Fields that once grew cotton and corn now housed structures for thousands of chickens. In 1987, Alma claimed the title of "Spinach Capital of the World" and erected a Popeye statue in front of the Chamber of Commerce building. By the twenty-first century, about sixty percent of Arkansas farmers raised cattle. Check it out. Elsewhere in the county, cotton and timber had given way to strawberry, hay, and cattle. 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. The Alma Performing Arts Center is the largest and most popular performing arts venue in the River Valley. Strawberries also began to have some commercial success by the early twentieth century. [CDATA[ Farming in these regions was also a challenge. for (var i in d) { var b = 0; Read on. After 1850, commercial agricultural in the Delta eclipsed subsistence farming. [14] Today, the Altus Area Coal Miner's Memorial is a series of five sculptures paying homage to area coal miners, with the names of over 2,500 local miners engraved at the site. Cotton, the crop most identified with the Delta, did not appear until after the United States acquired the region with the Louisiana Purchase. 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. The eleven flood-control projects resulted in more than 400 miles of stream channelization and brought 4.7 million acres into drainage districts. Other Delta counties showed similar increases. Negro Slavery in Arkansas. 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. The second came in 1866 with the Southern Homestead Act, which provided free land from the public domain in the former Confederate states. 107 talking about this. var x = document.getElementById(b); Maintenance calendar, and best practices. Arkansas, 18001860: Remote and Restless. In 1954, Congress passed the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act, designed to improve land already cleared for either crops or pasture by channeling and damming streams that were prone to flood. In that period, the price averaged about eleven cents per pound and the price increased, marginally, only eight times. Before the war, cottons low tolerance for heavy, wet soil presented farmers a challenge in maneuvering their fields amid the forest and finding elevation high enough to avoid overflow. . One of the largest farming regions, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (formed by the Arkansas, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers), stretches about 250 miles from Missouri to Louisiana. These former sharecroppers and tenant farmers were not the source of the new agriculture but rather were reflective of its change. The majority of the wheat is grown in: Mississippi River Delta region in Eastern Arkansas Arkansas River Valley region of Western Arkansas The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. //alert(test); var rule = "body:after{content:url(" + GIF + ")}"; inner.style.visibility = 'visible'; To some extent, it worked, but a more significant outgrowth of the policy was the acceleration of soybean production. Finally, an economic model of crop production for existing acreage allocations in the Arkansas River Valley is in development. str = str.substring(8, str.length); Between the Mississippi and Red River floodplains lay the West Gulf Coastal Plain. else Whayne, Jeannie M., ed. The way of life that had sustained them for generations was rapidly dying. } Despite these issues, demographic changes have presented some opportunities for growers in the . var x = document.getElementById(b); 2nd ed. Mount Bethel Winery has been in operation for over 100 years, and offers a tasting, tour and gift shop for visitors. The states first agriculture began in the Grand PrairieCrowleys Ridge region. Timely tips for the Arkansas home gardener. 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. The first vineyards were established in the upper Arkansas River Valley in the 1870s by Swiss-German immigrants lured to the state by railroad agents promising fertile land at cheap prices. For more than 150 years, agricultural practices had hardly changed. // ]]>, Physiographic Regions of Arkansas: Ozark Plateaus, Arkansas River Valley, Ouachita 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. Town and Country: Race Relations in an Urban-Rural Context, Arkansas, 18651905. "&z=" + (Math.round((new Date()).getTime() / 1000)).toString() + In other areas, particularly the Coastal Plain, farmers converted cropland to timber farms. inner.style.visibility = 'hidden'; Refinements in the torque converter and power shift transmission, when applied to a tractor equipped with cutting blades and tree pushers, allowed one man to clear more trees in a day than a family could in a lifetime using traditional means. But 10 years later . Providing unbiased information to enable educated votes on critical issues. West and north of the Mississippi River floodplain lay the Ouachita Mountains and the Ozark uplift. It rises more than 200 feet above the floodplain and varies up to ten miles in width as it stretches 150 miles from the Mississippi River at Helena (Phillips County) to the Missouri border near Corning (Clay County). 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. Kansas-Colorado Arkansas River Compact Kansas Department of Agriculture Home About Us Agency Information Secretary Mike Beam Kansas Agriculture Kansas Agricultural Statistics State Board of Agriculture From the Land of Kansas Human Resources Ag Growth Project Growth Strategy Strategic Growth Initiative Ag Summit 2022 Ag Summit 2021 Ag Summit 2020 inner.style.opacity = '0'; The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. 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. The Colorado River provides water for over 40 million Americans and 30 Tribal Nations, fuels hydropower resources in eight states and supports agriculture across the region. 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. Dairying also experienced dramatic changes in the postWorld War II period. Smokehouses (very common) were used to preserve the meat for the large rural families of this period. The boom peaked in 1982, when the average price in the state reached $1,095 per acre. After 1970, federal officials modified the program and took steps to limit the acreage being developed for agriculture. "&ec=print&tid=" + googleAccountID + "&cid=" + guid() + The River Valley contains a large quantity of protected areas, with broad diversity across the region and several different managing agencies. 72201. else By World War II, most of the acceptable cotton land was in cultivation. Shadows Over Sunnyside: Evolution of a Plantation in Arkansas, 18301945. 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. The Central Collegiate Institute was established in Altus in 1876 (now known as Hendrix College in Conway) and Hiram and Lydia College in 1890 (which went defunct in 1906). } { Requiring fewer additives than rice or cotton, soybeans could be produced more cheaply and were more environmentally safe. } An exploration period for a new regional crop tested beans, legumes, and tomatoes before settling on mustard greens and spinach. var iFrameID = document.getElementById('idIframe'); [CDATA[ It grew in such dense stands that early travelers from Memphis, Tennessee, to Little Rock (Pulaski County) often hired guides to get through it. The area is approximately 29,000 square miles (19 million acres) and includes parts of the States of Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Bluegrass festival. } The new agriculture could not have developed without significantly altering the areas two most significant featurestrees and wetlands. Most ranchers did not engage in scientific breeding to improve herd quality, and a high percentage of their animals lived on open range. css.appendChild(document.createTextNode(rule)); Car show and festival entertainment. Geography played a key role in shaping Arkansas agriculture. In the United States, Arkansas is one of the leading producers of rice and contributes about 46 percent of the nation's supply. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. 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. (Division of Agriculture photo.) Over time the coarser particles (sand) built a dike along the riverbank and frequently prevented water carrying finer particles from returning to the main channel. d[i].id = "threecolblock" + c; C. Fred Williams Juice grapes continued to be a viable industry into the 1980s before market forces put most of the growers out of business. else Using money saved from wartime prosperity, farmers were poised in the postwar period to buy machinery and land to expand their operations. Arkansas River Valley White River running through the Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas. for (var i in d) { 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. Agriculture in western Arkansas experienced a different type of revolution after the war. The alluvial soils of the vast Arkansas and Mississippi river valleys are some of the most productive agricultural soils in the state. Concurrent with the growth in population, there has been increasing pressure on land and water resources. By 1964, the statistical importance of tenant-sharecroppers, and the number of horses and mules, had been reduced to the point that federal officials no longer collected data on them. Agriculture has played a major role in Arkansass culture from territorial times, when farmers made up more than ninety percent of the population, through the present (about forty-five percent of the states residents were still classified as rural in the early part of the twenty-first century). For over 25 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. area were formed by deposition of the river, by landslides that moved to the foot The NWR offers a driving tour with interpretative signs. var head = document.head || document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; They were particularly susceptible to the cyclical fluctuations of prosperity and recession and progressively lost economic control of their lives. From 1940 to 1978, about 2.5 million acres of forest were cleared and most of that land was brought into cultivation. In recent years, acreage has averaged 600,000 acres and yields have averaged 58 bushels per acre. Not only did Rockefeller import new cattle, he also started a scientific breeding program that included an annual bull sale featuring prize-winning animals. } COLORADO SPRINGS Government officials, conservation groups, farmers, and Utility companies all met in Colorado Springs for the 27th annual Arkansas River Basin Water Forum. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. var x = document.getElementById(b); Whayne, Jeannie M., and Willard B. Gatewood Jr., eds. With limited tools and technology, they were at a disadvantage when taking on the swamps and forest. function guid() { 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. After a few years, most farmers were convinced that the relative ease of producing soybeans made it the crop for the future. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000. The extension of electrical power to rural areas, beginning in the 1930s, also affected dairy farmers. var a = 0; } // ]]> 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. The Arkansas River Valley (usually shortened to River Valley) is a region in Arkansas defined by the Arkansas River in the western part of the state. But after World War II, most Arkansas farmers were also a new elite. Beans became the crop choice for Delta farmers a decade after the war. North of Clarksville, Lake Ludwig offers swimming, boating and fishing to visitors. Following the war, the Southern economy was in shambles, including Arkansas. //alert(d[i].id); 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 . The most obvious change came after 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation freed Arkansass 111,115 slaves. Eureka Springs, AR: The Ozark Institute, 1983. { Ozark Lake, formed on the Arkansas River southwest of Mulberry, is surrounded by a WMA, The United States Forest Service operates both the Ouachita National Forest and the Ozark National Forest within the region, offering trails, camping, and fishing over thousands of acres of public land. 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. a++; Less pronounced but still significant was the number of upland farmers hit by similar forces. The new crops were aided in part by new technology, which made it possible to drain and dredge swampland. However, cattle raising changed dramatically after the mid-1950s when New York transplant Winthrop Rockefeller arrived in Arkansas. Public policy was equally important in shaping agriculture in eastern Arkansas. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Typically, the cattle operations were on family farms. The Chateau Aux Arc Vineyards and Winery is the largest US Chardonnay producer outside of California, and the largest Zinfandel producer in Arkansas. [11] Several of the River Valley's small towns were founded by these groups, beginning as small clusters of immigrants and evolving into cohesive communities. 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. Rice and soybeans incorporated into this new order since the same harvester could be used for both crops with only limited modifications. Explore our research locations around the state. str = str.substring(8, str.length); The states climate did not favor the beef industry. The rapid and extensive disappearance of the hardwoods in eastern Arkansas created controversy. Living in small villages characterized by earthen burial mounds, these native peoples planted vegetables and grains by tilling with hand-held wooden tools. Rainfall had typically been an ally for farmers, but from April 1930 to January 1931, measurable precipitation was far below average. // alert(iFrameID.height); Get tips for food, fitness, finance, and more! inner.style.display = "none"; By settling on land that local farmers deemed undesirable or less desirable, newcomers contradicted the traditional land-holding pattern. Increasing nitrate concentrations are related to increasing agricultural . At six cents a pound, standard wages for first picking in 1930, a hard worker could make six to eighteen dollars a day. The building boom that began at the end of World War II and continued with the baby boom into the 1960s accelerated the need for lumber and its by-products. Paisley, Clifton. inner.style.opacity = '0'; 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. if(c === inner) The flooding also helped shape two distinct Delta subregions. Soils in this Encyclopedia of Arkansas 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. The Alma Spinach Festival held on the third weekend in April pays homage to Alma's reputation as "Spinach Capital of the World". Whats wrong with my plants? The numbers picked up over the next eight years. 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. [CDATA[ Commercial row crop production in Arkansas. b++; Formed by erosion from the upland regions, the Coastal Plain was characterized by shallow soils that were excellent for growing loblolly pine trees but had limited use for traditional row crops. Some moved out of state; others gave up farming and relocated to the larger towns in their region. [CDATA[ First held in 1963, Weinfest is one of the most popular festivals in the region.[18]. World War II through the Modern Era Hands-on activities in an outdoor setting. Vineyards and wineries around Altus have been in the same family for generations. Most wheat acres are double cropped, with soybeans following the wheat harvest. Preparing for and recovering from disasters. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1996. Generally defined as the area between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains,[1] the River Valley is characterized by flat lowlands covered in fertile farmland and lakes periodically interrupted by high peaks. Reasons are complex, but the Deltas geography is among them. } The landlord-tenant sharecropping system quickly ran into economic problems. By the mid-1980s, the states agricultural revolution was largely complete. b++; Generally defined as the area between the Ozarkand Ouachita Mountains,[1]the River Valley is characterized by flat lowlands covered in fertile farmland and lakes periodically interrupted by high peaks. css.setAttribute("media", "print"); In 1940, tenants or sharecroppers cultivated more than sixty percent of the land, and more than ninety percent of farmers used horses or mules as draft animals. function s4() { Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. } children[y].innerHTML = "+"; The Arkansas Department of Agriculture and its partners in wildfire suppression, prescribed fire, and conservation combine hands-on exercises and classroom material to teach basic fire suppression, advanced suppression strategy and tactics, engine operation, dozer operation, Incident Command procedures, and more. if(inner.style.display === "block") Creating an account gives you access to all these features. . A host of regional and local history museums preserve and interpret the history and culture of the River Valley's early settlers, small towns, historic events, and rural residents. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, https://www.butlercenter.org/agriculture-in-arkansas/, Changing Climate and Changing Land (Grades 5-8). 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. function accordionClick2(b) { 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.