Latest News From Arkansas

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Arkansas Grown program has a lot on its plate this summer, with plans for an advertising campaign and farmers market week, while preparing for its annual expo.

Arkansas grower-shippers already are harvesting many of their spring/summer crops, like berries, broccoli, cucumbers and lettuce, and movement will pick up as the season progresses.

Arkansas is known for its tasty field-grown tomatoes, and grower-shippers say this year’s crop should put a smile on the faces of produce buyers and consumers alike.

Lowell, Ark.-based Kimball & Thompson Produce Co. has been awarded a five-year, $165 million contract to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to military installations and schools. 

North Little Rock, Ark.-based Safe Foods Corporation, a division of PSSI, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its latest expansion project in North Little Rock on June 2.

Helping to connect consumers with growers in the state, the Arkansas Grown program provides an online directory of suppliers that any Arkansas grower can join.

Global sweet potato promotion is growing southern U.S. sweet potato exports.

After unfavorable weather conditions last fall, sweet potato yields dropped from 224 cwt. per acre in 2017 to 190 cwt. per acre in 2018. This season producers are looking forward to the new crop to bring better yields.

Old silage plastic is getting a new life, thanks to a plastics recycler based in Arkansas.