Arkansas

Four days ago, the Missouri Agriculture Department announced a statewide ban on the weedkiller dicamba because of 130 complaints of damage when the herbicide drifted into neighboring fields. Agriculture Director Chris Chinn told Agritalk that it might be possible to rewrite regulations on use of the chemical and allow farmers to resume use of it by the end of this week.

The bicameral Arkansas Legislative Council approved an emergency rule allowing fines of up to $25,000 for "egregious" misuse of the weedkiller dicamba, the object of 550 complaints of crop damage, says KUAR-FM in Little Rock. The council, sometimes called the Legislature's most powerful committee because it oversees the executive branch of state government, is expected to decide on Friday whether to ban use of dicamba on cotton and soybeans for the rest of the growing season.

With more than 500 complaints of weedkiller misuse from Arkansas farmers, Gov. Asa Hutchinson approved an 120-day ban on use of the herbicide dicamba on row crops and forwarded the emergency step to the state's Legislative Council for a final decision. Hutchinson also assented to increasing the fine for egregious misuse of herbicides to a maximum of $25,000 and sent it to the council as well.

Faced with 97 complaints of misuse of the weed killer dicamba, the Arkansas state plant board is set to vote today on whether to ban the sale and use of the herbicide on cotton and soybeans for the rest of the growing season, reported DTN.

Farmers in Arkansas are experimenting with a weed-control tactic from Australia, called narrow windrow burning, to combat weeds that have developed resistance to herbicides. The scorched-earth technique dramatically reduces the weed seeds that sprout in the spring to challenge row crops, says Farm Journal.

The chairman of a House Agriculture subcommittee proposed a tax-deferred disaster savings account that farmers could tap during hard times without waiting for government assistance. Rep. Rick Crawford said the damaging rains in his home state of Arkansas last month show the merit of letting producers take disaster preparedness into their own hands.

U.S. fish farms are producing only one-quarter as many catfish this year as they did when the industry peaked in 2002, according to USDA data. The decline has been blamed on higher feed costs, a change in consumer tastes, and imports from Asia.

The Missouri state Agriculture Department has received more than 100 complaints this spring and summer of crop damage from wind-spread "drift" of the herbicide dicamba from neighboring fields, says DTN, saying some growers are using the weedkiller on soybeans although it is not approved. "The hotbed for the off-target and off-label problems appears to be southeast Missouri, northeast Arkansas and northwest Tennessee," said DTN.

Growers plan a 20-percent increase in rice plantings this year in Arkansas, the state that often grows half of the U.S. rice crop, says U-Arkansas.

A new survey of more than 500 poultry workers in Arkansas found that 62 percent had experienced some kind of wage violation (e.g. not being paid or being deducted unfairly for safety gear) and 44 percent reported being verbally or sexually harassed.

The Republican nominee for Senate in Arkansas, Rep Tom Cotton, says in a campaign advertisement that he voted against the farm bill because it had "turned into a food stamp bill with billions (of dollars) more in spending," says the Associated Press. Cotton was the only Arkansas lawmaker to vote against the $500 billion, five-year farm bill. Democratic Sen Mark Pryor, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, has criticized Cotton for the vote.

The Arkansas House passed a bill "that outlaws wine imports from any state that imposes a 'substantial burden' on the Arkansas agriculture industry," says the Associated Press.

The first case of H5N2 avian influenza in the U.S. South this year was confirmed on a turkey farm in northwestern Arkansas. A flock of 40,020 turkeys in Boone County, about 140 miles north-northwest of Little Rock, was hit.

Some 55.3 million acres of U.S. farmland are irrigated, says the Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey, drawn from USDA's 2012 Census of Agriculture.

A dozen elections today may influence food and agriculture policy nationally, They range from the Kansas race that could determine the next chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee to referendums on soda taxes and GMO labeling.

Arkansas Sen Mark Pryor's chances are fading against Republican Tom Cotton, saysSabato's Crystal Ball, adding "it’s increasingly hard to see him overcoming Arkansas’ hard shift to the right.