By World War II, most of the acceptable cotton land was in cultivation. Approximately 84 miles (135km) east, Russellville was the 16th largest city in Arkansas at the 2010 Census. Much of the farmers improved situation was due to World War I. Wartime demands for food and fiber led to a golden age in agriculture when cotton prices approached their Civil War levels. for (var y in children) { Holley, Donald. Paisley, Clifton. inner.style.display = "block"; There was some fertile land along the many streams that drained the upland watershed, but these valleys were typically narrow and subject to flooding. However, competition introduced into the market by the railroads allowed farmers in Texas and other states to undercut the prices offered by River Valley farmers. [5], Hernando de Soto became the first European explorer to enter Arkansas in 1541. The Bracero Program brought thousands of immigrants to the fields and orchards of the United States. Even those farmers who remained on the land faced greater uncertainty than ever before. Most ranchers did not engage in scientific breeding to improve herd quality, and a high percentage of their animals lived on open range. The new agriculture could not have developed without significantly altering the areas two most significant featurestrees and wetlands. Dangerous and demanding, the industry attracted Swiss and German immigrants who were unable to establish productive farms. The eleven flood-control projects resulted in more than 400 miles of stream channelization and brought 4.7 million acres into drainage districts. Farming in these regions was also a challenge. Due to the climate, fertile soil and immigrants accustomed to wine with their meals, several wineries were established in the River Valley. Basin Breakdown: Arkansas River - Colorado State University Licensing for forestry and wildlife professionals. Between 1935when farms reached an all-time high of more than 235,000 unitsand 1995, the number dropped steadily before leveling off to just under 50,000 farms. var count = 1; else Aquifers of ArkansasProtection, Management, and Hydrologic - USGS var d = document.querySelectorAll('#threecolaccord'); productivity on these soils is often limited by their physical properties. for (var y in children) { One of his first actions was to introduce Santa Gertrudis cattle in the state, a breed specifically developed in south Texas to thrive in the regions hot weather and multiple pests. In total, Otto Nuttli reported more than 200 moderate to large aftershocks in the New Madrid region between December 16, 1811, and March 15, 1812: ten of these were greater than about 6.0; about one hundred were between M5.0 and 5.9; and eighty-nine were in the magnitude 4 range. if(c === inner) C. Fred Williams Mining became prominent by 1873, especially around the Altus area. By 1943, the nation faced a critical labor shortage and turned to Mexico for workers. The clinic can help. Despite repeated efforts since 1948 at both state and federal levels to adopt a water use policy, little progress has been made. d[i].id = "threecolaccord" + a; { After 1970, federal officials modified the program and took steps to limit the acreage being developed for agriculture. Arkansas Flood of 1937 rivaled Mississippi River flood of 1927 Between the Mississippi and Red River floodplains lay the West Gulf Coastal Plain. function guid() { Beans became the crop choice for Delta farmers a decade after the war. In terms of age from youngest to oldest, the aquifers of the Interior Highlands include: the Arkansas River Valley alluvial aquifer, the Ouachita Mountains aquifer, the Western Interior Plains confining system, the Springfield Plateau aquifer, and the Ozark aquifer. Breeds such as Jersey and Guernsey were more valued for the high butterfat in their milk, but as with beef animals, little attention was given to scientific breeding. //alert(count); But even as late as 1876, when the original legislation was amended to allow for unrestricted access, there were only 26,395 original entries. These individuals claimed 2.3 million of the nine million acres set aside in 1866. [8] Some immigrated directly from Europe, but most came from early settlements in the Ohio River Valley. inner.style.display = "none"; Policymakers conceived this soil bank program as a way to reduce surpluses in cotton and other commodities. Public assistance proved too limited and restricted, and families were forced to seek their own remedies. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999. Soils - Encyclopedia of Arkansas function s4() { As late as 1940, more than half of the Delta was undeveloped. This started well before the Civil War and continued through the mid-twentieth century, and was widespreadvirtually every hill farmer of this period ear-notched hogs and turned them loose in the woods, gathered them up in the fall/early winter, and then butchered them. str = str.substring(8, str.length); The majority is grown in: Mississippi River Delta region of Eastern Arkansas 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. inner.style.opacity = '0'; The conference will be on Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. at the Conway County Fairgrounds, 901 E. Elm St. in Morrilton. var GIF = "https://ssl.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&t=event" + COLORADO SPRINGS Government officials, conservation groups, farmers, and Utility companies all met in Colorado Springs for the 27th annual Arkansas River Basin Water Forum. The lower course river supports agriculture, such as hay and vegetables, as well as in the high dry valley and the towns of Pueblo. inner.style.display = "block"; The drought of 193031 became almost as legendary as the flood. slopes, and by the weathering of the existent parent material. function accordionClick(b) { Reasons are complex, but the Deltas geography is among them. Read about nature across Arkansas and the U.S. Beginning on the states western border, it ranges from twenty-five to thirty-five miles wide and extends almost 150 miles into the state. The Agricultural Wheel in Arkansas, 18821889. PhD dissertation, Syracuse University, 1953. // Vegetable Crop Management in The Arkansas Valley - Usda This ill-conceived approach to water development, he argues, has resulted in social problems as well as abuse of the environment. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Bradley County earned the reputation as the tomato capital of the state, and selective breeding by crop scientists at the University of Arkansass College of Agriculture kept tomato growers in a competitive position in the twenty-first century. { // ]]> Early Twentieth Century Arkansas Wheat | Commercial Row Crops | Production Practices By settling on land that local farmers deemed undesirable or less desirable, newcomers contradicted the traditional land-holding pattern. var d = new Date(); But in 1927, lumber prices began a rapid decline that continued for more than five years. } Soils were shallow, the terrain usually sloped, and most of the nutrients leached out through centuries of erosion. b++; The Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock, which covers the entire state, was also active in recruiting immigrants to settle on land the Church purchased from railroad companies. Typically, in a matter of several crop years, small farmers found themselves encircled by debt. 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. 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. Trapped in stagnant pools, these waters formed backwater swamps, and the finer particles coalesced into clay. "&ea=" + encodeURIComponent(document.title) + While the state was fortunate to have two additional officesone in the Arkansas River Valley west of Little Rock and one in southwest Arkansas near the Red Riverall were far from the Delta and most of the public land. Explore our research locations around the state. Other Delta counties showed similar increases. The significance of the changes lay in the speed in which they occurred. What else do you need to know? The Chateau Aux Arc Vineyards and Winery is the largest US Chardonnay producer outside of California, and the largest Zinfandel producer in Arkansas. 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. For more than 150 years, agricultural practices had hardly changed. Many parts of Arkansas had descended into lawlessness and violence between whitecapping groups (including the Ku Klux Klan), freedmen, Republicans, and unaffiliated bandits taking advantage of the chaos. Real Estate in Arkansas River Valley - Colorado Real Estate Agency Most farming was done on hillsides, and even though many of the early immigrants staked out more than 100 acres for a homestead, their farming operations were usually far less. The new equipment came primarily in the form of tractors and improved planting and harvesting machines. That year also saw a precipitous drop in housing construction and a downturn in the forestry industry. The former Otero County commissioner and current chairman of the Arkansas Valley Conduit committee for the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District is passionate about agriculture being . However, the railroad's prominence declined during the Great Depression, shrinking Altus's economy and population. Little Rock, AR. Pick up know-how for tackling diseases, pests and weeds. But lofty though its goals, and as well intentioned as its sponsors may have been to help the Southern underclass, it was not a panacea. Not knowing that the soil was untillable, the former hill farmers taught their neighbors a lesson about determination and will. area were formed by deposition of the river, by landslides that moved to the foot The Arkansas River Valley bisects the Ozarks and the Ouachitas and offered the best farmland in the upland region. Soil quality and its use here in Arkansas. In previous years, much of the timber had been cut for lumber, but after World War II, the normal practice was to push the downed trees into rows and burn them. Also, initially exempt from acreage controls, rice provided a good alternative to cotton farmers in the same way soybeans had. inner.style.opacity = '1'; var d = document.querySelectorAll('#ptac-faq'); The German community thrived with coal mining and railroad work driving the local economy. Elkins, Francis Clark. Mechanical milking machines, new techniques in pasteurization, homogenization, and refrigerationcoupled with improved transportationbrought modernity to the industry. Herbs, native plants, & reference desk QA. Most small lumber companies were forced into merger or bankruptcy. Heavily capitalized, with access to thousands, sometime millions, of dollars, these farmers were products of an agribusiness system. 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. Encyclopedia of Arkansas for (var i in d) { Congresss amending the Southern Homestead Act led to a wave of speculation as representatives of timber and railroad companies descended on the South to buy millions of acres from the public domain. This fighting apparently caused de Soto to turn the expedition back east, leaving the River Valley.[6]. The states first agriculture began in the Grand PrairieCrowleys Ridge region. [4] Research at the site has linked artifacts to cave art (pictured at right) in a cave on Petit Jean Mountain, as well as establishing links to the Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw tribes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, and cooperators printed a soil associa-tion map in 1959 (revised, 1967, and currently being revised again) which divided the state into 12 "areas" defined by soils and physiography. Due to its relatively strong position following the Civil War, the River Valley attracted new settlement throughout Reconstruction. Soils in this [12] River Valley soil and climate are much less conducive to cotton cultivation than the Arkansas Delta, and many settlers struggled. Farmers now found it more profitable to grow trees on land that had been used for cotton and corn. Again, farmers turned to activism. //alert(d[i].id); Ironically, while millions of acres were being brought into cultivation, thousands of people were leaving the land. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Get the latest research results from our county agents. Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. Sunnyside: The Evolution of an American Plantation, 18401945. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 50 (Spring 1991): 529. . Many other historical building blocks of the Arkansas . Similar forces were at work to spur an increase in rice acreage. 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. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. In the decade before the Civil War, the regions population increased more than 100 percent, and the slave population grew more than 120 percent. Tractors, although making an appearance in the Delta soon after World War I, were at first impractical due to poor design, high cost, and the dominance of small-scale sharecropping and tenant farming in the state. 2023 ASLA Central States Awards Honor Eight Projects by Fay Jones 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. var rule = "body:after{content:url(" + GIF + ")}"; With their product valued more for juice than wine, grape growers in the northwest became a success by producing for commercial canneries. The Alma Spinach Festival held on the third weekend in April pays homage to Alma's reputation as "Spinach Capital of the World". When state and private charities failed to meet the need, federal officials established a Drought Committee to review conditions and provide low-interest loans for farmers to use in buying farm supplies and forage for livestock. } } The Blue Mountain Wildlife Demonstration Area is a bird-dog field training center of international renown. Arkansas was second only to Florida in acres still in the public domain and offered an opportunity for thousands of Arkansans, black and white, to own farms free of charge. } The latter evolved into the Southern Alliance, extended beyond the states boundaries, and ultimately merged with a Northern group to become the Peoples Party of America (Populist). Altering the landscapewhether clearing forests, draining swamps, channeling streams, or replacing cotton with rice and soybeans or chicken houses and cattletransformed the rural culture. From 1940 to 1978, about 2.5 million acres of forest were cleared and most of that land was brought into cultivation. WORKING PAPER The Arkansas Valley Super Ditch: A Local Response to Buy [21], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}3522N 9322W / 35.36N 93.37W / 35.36; -93.37. "&el=" + encodeURIComponent(document.location.pathname); Increasing nitrate concentrations are related to increasing agricultural . High prices and the availability of newly developed land led to a boom in Delta agriculture in the 1970s. } Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South. While not as severe as the Dust Bowl conditions of the mid-1930s, for Arkansas the droughts effects were still devastating. Bluegrass festival. Some effort had been made at ditching and draining the Deltas wet spots before World War II, but inadequate equipment limited the efforts. Following the war, the Southern economy was in shambles, including Arkansas. //alert(test); var children = document.querySelectorAll('.ptac-plus .ptac-sign'); From a high of fifty-two cents a pound on the Memphis market in 1866, cotton prices began a downward trend that reached a low of 6.5 cents for the 1899 crop. The federal Farm Bill of 1956 instituted a new plan for cotton producers. Single crop, hand-labor production had been replaced by diversification, mechanization, and chemical and biological practices. var c = 0; Using money saved from wartime prosperity, farmers were poised in the postwar period to buy machinery and land to expand their operations. else In addition to the credit crunch, farmers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century faced a steady decline in crop prices. Conditions improved for two decades, and farmers realized a prosperity unmatched in American agriculture. [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. Read on. The flooding also helped shape two distinct Delta subregions. Nuttli also noted that about eighteen hundred earthquakes of . Vegetable crop production has a long history in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado. The Forestry Division in partnership with the USDA Forest Service is an equal opportunity provider and employer. University of Arkansas at Little Rock. For ten years, the Southern Homestead Act was an experiment in public land reform, placing individuals using the land above the speculator. A final public policy issue that contributed to the agricultural revolution in east Arkansas had to do with labor relations. The Natural Environment: The Delta and Its Resources There are roughly 47,800 farms in Arkansas, with an average size of 282 acres. The River Valley's first wineries date to the postbellum era, when they were founded to produce wine for the Swiss and German immigrants relocating to the area to work in coal mines. By the 1970s, Arkansas consistently led the nation in rice production. { // alert(iFrameID.height); Timely tips for the Arkansas home gardener. This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. // [CDATA[ Agriculture in western Arkansas experienced a different type of revolution after the war. Most wheat acres are double-cropped with soybeans following wheat harvest. According to industry records, the average herd size by 2020 was thirty-five head, and eighty percent of the approximately 24,000 cattle farms in the state had fewer than fifty head of livestock. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2002. Tomatoesalso became a commercial success in the twentieth century, particularly in the southeastern regions of the state. The Alma Performing Arts Center is the largest and most popular performing arts venue in the River Valley. Colorado River water plan could trigger unprecedented supply cuts They approached farming strictly as a business enterprise, and their entry quickly drove up land prices. Originally brought to southeast Arkansas to work on cotton plantations, a band of these aliens migrated to Washington County and established a self-sufficient community, in part by growing grapes. Making sound choices for families and ourselves. Indicative of the disarray, Radical Republican Governor Powell Clayton declared martial law in ten counties following reelection in 1868. Companies invested large sums of money in developing the infrastructure: harvesting, hauling, and milling. } Because it required less effort to cultivate, it became the first region to be dominated by the cotton monoculture. Seed Starting Guide - Arkansas River Valley. Not only was their occupation gone, but also was the land that served as a source for food, fuel, and leisure. An Overview of Arkansas Agriculture - Farm Flavor [CDATA[ inner.style.visibility = 'hidden'; children[y].innerHTML = "+"; Populism in Arkansas. MA thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers (now Vanderbilt Universitys Peabody College), 1931. In Colorado's Arkansas River basin urban growth and harsh farming conditions have led to water transfers from agricultural to urban uses. In short order, other cattlemen began their own experiments in raising blooded stock and improving their offspring through genetic breeding. 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. Crapemyrtles, hydrangeas, hort glossary, and weed ID databases. However, disease infested most orchards less than two decades after apple growing became commercially feasible. The need for workers in wartime industries drained rural Arkansas of farm workers in the 1940s. Multidisciplinary Research on Salinity Issues in The Arkansas River Valley count = d.length; The River Valley has generally mild winters and hot, humid summers. An unanticipated argument for growing soybeans came in the early 1960s when the environmental movement began calling attention to the impact pesticides and herbicides were having on plant and animal life. if (css.styleSheet) { // For IE Greenwood also has a Coal Miner's Memorial near the town square, with a restored coal railroad car and names of Sebastian County coal workers engraved on site. After a few years, most farmers were convinced that the relative ease of producing soybeans made it the crop for the future. The other crops produced in Arkansas in large quantities are soybeans, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, and wheat. for (var i in d) { But fewer than half (12,680) of the original claimants lived on their homesteads long enough to make a final entry. b++; Cities such as Booneville, Clarksville, Morrilton, Paris, and Perryville serve as cultural and economic centers within the rural counties of the River Valley.[17]. Many war veterans, attracted to the artificially high prices in farming, bought land and frequently went into debt to do so. iFrameID.height = ""; } var x = document.getElementById(b); ANNUAL ROUNDUP This year's River Valley Beef Cattle Conference will focus on efficiency, presenting the latest recommendations for cattle producers looking to keep costs down and profits up. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000. d = document.querySelectorAll('[id^=ptac-faq-answer]'); Howard, James Edgar. The combination of increasing demand and rising prices for farm products, alternative job opportunities, and increasing use of technology changed the nature of farming in a generation. var c = document.querySelectorAll('[id^=answer]'); Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Division and is implemented by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Forestry Division. var b = 0; count = d.length; str = str.substring(8, str.length); Research-based connection to government and policy issues. For more information, contact 501-918-3025 orcalsfoundation@cals.org. But even modernization did not remove the risks. In 1940, Delta counties cultivated only 153,000 acres of rice and 176,000 acres of soybeans, compared with 1.2 million acres of cotton; those figures changed dramatically in the next twenty years.
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