There are 17 farms across Arkansas who have volunteered to be a part of the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program. Each farm represents a production system important to the agricultural economy of the State and each has unique characteristics and conservation challenges.

Farm List

Stakeholder Involvement Committee

Technical Committee

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ARDF In the News

• Arkansas Farm Bureau: Discovery Farms (video)
• Delta Farm Press: Critical Groundwater Article

Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative

“Known as “America’s River,” the Mississippi River is North America’s largest river, flowing over 2,300 miles through America’s heartland to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the centerpiece of the second largest watershed in the world. The watershed not only provides drinking water, food, industry, and recreation for millions of people, it also hosts a globally significant migratory flyway and home for over 325 bird species.

Through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), NRCS and partners work with producers and landowners to implement voluntary conservation practices that improve water quality, restore wetlands, enhance wildlife habitat and sustain agricultural profitability in the Mississippi River basin. 

NRCS has identified the Mississippi River basin as a top priority due to water quality concerns, primarily related to the effects of nutrient loading on the health of local water bodies and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico.”

(above excerpt from NRCS website ©2017)

ARDF Involvement in MRBI

By their design, Arkansas Discovery Farms (ADF) Program is uniquely positioned to contribute useful information to the Mississippi River Basin Initiative (MRBI). The central goal of the ADF project centers on the promotion of economically viable yet environmentally sound farming systems. Documentation of such production systems is currently being achieved on the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program using whole-field monitoring systems, which is a voluntary monitoring protocol also specified by the MRBI.

Arkansas Discovery Farms Program and the MRBI

By their design, Arkansas Discovery Farms Program is uniquely positioned to contribute useful information to the Mississippi River Basin Initiative (MRBI). The central goal of the ADF project centers on the promotion of economically viable yet environmentally sound farming systems. Documentation of such production systems is currently being achieved on the Arkansas Discovery Farms Program using whole-field monitoring systems, which is a voluntary monitoring protocol also specified by the MRBI.

For more information on the history of the MRBI.

For more on Arkansas Discovery Farms Program involvement in the MRBI.

Bradley Farm

Anheuser-Busch Sustainable Rice (Craighead County)
Close to:  Jonesboro
Watershed:  Lower St. Francis

Anheuser-Busch has invested over $58 million in improving sustainability at their existing operations. To show their commitment to environmental sustainability, Anheuser-Busch has set four goals including Water Stewardship, which is to have 100% of their operations engaged in water efficiency, and Smart Agriculture. Through the Smart Agriculture program, they are extending sustainability efforts along the supply chain from field to farm to processor to end user. Anheuser-Busch purchases 21.6 million bushels of rice per year. Their rice mill in Jonesboro, Arkansas processes 2.6 million pounds of rice a day. Anheuser-Busch has direct relationships with rice farmers and is committed to helping rice farmers document sustainability efforts.

The Arkansas Discovery Farm Program has partnered with Anheuser-Busch to help rice farmers to document sustainability efforts and to evaluate soil and water conservation practices for continuous practices. The Bradley Farm in Craighead County was established as a Discovery Farm in 2022 monitoring runoff from one 104-acre field with one sampling station at the outlet of the field.

Compton Farm

Anheuser-Busch Sustainable Rice Farm (Greene County)
Close to: Delaplaine
Watershed: Cache

Anheuser-Busch has invested over $58 million in improving sustainability at their existing operations. To show their commitment to environmental sustainability, Anheuser-Busch has set four goals including Water Stewardship, which is to have 100% of their operations engaged in water efficiency, and Smart Agriculture. Through the Smart Agriculture program, they are extending sustainability efforts along the supply chain from field to farm to processor to end user. Anheuser-Busch purchases 21.6 million bushels of rice per year. Their rice mill in Jonesboro, Arkansas processes 2.6 million pounds of rice a day. Anheuser-Busch has direct relationships with rice farmers and is committed to helping rice farmers document sustainability efforts.

The Arkansas Discovery Farm Program has partnered with Anheuser-Busch to help rice farmers to document sustainability efforts and to evaluate soil and water conservation practices for continuous practices. The Bradley Farm in Craighead County was established as a Discovery Farm in 2022 monitoring runoff from one 104-acre field with one sampling station at the outlet of the field.

Conyer Farm

Rice, Corn, and Soybean (Jefferson County)

Project Complete (Year of Completion: 2020)
Close to:  Pine Bluff
Watershed:  Bayou Bartholomew

The Conyer farm is a row crop operation concentrating on rice, corn, and soybeans that has implemented conservation tillage and the application of mixed cover crops on several fields.  Here the NRCS National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) offers assistance to landowners who want to improve water quality and aquatic habitats in priority watersheds with impaired streams.

The monitoring design is two adjacent fields with discrete outlet points. These field sites are 18.2 and 19.3 acres. Two water monitoring stations have been set up on opposite sides of the field where the water drains off the field. This will allow the water leaving the field to be collected and analyzed for sediment and nutrient concentrations. Approximately 20 acres of the field is planted in cover crops, while the remainder of the field serves as a control (no cover crops planted)

Dabbs Farm

Rice, Corn, and Soybean (Arkansas County)
Close to:  Stuttgart
Watershed:  Bayou Meto

The Dabbs Farm is a 1,500-acre row crop farm concentrating on rice, soybean, and corn rotations in the State’s Critical Groundwater Area, where most fields have been land-leveled and a tailwater recovery system collects all runoff water from this farm and returns it to the irrigation reservoir for re-use.

We are monitoring water use and water quality (nutrients and sediment) on four fields with different cropping rotations and management, which include rice grown on zero-grade, rice grown on unleveled ground (control), rice grown on a precision-leveled field, and corn grown on a precision-leveled field.  This combination of treatments allows us to compare different water management schemes, as well as compare water use of rice and corn at a field scale.  We have also monitored the quantity and quality of recovery water immediately before it re-enters the reservoir.

Haak Farm

Dairy (Benton County)
Close to:  Gentry
Watershed:  Lower Neosho

The Haak dairy is located near Decatur in northwest Arkansas and has been in operation for approximately since 2016. The dairy milks up to 160 cows and the milk produced is collected on a daily basis. In addition, there are 120 beef cows and 40 stockers on the farm. For cattle grazing purposes, a rotational paddock system is employed with distributed cattle watering tanks.

Structural characteristics of the dairy include a pre-milking holding area associated with a milking parlor and a roofed open-air manure storage area. Other parts include a wastewater treatment system with underground pumping capabilities as well as a grass interception field and water meters dispersed throughout the farm.

Over the four-year monitoring period, the wastewater treatment system has been significant in impeding the migration of nutrients to other areas of the farm. Water meter readings show the highest amount of farm water usage is for cattle drinking. Although the manure/sawdust mixture held in the open-air storage facility does not reach a proper composting temperature, its elevated temperatures indicate heightened microbial activity. Core samples from the manure/sawdust mixture collected in 2017 and 2020, show no statistically significant movement of manure nutrients downslope of the wastewater treatment system.

Haigwood Farm

Rice & Poultry Litter (Jackson County)
Close to: Newport
Watershed:  Upper White-Village

The Haigwood Farm is a row crop farm located near the White River in the Upper White-Village Creek watershed (HUC – 11010013).  In 2021 prior to becoming a Discovery Farm, the fields underwent zero-grade laser land leveling.  Land leveling can help to conserve water and reduce runoff and soil erosion. However, the leveling process can remove a significant amount of topsoil when can lead to a temporary decrease in yield and soil health.  On this Discovery Farm we are investigating how the application of poultry litter at various rates affects crop yield, soil health, soil physical properties, and runoff water quality on new land leveled fields.

The Discovery Farm Program is monitoring runoff and soil from three newly land leveled fields on the Haigwood farm (one 35-acre field and two 20-acre fields).  Starting with the 2022 growing season the farm uses a rice-rice-soybeans crop rotation.  The two 20-acre fields are utilizing a flooded field management strategy to grow rice.  The 35-acre field is growing irrigated row rice and uses the excess water to help flood the adjacent field.  Each field has an edge-of-field water quality monitoring station and irrigation flow meters installed.  Additionally, soil samples are being collected in each field for: routine soil nutrients, soil health, soil physical properties, and microbiological functional soil samples.  Soil samples were collected prior to the application of poultry litter and after the field were land leveled.

Poultry litter is an organic soil amendment that is readily available in Arkansas but has not yet gained widespread popularity for row crops in eastern Arkansas.  Poultry litter can add value as an N, P, and K fertilizer and may also be able to help build soil health and structure.  The objectives of this Discovery Farm are to study irrigation water use for newly land-leveled fields, determine what rates poultry litter can safely be applied to row crops without producing excessive nutrient runoff, and determine if utilizing high rates of poultry litter on newly land leveled field can help to more rapidly rebuilt the soil health, soil microbiome, and soil structure.

Helena – Taylor Farm

Corn, Soybean, and Peanut (Phillips County)
Close to:  Helena
Watershed:  Lower White

The Long Lake Plantation farm is a row crop operation concentrating on corn, and soybean rotation with cover crops. The farm is located in the Lower White Watershed in Phillips County.

Two fields will be monitored on this farm. Each of these fields will be divided in half and have two water monitoring stations installed to collect runoff from each side of the field. Half of the field will serve as a control and the other half will have a treatment.

One 95 acre field was land leveled in fall 2017 and will receive irrigation improvements. The entire field will receive reduced tillage, basic irrigation water management and nutrient management conservation practices. The treatment will be half of the field will have cover crops and the other half will not. The second field being monitored is approximately 50 acres. The entire field will have reduced tillage, irrigation water management, nutrient management and cover crops. As a subset of nutrient management, only half of the field will receive poultry litter.

Lacy Farm

Wildlife Habitat and Cover Crops (Jackson County)
Close to:  Newport
Watershed:  Upper White-Village Creek

The Lacy Discovery Farm located in the Upper White-Village Creek watershed focuses on wildlife habitat and cover crops.  Gay Lacy Farms owns about 4,000 acres of farmland located in Newport Arkansas along the White River. The Lacy Farm produces soybeans, rice, and corn, in addition to managing for wildlife hunting leases.  Seasonal hunting for waterfowl and deer is a substantial component of Lacy’s operation.

The Lacy Farm relies on the White River as their primary water source for irrigation and flooding for waterfowl management. However, sections of the farm are at the mercy of Mother Nature and the Corps of Engineers flood control regime. As such, some fields may be flooded starting in winter even until July.

In partnership with the University, the Lacy Farm began experimenting with cover crops as a conservation practice and to attract deer and waterfowl. They subsequently have branded and marketed their wildlife enterprise as 3D: Duck + Deer Destination. Wildlife biologists from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Quail Forever and Ducks Unlimited have assisted with developing a wildlife plan including suggestions for habitat practices. The Arkansas Forestry Commission has written a plan for managing forested areas on the property.  We are analyzing runoff and soil health data of Japanese millet as a cover crop to attract wildlife, to a more traditional cereal rye cover crop, in rotation with soybean production. Additionally, on-farm economic data have been collected about the farm’s wildlife enterprises.

Marley Farm 

Poultry & Beef (Washington County)
Close to:  Elkins
Watershed:  Beaver Lake

The Marley Farm is located in eastern Washington County. The farm has 10 poultry houses, 1,200 acres of pasture, and 1,000 acres of woodland.  The focus at the Marley Discovery Farm includes monitoring runoff from 4 poultry houses flowing into a 3‐acre pond as well as runoff from 2 poultry houses flowing through a hayed pasture (i.e., grassed waterway) into an ephemeral creek, before entering the main stem of the White River.  Conservation practices evaluated are “Farm Pond” (CP 378) and “Grassed Waterway” (CP 412). Monitoring stations quantify nutrient and sediment loadings before water enters the pond and grassed waterway and again before runoff exits the pond and pastures and reaches the creek.

Construction at the Marley Farm

• Photo Gallery

Maus Farm

Corn & Soybean (Pope County)

Project Complete (Year of Completion: 2019)
Close to:  Atkins
Watershed:  Lake Conway-Point Remove

The Maus farm is a 940-acre row-crop farm in the MRBI focus watershed of Point Remove – Lake Conway, in Pope County.    There are about 200 acres of wheat, 240 acres of rice, 200 acres of corn, and 400 acres of soybean.

Here we are monitoring runoff from four fields that have management ranging from the cover crop, no cover crop, conservation tillage, and conventional tillage under a rotation of corn and soybean.  These fields were land-leveled in 2016 and 2017, a relift pump installed, and improved irrigation water management put in place.  This allows us to compare the water-use efficiency of the improved and prior irrigation system.

 Location of Discovery Farm fields in the Point Remove – Lake Conway Watershed, near Atkins, AR.    

Moore Farm

Poultry (Washington County)

Project Complete (Year of Completion: 2021)
Close to:  Atkins
Watershed:  Lake Conway-Point Remove

We started working with the Moore family as they were in the process of building an additional 4 new poultry houses, doubling the number of houses in broiler production on the farm.  The new houses were designed to lower the nutrient footprint by installing an experimental BMP.  Cement litter cleanout pads were poured, to ease clean‐up of any litter spillage occurring during cleanout compared to standard gravel entrances.  This practice does not have a specific standard at the moment, but is similar to “Heavy Use Area Protection” (CP 561).

Since BMP installation, mean annual rates (lbs. ac‐1 yr‐1) of Dissolved P, Total P, Nitrate-N, and Total N runoff, have been 60, 67, 53, and 62% lower for houses with a BMP compared to Original houses, while also decreasing soil erosion rates.  Water quality monitoring on the farm and a cost analysis of each BMP will allow us to determine the effectiveness of each practice, in terms of $’s per pound of nutrient decrease.

Morgan Farm

Peach Orchard – Horticulture (Johnson County)
Close to:  Lamar
Watershed:  Dardanelle Reservoir

This farm is our first horticulture Discovery Farm Specialty, on which we are partnering with Steve and Mark Morgan, owners and operators of Peach Pickin’ Paradise, Lamar, Johnson County.

The Morgan family has been farming peaches since the 1920’s and are well respected in their community and across the state. This makes them ideal candidates for hosting a specialty crop Discovery Farm as they are already model growers who other growers look to as an example of success.

Because current research-based recommendations and training for irrigation in specialty crops in Arkansas are lacking, horticulture crop producers frequently struggle with efficiently managing irrigation, often either under or over irrigating. Additionally, growers must keep in mind the quality of their irrigation water as it must be compliant with federal food safety regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The focus of this Horticulture Discovery Farm is two-fold:

1. to develop better irrigation practices for specialty crops and;
2. to provide specialty crop growers an on-farm demonstration of these practices.

We are monitoring irrigation water quality at Peach Pickin’ Paradise to ensure it is compliant with federal food safety regulations under FSMA. We do this by regularly collecting water samples from the Morgan’s water sources and sending them to the Water Quality Lab in the Arkansas Water Resources Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

By training Mark and Steve Morgan in the use of the installed soil moisture sensors, we hope to help them better the timing and efficiency of their irrigation program. As we learn with the Morgan’s, we hope to use a grower-to-grower training model, in which we will work with the Morgan’s to teach other growers how to improve the efficiency of their irrigation based on our research. This grower-to-grower training will take place in workshops focused on showing best management practices for irrigation in specialty crops.  With our Horticulture Discovery Farm at Peach Pickin’ Paradise, we hope to develop much needed irrigation recommendations for specialty crop growers across the Southeast and improve irrigation conservation practices for specialty crops in Arkansas.

A Look at Arkansas’ First Horticulture Discovery Farm

Three generations of the Morgan Family.

The Farm’s peaches ripe for picking.

Installing soil moisture sensors.

Morrow Farm 

Pasture Beef (Washington County)
Close to:  Wedington
Watershed:  Illinois River

At the Morrow Discovery Farm we are studying the effect cattle management has on pasture nutrient dynamics by evaluating the impact rotational grazing, poultry litter application, and winter‐feeding hay has on soil health and fertility, forage production and quality, and nutrient losses in runoff. The conservation practices evaluated at the Morrow Farm are “Rotational / Prescribed Grazing” (CP 528) and “Feed Management” (CP 592).

Improvements to soil health were significant for both the practice of winter‐feeding hay and the addition of poultry litter when compared to control paddocks which were only grazed. Furthermore, treatment plots where hay bales were unrolled resulted in 19% greater forage production compared to unamended control areas, over a 2‐yr period.  The findings suggested that feeding hay makes an important contribution to soil nutrient levels which may be especially valuable for areas where above optimum soil test P levels may not be suitable for further litter but still need additional N for agronomic yields.

Pratt Farm 

Anheuser-Busch Sustainable Rice (Greene County)
Close to:  Walnut Ridge
Watershed:  Cache

Anheuser-Busch has invested over $58 million in improving sustainability at their existing operations.  To show their commitment to environmental sustainability, Anheuser-Busch has set four goals including Water Stewardship, which is to have 100% of their operations engaged in water efficiency, and Smart Agriculture.  Through the Smart Agriculture program, they are extending sustainability efforts along the supply chain from field to farm to processor to end user.  Anheuser-Busch purchases 21.6 million bushels of rice per year.  Their rice mill in Jonesboro, Arkansas processes 2.6 million pounds of rice a day.  Anheuser-Busch has direct relationships with rice farmers and is committed to helping rice farmers document sustainability efforts.

The Arkansas Discovery Farm Program has partnered with Anheuser-Busch to help rice farmers to document sustainability efforts and to evaluate soil and water conservation practices for continuous practices. The Pratt Farm in Greene County was established as a Discovery Farm in 2022 monitoring runoff from one 62-acre field with two sampling stations.

Stevens Farm

Cotton & Corn (Desha County)
Close to:  Dumas
Watershed:  Bayou Macon

The C.B. Stevens Farm is a 1,500-acre row crop operation concentrating on cotton and corn which has implemented conservation tillage, cover crop, and irrigation management conservation measures. The Bayou Macon watershed, located in Southeastern Arkansas and Northeastern Louisiana, appeared on the 2006 State of Arkansas’ 303d list as being impaired for aquatic habitat by turbidity caused by sediment/siltation from intensive row crop agriculture. The Bayou Macon Watershed was one of the watersheds approved by NRCS as a Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) project area.

We are monitoring water use and water quality (nutrients and sediment) to quantify the benefits of conservation tillage to decrease nutrient and sediment loss in runoff from cotton-corn rotations and enhance stream ecological improvement in the Bayou Macon Watershed.  An additional measure of success will be the adoption of conservation tillage by other farmers in the watershed project area.

Wood Farm

Rice & Soybean (Cross County)
Close to:  Cherry Valley
Watershed:  L’Anguille

A 2,700-acre farm rotating soybeans, rice, and occasionally wheat in the state’s Critical Groundwater Area, the Wood Farm uses flood irrigation as the preferred irrigation method for soybeans with a combination of surface sources (relift from the L’Anguille) and wells.

We are monitoring runoff, nutrients, and sediment from two fields on the Wood Farm, one of which uses traditional flood irrigation for both rice and soybean and drains through a switchgrass border, and the other which uses furrow irrigation for soybeans.  Runoff will eventually be captured by a tailwater recovery system and reservoir.

VFT Clips: Mike Wood, Arkansas Discovery Farmer