-state/