Wild or feral hogs have been reported in all 75 counties in Arkansas, carrying disease and causing extensive damage to property. Darwin Hendrix of Pike County is a member of the state feral hog eradication task force and he’s been trapping feral hogs for 10 years with some success. In this edition of Arkansas Agcast, he discusses his efforts to deal with the destructive hogs and what will be necessary to address this costly problem at the state level.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working with the University of Arkansas and Glennoe Farms near Stuttgart, are bringing together molecular biology, biogeochemistry, environmental sensing technologies, and machine learning, to help revolutionize agriculture and create sustainable farming practices that benefit both the environment and farmers.
With extreme heat and the ongoing challenges with weed control technologies like dicamba, some farmers are going “old school” with their efforts to keep fields clear of invasive plants. See how one soybean grower is approaching the challenge of pigweed this summer.
One county’s efforts to save the massive Sparta Aquifer is an environmental success story and an example of how a community came together to solve a serious problem with its local water supply before it had a negative impact on industry and farmers.
After reaching critically low levels in the 1990s, water table levels in the Sparta Aquifer in south Arkansas are being recharged thanks to a countywide campaign undertaken by the Union County Water Conservation Board, the local Chamber of Commerce and other area organizations. In this edition of Arkansas AgCast, Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Ken Moore sat down with two of the key leaders of the campaign to save the aquifer to discuss their efforts and the results.
Black vultures are a persistent problem for some farmers around the state. The population of these aggressive vultures has increased in recent years and this has led to an increase in property damage and livestock loss. Learn more about this issue and potential solutions in our latest podcast.
At the recent Arkansas Farm Bureau Forestry Division meeting, we sat down with Max Braswell, executive vice president of the Arkansas Forestry Association, to discuss a range of issues, from wildfire prevention and the need for more non-commercial landowners to participate in the association's tree farm program to the overall outlook for the industry in 2018. Listen to our interview to learn more.
The state Pollution Control and Ecology Commission voted in an emergency meeting Wednesday, Jan. 17, to grant a stay that will enable C&H Hog Farms to continue to operate.
Listen to our interview with Arkansas Farm Bureau State Board Member Jon Carroll of Moro as he discusses the work of the Voluntary Smoke Management Guidelines Task Force recently formed by the state’s rice industry. Task force members are working together to find ways farmers can voluntarily manage this smoke from field burning to reduce the possibility of any associated health and environmental impacts.
Subfreezing temperatures the past two weeks may actually be a blessing to Arkansas soybean producers and some other growers. The cold weather has helped reduce the troublesome redbanded stink bug population in the state. In this conversation, Dr. Gus Lorenz, University of Arkansas Extension entomologist, says that while mild winters the past couple of years has allowed the stink bug to thrive in the state, that shouldn’t be the case in 2018.
