A Year in Review2015-2016

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CreditsTable of Contents

CARS Project Locations Map 4

Introduction 5

National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative 6

Field to Market 7

Arkansas Discovery Farm Program 8

Decision Support Tools for Cow-Calf Operations, and Potential Energy Crops 9

Arkansas MarketMaker 10

Arkansas Food Innovation Center 11

Fieldprint Calculator and the UA Cotton Research

Verification/Sustainability Program 12

Sustainable Irrigation Water Management in Arkansas 13

Microbial Products for Sustainable Poultry Production 14

Advancing Poultry Sustainability with Quality Drinking Water 15

US Pig Production Environmental Calculator 16

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pork with Diet Formulation 17

Interactive Fruit Budget Tools to Assist Growers in Management Decisions 18

Projects and PIs 19

Economics • 217 Agriculture Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201 • 479-575-2279Wastes and Renewables Engineering • 215 Engineering Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201 • 479-575-2883

Horticulture • 316 Plant Sciences Building, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201 • 479-575-7434Risk Management and Outreach • 2301 S. University Ave., Rm. 308J, Little Rock, AR 72204-4940 • 501-671-2175

cars uark edu

CARS DirectorsJun Zhu, CARS Director and Director of Waste Management Jennie Popp, CARS co-Director and Director of Economics

Publication Author and EditorHeather Friedrich, CARS Program Manager

Publication Layout and DesignJudy Howard, Graphic Designer

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture CommunicationsHeather Friedrich, CARS Program Manager

Acknowledgments

University of Arkansas SystemDr. Donald R. Bobbit, President

University of Arkansas System Division of AgricultureDr. Mark Cochran, Vice President for Agriculture

Dr. Tony Windham, Associate Vice President for Agriculture – ExtensionDr. Clarence Watson, Associate Vice President for Agriculture – Research and

Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment StationDr. Nathan McKinney II, Assistant Director Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

This publication is available online at cars.uark.edu

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status,

genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

CARS Project Locations Map

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Introduction

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CARS Project LocationsNational Strawberry Sustainability Initiative, Fayetteville, ARField to Market, Fayetteville and Little Rock, ARArkansas Discovery Farm, Fayetteville and Little Rock, ARDecision Support Tools for Cow-Calf Operations and Potential Energy Crops, Fayetteville, ARArkansas MarketMaker, Little Rock, ARArkansas Food Innovation Center, Fayetteville ARFieldprint Calculator and the UA Cotton Research Verification Program, Newport, ARSustainable Irrigation Water Management in Arkansas, Stuttgart, ARMicrobial Products for Sustainable Poultry Production, Fayetteville, ARAdvancing Poultry Sustainability with Quality Drinking Water, Fayetteville, ARUS Pig Production Environmental Calculator, Fayetteville, ARReducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pork with Diet Formulation, Fayetteville, ARInteractive Fruit Budget Tools to Assist Growers in Management Decisions, Fayetteville, AR

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Nine years ago, an important and landmark organization was born within the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture,

i.e., the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustain-ability (CARS), with a clear mission to increase prosperity for rural Arkansas through research, education, and outreach of sustainable practices and to provide leadership on the national platform to advance agricultural sustainability. Over its course of growth, CARS utilizes its unique strength of hav-ing an interdisciplinary team of renowned experts to first discover and research, then disseminate the best agricultural production practices to diverse audiences across Arkansas and the nation. These are practices that work economically without endangering the environment, and that every-one can endorse, in order to search for solutions to a wide range of complex problems facing agriculture today. Not only is the team approach necessary, but it provides a highly efficient platform for each team member to make indispensable contributions to the overarching mission of CARS in establishing sustain-able agriculture statewide in Arkansas. Accompanied with the celebration of its journey of nine years are the numerous accomplishments that CARS has achieved including projects of im-pact at local, regional, and national levels. This Year-In-Review document of CARS epitomizes the many projects that CARS faculty have led, contributed to, or have administered. These projects cover a broad range of topics related to agricultural sustainability, and reflect the breadth and depth of the work that CARS has been engaged in to help promote sustain-able farming across the country. CARS members have contributed to the development of farm level

sustainability metrics for crops such as cotton, soy-bean, and corn, and farmers can now document real progresses towards sustainable production. One of CARS’ signature projects, “The National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative” (NSSI) was funded through the Walmart Foundation to create a national grants program to advance strawberry sustainability. NSSI project information reached 7,100 growers and con-sultants and 2,000 extension agents nationwide, and is transforming traditional strawberry production practices by increasing sustainability through sci-ence and technology. Projects like this are not alone

in the CARS merit book, and when you read through this document, you are assured to find many exciting achieve-ments that CARS and CARS faculty have accumulated over the past nine years. It must be recognized that these accom-plishments of CARS would not have been made possible without the support from both the Division of Agriculture Leadership and the CARS’ faculty and staff. With its strategic plan in place for the next 10 years, CARS will con-tinue to play a pivotal role in helping to advance sustainable

agriculture in Arkansas, the nation, and the world.

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Crimson Clover cover crop Photo credit, Heather Friedrich

Sustainable Agriculture, as defined in the 1990 Farm Bill,

is an integrated system of plant and animal production

practices having a site-specific application that, over the long

term, will :

• satisfy food and fiber needs• enhance the environment and natural resource • make efficient use of resources • sustain economic farm viability• enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

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The National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative (NSSI) was a public-private partnership between the Walmart Foundation and the University of Arkansas System

Division of Agriculture Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability from 2013-2015. The NSSI was created with the intent of moving science-based technology from laboratories and experiment farms into producers’ fields, distribution systems, and other industry operations. The project goals were to expand seasons and regions of production, reduce environmental impacts, decrease energy consumption, limit product loss in the supply chain, and to improve profitability for farmers.

Over the two years, CARS administered $3.5M in compet-itive grants, with the leadership of Dr. Curt Rom, Department of Horticulture and Dr. Ron Rainey, Cooperative Extension. Twenty-six projects were awarded to land grant universities across the U.S. Through the projects and partnerships, over 100 workshops, demonstrations, and field days were conducted, over 100 on-farm trials were conducted, 169 pre-sentations were given to technical and scientific groups and 80 videos were produced. Workshop information reached 7100 growers and consultants, and 2000 extension agents. The proj-ect generated a digital diagnostic tool, interactive strawberry production budgets, and production guides. The potential for producing strawberries out of season in many regions of the country was demonstrated with use of greenhouse hydro-ponic systems and high tunnel technologies. Projects trialled strawberry cultivars, patented three genotypes and released one new cultivar; tested and demonstrated sustainable soil

management practices; developed production strategies for organic systems; and implemented precision technology for conservation water management and frost protection.

Accomplishments of the NSSI are highlighted in two award-winning e-books, “Moving the Needle: Accomplish-ments of the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative” and “Success in the Field: Accomplishments of Phase II of the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative” found at http://strawberry.uark.edu/. Each e-book was awarded the Blue-Ribbon Extension and Outreach Communication Award for the Southern Region American Society of Horticultural Sciences Award in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Project Highlights • 3.5Mingrantsfundsawardedto26projectsworkingin

17 states• Outputsincluded169presentations,103publications,

117 on-farm trials, 38 workshops, 49 field days and 80 videos created addressing strawberry issues

• Resourcesandlinksarefoundathttp://strawberry.uark.edu/

National Strawberry Sustainability InitiativeProject Leadership: Curt Rom, Ron Rainey, Heather Friedrich and Luke FreemanCollaborators: Marty Matlock, Jennie Popp, and Jun ZhuFunding: Walmart Foundation, (co-PIs Rom and Rainey)

Field to Market is an alliance of 87 diverse organizations within the U.S. agricultural system including agribus-inesses, conservation organizations, universities, and

grower and public sector organizations that have come together to provide leadership in addressing the complex nature of a global food and agricultural system with an increasing population while conserving natural resources. The alliance promotes sustainable agriculture production practices through the Field Print Calculator (FPC), a tool in develop-ment by Field to Market, to help growers understand how their management choices affect sustainability. The tool also helps growers respond to the increasing demand of buyers and processors to provide documentation on the impacts of their production practices.

The University of Arkansas has been an Affiliate mem-ber of Field to Market since its inception, when Drs. Mark Cochran and Marty Matlock attended the first organizational meetings. Matlock was a member of the board of directors for several years and CARS Director, Dr. Jun Zhu, current CARS director, recently replaced him. Zhu is a member of the Goals work group which provides recommendations for near, mid and long term goals. Other CARS faculty and staff are involved as well. Dr. Bill Robertson is testing the cotton FPC with his Cotton Research Verification Program and is on the Verification work group, which used the ISEAL guidance to develop a protocol for the FPC. Dr. Jarrod Hardke is involved

with testing the rice field print calculator. Mr. Eric Cummings is the co-chair of the Technology work group and is working to develop guidelines and provide suggestions/feedback for developing the FPC. The Technology group is responsible for FPC maintenance, including integration of new benchmarks, crops, and metrics, and reviews integration/coordination with other platforms.

Because of the complex nature of the agriculture system and measuring impacts, the FPC has not been perfected. Pilot projects and collaboration with research institutions across the country provide information and feedback to refine and improve the tool and to ensure that the FPC is reliable and valid.

Project Highlights• UniversityofArkansasisanAffiliatememberofFieldto

Market.• CARSfacultyandstaffareinvolvedin3ofthe5Field

to Market work groups that include Goals and Regional Mapping, Technology, and Verification Work Groups.

• TheFieldPrintCalculatorisatoolforbothbuyersandgrowers to help understand document the impact of management decisions.

website: www.fieldtomarket.org

Field to MarketUA Project Collaborators: Jun Zhu, Mark Cochran, Eric Cummings, Jarrod Hardke, Marty Matlock, and Bill RobertsonPartnering Institutions: Many organization are involved in Field to Market Other academic institutions include University of Nebraska, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn University, Colorado State University, and North Carolina State University Funding: Division of Agriculture funds through CARS annual budget and CES program funds

Rice harvest, Stutgartt, AR Photo credit, Fred Miller

Arkansas soybean field. Photo credit, Fred Miller.

Social and traditional media played an important role in promoting NSSI activities and achievements to broad audiences. More than 4 million consumers, growers, advisors, educators, scientists and students were reached by the NSSI project.

•Website:strawberry.uark.edu •Blog:wordpress.uark.edu/sberries•Facebook:facebook.com/

StrawberrySustainabilityInitiative•YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/

UC55G_p_-ZM58goZtu_OYEtA•Twitter:twitter.com/s_berries•SlideShare:slideshare.net/sberries•SmugmugPhotoSite:nssi.smugmug.com

Strawberries at a farmers market Photo credit, Curt Rom

Switchgrass research at the University of Arkansas

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The Arkansas Discovery Farm Program is a public-private partnership between the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and private landowners. Co-

directors of the program are Dr. Mike Daniels, Extension Specialist for water quality and nutrient management and Dr. Andrew Sharpley, Professor of soils and water quality. The goal of the Arkansas Discovery Farm program is to work with farmers to address issues in natural resources sustainability, conservation and stewardship in a cost effective manner. The program engages and empowers farmers and works within their management system to develop solutions to issues affecting Arkansas agriculture. Although the focus of each Discovery Farm is different, all sites are farmer led and stakeholder driven. Data are collected and verified to docu-ment the impact that on-farm conservation practices have on water use and quality, in consideration of farm economics and resource sustainability.

Program success has been achieved on multiple levels from developing partnerships with state and national orga-nizations to receiving state and national media attention. An important outcome has been empowering farmers to become advocates and spokespersons for real world, effective conser-vation measures that have mostly been adopted voluntarily. Additionally, the Discovery Farm program has many partners allowing for wide stakeholder input and broad appeal to fund-ing sources, which support the program’s continued success.

The Arkansas Discovery Farm program is a platform that showcases the extent to which farmers have embraced con-servation agriculture and how farmers have become leaders in mitigating water quantity and quality concerns. Delivering this message to those making agricultural policy decisions and those promoting restrictive land use and management regulations is a critical outcome of the Discovery Farm Pro-gram. Because of the visibility of the program, the Arkansas Discovery Farm Program has allowed farmers to become

advocates for not just the program but also for the resource and economic benefits of their conservation measures. It has empowered them to be advocates for the role they play in solving important agriculture issues, as well as provide leadership among their peers and the general public.

Project Highlights•Atleast15partneringorganizationsensuretheprogram

is successful, including: the Arkansas Conservation Commission and Conservation Districts, Arkansas NRCS, and Arkansas Farm Bureau, among others.

•TheDiscoveryFarmProgramempowersfarmerstobecome advocates of sustainable agriculture, conserva-tions measures and the program.

•DiscoveryFarmsdocumentedtheimpactofagriculturalproduction and conservation including: improved water use efficiency via crop rotations, irrigation scheduling and water harvesting; cover crops reducing nutrient and sediment runoff; the benefits of rotational grazing to soil health, among others.

Website: http://discoveryfarms.uark.edu/

Arkansas Discovery Farm Program Project Leadership: Mike Daniels and Andrew SharpleyCollaborators: Tom Barber, Chris Henry, Jennie Popp, Trent Roberts, Bill Robertson, and Jeremy RossFunding: Multiple sources including NRCS, AR Farm Bureau, AR Association of Conservation Districts, AR Soybean Promotion Board, and others; (Daniels and Sharlpley, co-PIs)

Four monitoring stations assess the benefits of winter cover crops on our row crop Discovery Farm in Atkins, Arkansas.

Two decision support tools were developed with two overlapping multidisciplinary teams that allow growers, advisors, researchers and policymakers to make informed

decisions about cow-calf operations (FORCAP) in one tool and biomass crops for energy production (ENCAP) in the other. Dr. Mike Popp, professor in the Department of Agri-cultural Economics and Agribusiness led the development of these decision support tools. These tools allow the user to tailor the model to a particular farm operation and determine the impact of various practices on profitability and other performance measures. The Forage and Cattle Planner tool (FORCAP) allows the user to modify characteristics and practices for both cattle and pasture management, such as forage species composition, intensiveness of grazing, supple-mental feeding, weather/drought conditions among others, to determine the scenario that best balances resource availability with production needs and provides income projections for that particular operation. FORCAP can also project the green-house gas footprint of an operation. Side by side comparisons of multiple production alternatives are easily available and can be saved for future use. Funds to develop FORCAP came from various sources under Popp’s Experiment Station Hatch project number ARK02293.

The development of ENCAP was a component of a larger U.S. DOT Sun Grant project led by Dr. Felix Fritschi of the University of Missouri, titled, “Assessing and Predicting Switchgrass and High-Biomass Sorghum Yields and Economic

Decision Support Tools for Cow-calf Operations and Potential Energy CropsProject Leadership: Michael Popp, Aaron Smith, Daniel Keeton, Nathanial Cahill, Karen Lindsay, Charles West, Amanada Ashworth, Alexandre Caldeira Rocateli, Ken Coffey, John Jennings, Felix Fritschi, Steven Green, Wink Alison, Gopal Kakani, Williiam Maples, Michael Maw, Lucia Acosta-Gamboa, Emily Heaton, and Rodney FarrisPartnering Institutions: University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, Arkansas State University and Oklahoma State UniversityFunding: ENCAP was funded through the US Department of Transportation Sun Grant Program – South Central Center No DOTS59-07-G-00053 (Fritschi, PI) and FORCAP was funded through PI funds

Cattle grazing in pasture Photo credit, Darrin Henderson

Andrew Sharpley and Mike Daniels on a Discovery Farm tour

Viability.” ENCAP allows users to determine how production practices for the energy crops switchgrass, miscanthus and energy sorghum affect profitability. Baseline data for the tool is based on research trials in OK, AR, MO and LA and thus is best suited to operations in this region. For switchgrass, the tool provides projections of yield, moisture content of switch-grass and expected nutrient concentration in the biomass by harvest date, production year and location. Economic tradeoffs between harvest dates are thus easily analyzed.

Highlights• FORCAPandENCAPtoolsandusermanualscanbe

found at http://agribusiness.uark.edu/decision-support-software.php.

• Usershaveaccesstopowerfultoolsthatinformfarmmanagement without having to review and digest many journal publications.

• Themodelsarehighlycustomizabletoreflecttheopera-tions of unique users.

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Arkansas MarketMaker is one of 24 partners compris-ing the National MarketMaker Network. The goal of MarketMaker is to connect farmers with new markets

to engage in direct sales of Arkansas products. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension System manages Arkansas MarketMaker through the efforts of Dr. Ron Rainey. The free tool is a platform for both producers and customers including schools, restaurants, retailers, processors and individual consumers. Producers develop a profile outlining products they offer as well as any value-added characteristics such as ‘organically certified’ or ‘pasture-raised’, for example. The tool uses GIS technology to offer growers and consumers geo-referenced maps to connect buyers and sellers. The menu-driven system allows custom-ers to find products they desire and growers to target and research markets. Rainey continuously engages farmers and farmers’ markets managers to use MarketMaker to enhance their marketing strategies. More recently Arkansas Market-Maker has successfully collaborated with schools as ‘buyers’

to support Farm to School programs. Arkansas MarketMaker received the 2015 Farm Credit MarketMaker Innovation award at the National Value Added Agriculture conference for its success in connecting growers to schools and other buyers. Arkansas MarketMaker is a leader across the southern region and nationally through Rainey’s service on the National MarketMaker policy advisory council. Arkansas MarketMaker partnerships include the Arkansas Agriculture Department, Arkansas Farm Credit, the Arkansas Farm Bureau and National Farm Credit Council. These partnerships enhance the development of resources and outreach to Arkansas growers and buyers.

Project Highlights• ArkansasMarketMakershasmorethan460Arkansas

business profiles and more than 12,000 food business profiles registered in the system showcasing Arkansas’ food system.

• ArkansasMarketMakersreceivedthe2015FarmCreditMarketMaker Innovation award for building partner-ships to assist growers across the food value chain.• Raineyisprovidingleadership regionally and nationally through National MarketMaker governing board.

Website: http://ar.foodmar-ketmaker.com/

Arkansas MarketMakerProject Leadership: Ron RaineyProject Partners: National Market MakerFunding: Arkansas Agriculture Department, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Soybean Promotion Board (Rainey, PI), and USDA NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative project 2011-68001-30014 (Nayga, PI)

Arkansas MarketMaker receiving 2015 MarketMaker Innovation Award ( L to R) Dr Marco Palma, Professor at Texas A&M, Beverly Dunaway, Ron Rainey and Stan Ray, Chief Administrative Officer Farm Credit Bank of Texas

The Division of Agriculture has contributed to Arkansas’s economic development by providing assistance to food entrepreneurs through the Arkansas Food Innovation

Center (AFIC). The AFIC assists small food processing com-panies, farmers and entrepreneurs by providing educational programs and services and allowing food manufacture in its facilities until entrepreneurs are large enough to graduate from AFIC. This FDA-inspected, certified production facility is used on a daily basis by local entrepreneurs that produce items such as fermented kraut, jellies, dried mushrooms, hummus, botanically based simple syrups, cookies, barbecue sauces, salsas, among others. Through federal and state grants, AFIC has provided training and product commercialization assistance to entrepreneurs through the Plan Produce Profit workshops hosted in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Forest City. The AFIC team along with student interns worked with entrepreneurs to educate and commercially produce products. The Center has assisted 50 entrepreneurs since its inception in 2013, as well as a number of non-profit organizations such as school systems and hunger relief orga-

nizations. AFIC has helped launch over 75 products in the marketplace in retail establishments such as farmers markets, specialty and grocery stores. Over 50 of these products are currently being manufactured in AFIC’s facility. This is a unique program that contributes to economic development in the state and serves a valuable community need.  

 Project Highlights

• AFICishelpinglocalfarmersgenerateadditionalreve-nue and contribute to their farm sustainability.

• AFICissupportingthelocalfoodsystembyassistinglocal entrepreneurs to develop new food companies which will contribute to economic development of Arkansas. In addition to forming new businesses, many new food products were developed and are available through retail outlets.

• AFICistrainingthenextgenerationoffoodsystemleaders by offering opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to assist entrepreneurs with the development and production of their products.

Arkansas Food Innovation Center Project Leadership: Jean-François Meullenet, Renee Threlfall and Steve SeidemanProject Collaborators: Arkansas Small Business Technology Development Center, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, and National Agricultural Law Center Funding: Arkansas Agriculture Department Specialty Crop Block Grants (Meullenet, Threlfall, PIs) and USDA Rural Development (Pittman, PI)

A sampling of the products that were developed with the assistance of AFIC in 2015 Photo credit, Scott C Wood

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T he The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Irrigation Water Management (IWM) group, led by Extension Specialist Dr. Chris Henry, is helping

Arkansas farmers improve their irrigation practices through multiple efforts that reduce irrigation water use without compromising crop yields and farm profitability. Henry, along with Mike Hamilton, trained county extension agents with the skills and resources needed to inform farmers and consultants on computerized hole selection (CHS), in a train the trainer program. This technology uses software to determine efficient irrigation configurations, high distribu-tion uniformity and decreased pump times. Adoption of CHS is increasing among Arkansas farmers with acreage at approximately 154,500 acres. About half of the farmers that learn about CHS go on to implement it on their farm.

In 2015, on-farm research at 26 sites compared a comprehensive program of IWM practices. This program demonstrated the full potential of savings from using all recommend practices on farms to improve irrigation. The UA practices include CHS, surge irrigation, flow monitoring, soil moisture monitoring, evapotranspiration (ET) based scheduling, and pumping plant optimization. The UA IWM recommended practices resulted in 27% less water used with

no difference in crop yields. Partial support for this program has been provided by the Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Promotion Board, Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board, and the Arkansas Cotton Support Committee.

Project Highlights• UArecommendedirrigationwatermanagement

practices resulted in 27% less water used compared to conventional irrigation practices, with no losses in yield.

• Anaverageannualsavingsof$511wasfoundperirriga-tion pumping plant.

• FarmersadoptingCHShaveseenwaterandenergyusereductions of 10-30%, indicating water savings of nearly 10 billion gallons, annually throughout Arkansas

Sustainable Irrigation Water Management in ArkansasProject Leadership: Christopher HenryProject Collaborators: Mike Daniels, Leo Espinoza, Paul Francis, Jason Gaspar, Mike Hamilton, Phil Horton, Hunter James, Mukhammadzakhrab Ismanov, and CES County Agents: Rick Wimberly, Grant Beckwith, Chuck Capps, Mitch Crow, Russel Parker, Stewart Runsick, Herb Ginn, Mike Andrews, Jason Osborn, Dave Freeze, Craig Allen, Keith Perkins, Brett Gordon, Stan Baker, Anthony Whittington, Wes Kirkpatrick, Steve Kelly, Kevin Norton, and Ray Benson Partnering Institutions: Mississippi State University, University of Missouri, and Louisiana State UniversityFunding: Arkansas Promotion Boards for Soybean, Corn and Grain Sorghum, and Rice, AR Cotton Support Committee, USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant, and the United Soybean Board (Henry, PI)

Heath Stephens, farmer cooperator, Grant Beckwith, AR County CES interim staff chair, Chris Henry, (lead) Chuck Capps, former AR County CES staff chair, Wes Ward, Secretary of Agriculture and Andrew Grobmyer, Agricultural Council of Arkansas, visiting a demonstration site in Arkansas County

Herb Ginn, Staff Chair, Lawrence County, UA CES reads a flow meter after an irrigation set to determine the amount of water used on a peanut demonstration site The site showed an improved profitability of $174/ac using IWM practices over the control field.

Dr. Bill Robertson, Extension Specialist for Cotton, has been incorporating the Fieldprint Calculator (FPC), a sustainability assessment tool developed by Field to

Market, into the Cotton Research Verification/Sustainabil-ity Program and testing its use on the Arkansas Discovery Farms. The FPC allows producers to assess the sustainability of their production systems based on information they enter for indicators that include land use, conservation, soil carbon, irrigation water use, water quality, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Field Print Calculator generates a spider graph comprised of the seven indicators with reference lines for state and national averages. A shaded region represents the grower’s field and allows for a visual comparison of how the field compares to the state and national averages for that crop. One useful feature of the FPC is its ability to document the impact of producer practices on these indicators, includ-ing practices that a producer may be thinking about but has not yet employed.

Integrating the FPC into the Cotton Research Verifica-tion/Sustainability and Discovery Farm Programs is a good test for the FPC because the practices in these programs are based on university recommendations and inputs, in addition economics are closely tracked and water runoff and quality is monitored. This research allows for the FPC to be validated, as Robertson is on the Verification Work Group for Field to Market, and presents an educational tool for those that are

interested in using it.

Project Highlights• WheneconomicinformationfromtheUACotton

Research Verification/Sustainability Program is com-bined with the FPC information, the profitability of conservation practices can be determined.

• OnegoaloftheCottonVerification/SustainabilityPro-gram is to improve irrigation water use efficiency and

soil health, which can be documented with the FPC.•TheFPCmustbevalidated with accu-rate data to improve the tool.

Fieldprint Calculator and the UA Cotton Research Verification/Sustainability ProgramProject Leadership: Bill RobertsonPartnering Institutions: University of Tennessee and University of GeorgiaFunding: The Cotton Foundation, Cotton Inc (Robertson, PI)

Bill Robertson and Mike Daniels with Discovery Farm owner Steve Stevenson (middle), Dumas AR

Arkansas cotton field. Photo credit, Fred Miller.

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Dr. Billy Hargis, Professor in the Department of Poultry Science and Tyson Endowed Chair for Sustainable Poultry Health, has been working with probiotics and

microbial technologies in chicken production for the past 30 years. Integrating probiotics into the production system can reduced the need for subtheraputic antibiotics that are used to promote chicken growth by reducing inflammation in the gut and improving feeding efficiency. As a result, chickens can maintain a high growth rate with less feed than chickens that do not receive probiotics or antibiotics. Related efforts to reduce Salmonella levels with microbial technologies have also been successful resulting in the patenting and commercial-ization of multiple products. Because of consumer concerns with antibiotics in the food system, probiotics and microbial products provide an alternative route to maintaining efficient output of healthy chickens in a highly productive system. The adoption of probiotics among producers has significantly expanded in the last 5 years in the US due to multiple fac-tors including consumer demand and regulatory pressures, scientific evidence validating probiotics, and advances in technology. As a result, the availability of chicken labeled with “no antibiotics added” in the marketplace has greatly

expanded. Global use of probiotics has expanded as well with Japan, Brazil and the EU being early adopters.

Hargis and his colleagues have also been working on recombinant vaccines for Salmonella, protozoal parasites and avian influenza in recent years with the goal of improving poultry health, reducing death and reducing the need for antibiotics of human significance. The Salmonella vaccine has shown to be successful and is patented and in the com-mercialization process. Agreements have been made with multinational companies that will support the broad world-wide application of these technologies which provide high production efficiency for an increasing world population. As the ability to use antibiotics for both therapeutic and preven-tion purposes will likely be reduced in the future, effective treatments such as these are necessary to maintain healthy efficient production systems.

Project Highlights• Twostart-upcompaniesestablishedtomanufacture

and distribute products developed at the Poultry Health Lab were sold to multinational companies, ensuring the global availability of these products that reduce the need

for antibiotics.• Probioticscaneffectivelyreplace the use of antibiotics in poultry production in some cases.• AvaccineforSalmo-nella is being patented and commercialized.

Microbial Products for Sustainable Poultry ProductionProject Leadership: Billy Hargis and Guillermo TellezPartnering Institutions: University of Guelph, Texas A&M University, and The Ohio State UniversityFunding: Primarily private companies including Pacific Vet Group, Novozymes and Ceva Animal Health, among others (Hargis, PI)

The poultry industry of today is able to produce more meat with less feed resources and less manure bi-product than 50 years ago because of advances in genetics, bird

housing and nutrition. A bird today can reach market weight of 5.5-6 lbs in just 6 weeks, resulting in chicken being one of the most affordable proteins for American consumers. Water quality plays an invaluable role in optimizing poultry health to support efficient bird growth. Dr. Susan Watkins, Extension Specialist for Poultry is recognized, nationally and globally, as a water expert for the poultry industry. Because of her efforts, many producers now recognize the importance of providing high quality water in their poultry operation. Providing quality drinking water for poultry can be challenging because water is slow moving and warmed during brooding in poultry barns, creating a perfect environment for microbial growth and biofilms that threaten water quality. Additionally, nutri-tional additives may support growth of microorganisms and the water system itself may have bends or turns that allows for microbial growth to occur and increases the difficulty for thorough cleaning. Watkins works with poultry producers, production personnel and the supply industry in Arkansas and around the world to address this often overlooked, basic need for clean drinking water. She provides information on important considerations of water collection methods for testing, how to read test results, and provides science-based

information on treatment options. Assessing water quality is a critical step in poultry production because producers can identify natural contaminants in their water, the mineral pro-file and pH of their water, and if there is a problem with their water delivery systems – all of which can impact water quality and poultry production.

Project Highlights• Improvingwaterqualitycanresultinbigimpacts.

Reducing microbial contamination can potentially improve feed conversion by 1-2 points and improve livability by 1-2%. For a complex processing one million birds/week, this translates into as much as $100,000/yr. savings.

• Watertreatmentdecisionsarebestinformedwithsciencebased evidence, thus Watkins conducts experiments on many types of sanitation products and treatment systems.

• Researchonsanitationproductsandtreatmentsys-tems are presented to poultry producers and company production personnel in a user-friendly way, backed by science.

Advancing Poultry Sustainability with Quality Drinking Water Project Leadership: Susan Watkins Project Collaborators: Yi LiangFunding: Primarily private comanies including, Cobb-Vantress, Evonik, AB Vista, Huvepharma, Green Klean, HJ Baker, Silver Bullet, Biomin, CTC among others (Watkins, PI)

Watkins speaking to a producer group in England

Photo credit, Fred Miller Photo credit, Fred Miller

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The Pig Production Environmental Calculator (PPEC) is a tool that allows producers and researchers to identify and quantify significant sources of environmental impacts

in the pork operation, how changes in operation procedures and/or hardware affect the impacts, as well as the economic impact of the changes. The tool is highly customizable to meet operation attributes. The user provides detailed farm informa-tion including herd size, feed composition, manure handling systems, farm location, barn sizes, and characteristics of the heating/cooling systems. The description is processed through models of pig nutrition, growth and excretion, chem-ical reactions in the manure handling systems, barn heating and cooling, and water use to calculate the consumption of utilities and commodities. This information is then used to calculate the environmental and cost impacts of the operation and give predictive outputs for the farm including land, water, feed and energy use; greenhouse gas emissions including CO2, CH4 and N2O, and day to day operation costs.

Version 3 of the PPEC expands the barn-level capabilities of Version 2 to a farm level model that can be comprised of up to ten barns of four possible type barns: sow, grow, gestation and farrowing. The grow barn can be: 1) a nursery-to-feeder operation, 2) a nursery-to-finish, 3) feeder-to-finish or 4) any combination depending on the specified entering and leaving weights of the pigs. Each barn can have a subfloor, deep pit or dry bedding manure system. The farm can have downstream

manure systems consisting of lagoons, outside storage or digesters. The model utilizes climate data from each county in the U.S. to calculate barn heating/cooling needs and temper-ature dependent emissions from manure handling systems. The model scope for pigs is cradle to farm gate and for manure is from handling stages to field application. Greenhouse gas emissions from manure on the fields are not calculated.

The development of the calculator was led by Dr. Rich Ulrich and Dr. Jennie Popp, and is based on the US pork industry LCA, which was developed by the same UA team, the US National Resource Council swine nutrient requirement models, farm inputs and the US Animal Feed database. This project was funded by the National Pork Board and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture project, “Integrated resource management tool to mitigate the carbon footprint of swine produced in the U.S.” led by Dr. Greg Thoma, Depart-ment of Chemical Engineering.

Project Highlights• ThePPECtoolcalculatestheamount,sourcesandcosts

of production practices that generate greenhouse gas emissions.

• Version3ofthePPECaddsasimulatedproductionfarmwith up to ten barns and four barn types.

• PPECisavailableatwww.pork.org with version 3 being release in Fall, 2016.

US Pig Production Environmental CalculatorProject Leadership: Greg Thoma, Rick Ulrich and Jennie Popp Partnering Institutions: Virginia TechFunding: USDA NIFA project number 2011-68002-30208, (Thoma, PI), and the National Pork Board

Swine operation and swine lagoon Photo credit, USDA NRCS

The University of Arkansas team developing the Pork Life-Cycle Analysis verified in its development that diet and manure management have the greatest impact on climate

change in pork production. This is due to the conversion of nitrogen in the pig diet, manure, and urine into nitrous oxide, which has a greenhouse effect 298 times greater than CO2. Feed grade amino acids (FGAA) are increasingly used in swine diets to reduce crude protein, production expenses, and to decrease nitrogen excretion. As part of a larger NIFA proj-ect to reduce GHG emissions in pork production, Dr. Charles Maxwell, Professor in the Department of Animal Science, led research investigating the potential to mitigate swine green-house gas emissions by optimizing FGAA to reduce dietary crude protein and nitrogen excretion, without negatively affecting growth performance, carcass quality. Results of previous experiments demonstrated that maximizing FGAA in pork diets can reduce nitrogen excretion but with variable impacts on growth and carcass characteristics. Maxwell and his team conducted experiments on nursery and grow-finish swine systems using various amino acid ratios, essential and non-essential FGAA, crude protein, and electrolytes to determine the practical limits for replacing traditional protein sources with FGAA. These experiments were designed based on results of previous experiments by Maxwell. Nursery

results indicate that nitrogen excretions can be reduced without impacting growth performance when reduced crude protein diets plus FGAA were formulated to the meet the 7th limiting factor, histidine, and the requirement of the prior 6 limiting amino acids were met. In grow-finish studies, results demonstrated that growth performance and carcass compo-sition did not change when FGAA were used to reduce crude protein in diets formulated to meet the Histidine:Lysine ratio that included FGAA. Previous studies that maximized FGAA and reduced crude protein with variable results in growth performance and carcass characteristics may have been due to an imbalance of amino acids. Research will continue to evaluate optimum amino acid ratios and to test these results in different diets. These experiments are a part of a larger project funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, project led by Dr. Greg Thoma, titled “Integrated resource management tool to mitigate the carbon footprint of swine produced in the U.S.”

Project Highlights• Growthperformanceandcarcasscompositionin

grow-finish pigs were sustained in a low crude protein diet with FGAA supplementation.

• Nurserypigsfednetenergy(NE)ormetabolizedenergy(ME) based diets exhibited similar growth performance.

• HigherlevelsofFGAAlevelscannowbeconsideredbythe swine industry with more emphasis on levels that optimize profitability and/or carbon footprint and less concern in setting arbitrary maximum inclusion levels.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pork Production with Diet FormulationProject Leadership: Charles Maxwell, Tsungcheng Tsai, Jason Apple, Brian Richert, Scott Radcliffe, and Haejin Kim Partnering Institutions: Virginia Tech, Purdue UniversityFunding: USDA NIFA project number 2011-68002-30208, (Thoma, PI)

Swine research at the University of Arkansas

Swine research at the University of Arkansas

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Growers are faced with economic decisions through-out establishment and production of their specialty crops. In recent years, Dr. Jennie Popp, Professor in

the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness and program associate Dr. German Rodriquez, developed interactive enterprise budget tools for current or would-be fruit producers of apples, blackberries, raspberries, strawber-ries and blueberries. The interactive tools were developed with VBA programming interfaces in Microsoft Excel. Data for developing the budgets were collected from the UA Department of Horticulture research experiments and verified with grower data. These interactive decision support tools were created to help producers estimate expected production costs, returns and net returns associated with fruit production in field or high tunnel systems. These eco-nomic models provide a framework for current or potential producers to build a base scenario and then analyze that scenario with respect to different market prices or changes in production and management systems. These tools also perform breakeven, sensitivity and risk analyses. Growers can calculate their expected profitability using their unique production information and the selling prices they expect

to obtain. Or alternatively they can use the default baseline data to view results of various scenarios. As a result of this tool, growers can make more informed decisions with regards to planning, marketing and financial considerations, when managing their fruit crops. These budgets were developed as a component of larger projects focusing on sustainable fruit production, led by Dr. Curt Rom, funded through multiple sources including the USDA Southern SARE project “Extending the Market Season of High Tunnel Technology for Organic Fruit Production”, Organic Farming Research Foundation and the Walmart Foundation.

Project Highlights• Interactivebudgetsareavailablefordownloadat

http://cars.uark.edu/ourwork/Specialty-Crop-Produc-tion-and-Marketing/fruit_budget.aspx.

• Theenterprisebudgettoolcancalculateexpectedpro-duction costs, net returns, breakeven, sensitivity and risk analyses.

• Growerscanentertheirownfarmdataformorecustom-ized results or use default baseline data.

Interactive Fruit Budget Tools to Assist Growers in Management DecisionsProject Leadership: Jennie Popp and H German Rodriguez Project Collaborators: Luke Freeman, Heather Friedrich, M Elena Garcia, Donn Johnson, Jason McAfee, and Curt RomFunding: Southern SARE LS12-250 (Rom, PI), Walmart Foundation (Garcia, PI) , and Organic Farming Research Foundation (Rom, PI)

University of Arkansas bred cultivar, Prime Ark® 45 Photo Credit, Luke Freeman

• National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative (page) 6UA Project Collaborators: Curt Rom, Ron Rainey, Heather Friedrich, Luke Freeman, also Marty Matlock, Jennie

Popp, and Jun Zhu

• Field to Market 7UA Project Collaborators: Jun Zhu, Mark Cochran, Eric Cummings, Jarrod Hardke, Marty Matlock, and Bill

Robertson

• Arkansas Discover Farm Program 8UA Project Collaborators: Mike Daniels and Andrew Sharpley, also Tom Barber, Chris Henry, Jennie Popp, Bill

Robertson, Trent Roberts, and Jeremy Ross

• Decision Support Tools for Cow-calf Operations and Potential Energy Crops 9UA Project Collaborators: Dr. Michael Popp, Dr. Aaron Smith, Daniel Keeton, William E. Maples, Karen R.

Lindsay, Nathanial Cahill, Dr. Charles West, Dr. Amanda Ashworth, Dr. Alexandre Caldeira Rocateli, Dr. Rodney Farris, Dr. Gopal Kakani, Dr. Felix Fritschi, Dr. Steven Green, Dr. Emily Heaton, Dr. Wink Alison, Michael Maw, Lucia Acosta-Gamboa, Dr. Ken Coffey, Dr. John Jennings, and Johnny Gonzalez

• Arkansas MarketMaker 10UA Project Lead: Ron Rainey

• Arkansas Food Innovation Center 11UA Project Collaborators: Jean-Francois Meullenet, Renee Threlfall, and Steve Seideman  

• Fieldprint Calculator and the UA Cotton Research Verification/Sustainability Program 12UA Project Lead: Bill Robertson

• Sustainable Irrigation Water Management in Arkansas 13UA Project Collaborators: Christopher Henry, Mike Daniels, Leo Espinoza, Paul Francis, Jason Gaspar, Mike

Hamilton, Phil Horton, Hunter James, Mukhammadzakhrab Ismanov, and many CES County Agents:

• Microbial Products for Sustainable Poultry Production 14UA Project Collaborators: Billy Hargis and Guillermo Tellez

• Advancing Poultry Sustainability with Quality Drinking Water 15UA Project Collaborators: Susan Watkins, also Yi Liang

• US Pig Production Environmental Calculator 16UA Project Collaborators: Greg Thoma, Rick Ulrich, and Jennie Popp

• Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pork Production with Diet Formulation 17UA Project Collaborators: Charles Maxwell, Tsungcheng Tsai, Jason Apple, Brian Richert, Scott Radcliffe, and

Haejin Kim

• Interactive Fruit Budget Tools to Assist Growers in Management Decisions 18UA Project Collaborators: Jennie Popp and H. German Rodriguez, also Luke Freeman, Heather Friedrich, M.

Elena Garcia, Donn Johnson, Jason McAfee, and Curt Rom

Projects and PIs

High tunnel grown raspberries Photo Credit, Luke Freeman

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