One of the most significant changes in Arkansas agriculture came in social relationships. The first extended the responsibilities of the Freedmens Bureau to assist with farming. The project showcases Arkansas's diverse agriculture and crops, regional economies; the distinctive geography and geology of each region, and a broad look at the areas that make Arkansas the rich and varied land and culture it has been throughout its history. Strawberries also began to have some commercial success by the early twentieth century. Cotton became the dominant crop as white Americans discovered that the alluvial soil typically produced about fifty percent more cotton than the states average pounds per acre, and Delta raw cotton regularly sold above market price at the Memphis cotton exchange. The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Division (NRD) has released the 2022 Arkansas Groundwater Protection and Management Report. // Dairying also experienced dramatic changes in the postWorld War II period. test = "threecolblock" + test; Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1990. Populations of Austrian Catholics, German Catholics, and German Catholics and Lutherans were relocating to the River Valley. The new crops were aided in part by new technology, which made it possible to drain and dredge swampland. Crapemyrtles, hydrangeas, hort glossary, and weed ID databases. On the Fourche LaFave River near Ola, the Nimrod Lake is managed by the USACE as a crappie fishing destination and camping area. Prehistory Juice grapes continued to be a viable industry into the 1980s before market forces put most of the growers out of business. Coal mining was an important industry in the River Valley's early history. COLORADO SPRINGS Government officials, conservation groups, farmers, and Utility companies all met in Colorado Springs for the 27th annual Arkansas River Basin Water Forum. children[y].innerHTML = "+"; Conflict with non-farm groups reached a climax in the 1996 Federal Farm Bill, which defined environmentally sensitive land and restricted farming practices in what was termed wetlands. In addition to policy regulations, farmers also faced constraints from resource depletion. Position your business to compete for government contracts. Town and Country: Race Relations in an Urban-Rural Context, Arkansas, 18651905. Commercial row crop production in Arkansas. Licensing for forestry and wildlife professionals. for (var i in d) { Black and white farmers joined these improvement societies but maintained separate affiliations. As the war ended, federal army officers confiscated some of the abandoned land and used it to resettle former slaves. [CDATA[ Cotton had been the states bellwether crop, but by the end of the war, rice and soybeans appeared and quickly won a loyal following. This fighting apparently caused de Soto to turn the expedition back east, leaving the River Valley.[6]. The bill did not become law until the third week of June (too late to plant cotton), and the General Land Office was slow to reestablish offices in the seceded states. Many immigrants came to the River Valley searching for agricultural prosperity, particularly by farming cotton, which could fetch high prices at market and quickly turn a farm into a profitable enterprise. [7] Since settlement, the River Valley had been a largely cashless society with significantly less reliance on slave labor compared to plantation agriculture areas like the Arkansas Delta and elsewhere in the Deep South. Petit Jean State Park hosts an annual Wildflower Weekend in April and a Rendezvous the weekend after Thanksgiving. Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly. Most wheat acres are double-cropped with soybeans following wheat harvest. Check it out. Many war veterans, attracted to the artificially high prices in farming, bought land and frequently went into debt to do so. Almost twenty-seven percent of Arkansass acreage lay unclaimed, and more than eighty percent of that was in the Delta. Beginning on the state's western border, it ranges from twenty-five to thirty-five miles wide and extends almost 150 miles into the state. An exploration period for a new regional crop tested beans, legumes, and tomatoes before settling on mustard greens and spinach. for (var i in d) { // ]]>, Physiographic Regions of Arkansas: Ozark Plateaus, Arkansas River Valley, Ouachita Divided into six regions, each with unique soils, the state presented a variety of choices. In Colorado's Arkansas River basin urban growth and harsh farming conditions have led to water transfers from agricultural to urban uses. Our programs include aquaculture, diagnostics, and energy conservation. The presence of Native Americans is still evident today in the occasional mound not yet destroyed by modern agricultural practices and the abundant potsherds, lithic tools and points, and bone fragments found in plowed fields and . [CDATA[ var b = 0; Public policy also influenced the shift from cotton to soybeans. Other Delta counties showed similar increases. Without regular incomes, they became dependent on public housing and food subsidies and spent an extended amount of time unemployed, even as landowners hired migrant workers from Mexico as day laborers. Coaxing the best produce from asparagus to zucchini. { For many of the farmers new to the Delta, a key was in growing rice instead of, or in addition to, cotton. Mountains, West Gulf Coastal Plain, and Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, Avian Influenza Biosecurity Best Practices, APEX Accelerator & Government Contracting, Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food & Life Sciences. Near Booneville, Blue Mountain Lake offers a variety of recreational opportunities. Beef cattle became an increasing part of the rural scene in the counties west of Little Rock after World War II. Many company towns were established in the upland regions, and before 1930, hardly a family in the hill country was not involved, at least indirectly, in the forestry business. Critics of the clearing practices noted that the hardwood environment provided a unique habitat for certain animals and feared that those species would be lost. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. Not only did these companies deny the state tax revenue by taking land off the market, they deprived the state of even more revenue by transporting resources out of state for processing. function guid() { } The intrastate migration from the western hill counties to the eastern lowland counties interjected a work ethic that had been missing in the traditional plantation culture and its paternalistic social relationships. if (css && head) { // here you can make the height, I delete it first, then I make it again //alert(str); Over one half of the states farms are cattle farms. The Alma Spinach Festival held on the third weekend in April pays homage to Alma's reputation as "Spinach Capital of the World". Whayne, Jeannie M., ed. var b = 0; However, cattle raising changed dramatically after the mid-1950s when New York transplant Winthrop Rockefeller arrived in Arkansas. } else { c = document.getElementById('ptac-faq-answer' + str); This culture lives on today in the five vineyards still in operation. This report provides a summary of the groundwater monitoring efforts, current water levels, NRD protection and conservation programs, and water use reporting during the 2022 calendar year. // b++; The new agriculture could not have developed without significantly altering the areas two most significant featurestrees and wetlands. After 1970, federal officials modified the program and took steps to limit the acreage being developed for agriculture. Rice The production of rice in Arkansas dates back to 1902. var a = 0; More than ninety percent of the region was covered with trees, eighty percent of which were bottomland hardwoods. var test = "" + str; The cost of the war effort, loss of human capital, and Confederate currency losing value were serious issues for the South in addition to the destruction of property, infrastructure, and crops. "&el=" + encodeURIComponent(document.location.pathname); { // ]]> Starting with home consumption, some family-owned wineries were able to expand their operations to be commercially successful and survive almost two decades of Prohibition by producing communion wine for churches. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. The alluvial soils of the vast Arkansas and Mississippi river valleys are some of the most productive agricultural soils in the state. Special thanks to the Department of Arkansas Heritage. The majority of the wheat is grown in: Mississippi River Delta region in Eastern Arkansas Arkansas River Valley region of Western Arkansas })(); Arkansas/Oklahoma State Fair (at Fort Smith), SeptemberOctober, This page was last edited on 28 March 2023, at 10:13. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. Not knowing that the soil was untillable, the former hill farmers taught their neighbors a lesson about determination and will. Soils were shallow, the terrain usually sloped, and most of the nutrients leached out through centuries of erosion. One of these, the Grand Prairie, a vast treeless region between the Arkansas and White rivers, occupies more than 500,000 acres of natural grassland in the south-central section. inner.style.display = "none"; The rushing floodwaters also changed course frequently, carving new channels and leaving the old river behind as oxbow lakes and bayous. Held annually in July, the festival offers peach pit spitting contest and a terrapin derby in addition to a parade and traditional food and craft vendors. var inner = document.getElementById(test); iFrameID.height = iFrameID.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight + "px"; Little Rock, AR. The Second Great Emancipation: The Mechanical Cotton Picker, Black Migration, and How They Shaped the Modern South. King Cotton has been dethroned, farming has become an increasingly corporate venture, and agriculture itself has lost its position as the mainstay of the economy. Mechanical milking machines, new techniques in pasteurization, homogenization, and refrigerationcoupled with improved transportationbrought modernity to the industry. In addition to the credit crunch, farmers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century faced a steady decline in crop prices. In addition to the outdoor recreational activities available to residents and visitors of the region, the River Valley contains Arkansas's wine country as well as hundreds of historical sites throughout the area. Approximately 84 miles (135km) east, Russellville was the 16th largest city in Arkansas at the 2010 Census. Efforts to persuade Congress to adopt a federal farm bill to shore up prices failed when government officials argued such a bill would create larger surpluses and further complicate the problem. A crop lost to floods often offset soil fertility. In response to the former slaves need for land, Congress adopted two programs designed to make individual land ownership a priority. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System. With limited tools and technology, they were at a disadvantage when taking on the swamps and forest. However, the railroad's prominence declined during the Great Depression, shrinking Altus's economy and population. function accordionClick(b) { Soils in this area were formed by deposition of the river, by landslides that moved to the foot slopes, and by the weathering of the existent parent material. function threecolClick(b) { if(inner.style.display === "block") [3] Much of what is known about these early societies has been uncovered by the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and the Arkansas Archaeological Society at Carden Bottoms in Yell County near the Arkansas and Petit Jean Rivers. //alert(d.length); Watering the Valley: Development Along the High Plains Arkansas River, 1870-1950 by James E. Sherow James Earl Sherow contends that a vast network of problems in the arid West has sprung from the mistaken notion that water is a commodity to be bought, sold, and traded. Again, farmers turned to activism. inner.style.opacity = '0'; Less pronounced but still significant was the number of upland farmers hit by similar forces. //
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