 You're listening to the Arkansas Egg Cast, where we discuss the latest news, trends and issues impacting Arkansas farmers and ranchers. Our show is brought to you by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation and hosted by Rob Anderson and Jason Brown. Alrighty. Good Thursday afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. Rob, Brian. How are you fellas doing? Good. Good to have you back. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. Good to have you back too, Brian. Yeah. Thanks for having me back. I don't have the tan. You know, I kind of thought that you guys might change the locks, but my key to the studio still worked. So I appreciate that. That was a mistake. I knew I was forgetting something. The views were off the charts, I bet, last week. Last week, I felt bad because they kept forgetting math. He was even there and I'd say, man, it's lonely. And I was like, oh, sorry. Sorry. I bet he loved that. He was like, yeah, I love you too. Yeah. I apologize a bunch. Well, the gang's all back. Yeah. That's good to see you guys. Yeah, it's good to see you. Well, it is officially July. It is. It's hotter than a firecracker outside. Not a lot of rain out there lately. I know I pulled up the radar last night and told my wife, like, there's rain seem like all around us, you know, Western Tennessee, North Mississippi, everywhere, but we can't seem to buy a drop. We get some thunder now and then. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Southern part of the state had some flooding on Sunday, I think. It was at the El Dorado Air Force. Yeah. Union County, Ashley County. I think they got something like 10 inches in a matter of hours down there. So it's pretty tough on them, but I hope everybody down there is recovering okay. Well, that rain and sun and heat that all factors into the crop updates that we have posted or that we are posting online this week. We've got some good updates on how things are coming with different crops. I think the corn update has gone out. And that's on Facebook. And so you can check that out. We have some experts talking about the crop, crop status cotton, I believe is coming tomorrow. Okay. Oh, our friend Bill Robertson. That's correct. Yeah. Brian and I are going to venture into a soybean field tomorrow and get a crop update from our friend, Dr. Jeremy Ross. All right. So that will, I think, round out. We sort of tried to go in order of planting. Right. We've talked to Jared Harkie and we've covered cotton and corn. So soybeans will kind of round us out for row crop. Yeah. And again, look for those on our social media and eventually on the, well, on YouTube and our website, all those usual places. Yeah. Anything else, any Farm Bureau events coming up in July? What? Nice hint. You know, it is July and it is, that means it's our officers and leaders. And actually this year it's combined with on the back end with our young farmers and ranchers gathering. And that's going to be in Rogers the 21st through 23rd. Yeah. That's right. We'll have a good crew up there. And I guess, is this the first time to be in Rogers? Brian, you're the event. It's not the first time. For YFNR or for O and L. It's been, it's the first time in a while. Yeah, it's about four years. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I wonder if anybody will be visiting that unnamed golf place across the street while we're there. I believe there's some playing too. All right. Well, one last thing, I guess, before we dive into the news. The American Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity last year when I got to meet the honoree. He was very popular. In Atlanta. But if you would like to see your furry best friend have a chance at being named a farm dog of the year. Nominations are open through July the 15th. Yeah. And we would love to see Arkansas farm dog. For sure. That'd be killer. Those profiles are so cool. Yeah. And I met quite a few farm dogs around the state on some of our trips. There's some good ones. There's some good boys out there. I'd like to see them make it in there. You know what I love about farm dogs? Nobody ever tried to get it. Like tried to have that dog. It just like wandered up. That's where every farm dog has the same story. Like, yeah, old blue just showed up one day. Never left. Like nobody ever went out to like get a farm dog. Let me find a good farm dog now. They just show up. Yeah. Well, anyway, as we move into the news, it's time for an update on how farmers and ranchers are feeling a confidence survey. Yeah, how they're thinking what they're thinking about the future. And I got to tell you, it's not good. Okay. You know, we've seen some updates to this. It's Purdue University. They released some new data this week, seven out of every 10 large scale farmers and ranchers expect high inflation to persist into next year. And a 51% think their operations will be worse off financially next summer than they are now. In fact, the university's ag economy barometer, a monthly gauge of farmer confidence fell to its second lowest level since October of 2016. That is almost six years there. That's the lowest. Farmer confidence reaching all time high back in 2020 when China returned as a steady customer for US food and ag exports and commodity prices were up. It's been downhill ever since though. And it's dipped to 97 and the latest are really lowest since 96 in April of 2020 and 92 in that October 2016. Yeah, so it's pretty brutal. Agricultural economists James Mentert and Michael Langenmeier who oversee the monthly survey said the majority of farmers expect to see another round of large input cost increases with 63% of producers expecting higher costs in 2023 over and above the large increases in 2022. So they're expecting the worst. But you know, that's sort of what farmers have to do sometimes in order to hopefully feel better when it's not quite that bad. That's part of the part of that resiliency that we know farmers, farmers have. You know, I love that you brought this survey back. We had it, I think in June we covered it. I didn't know this thing existed until then. And I think it's pretty cool to be able to hear the quantification of how. Yeah, and I think it really shows the mood this year. Yeah, it's impacted. I mean, it's across the economy, but really with farmers, there's some negativity there and rightfully so with the prices being what they are for inputs. Absolutely. Well, unfortunately, we've got another challenge here that farmers in the state are facing bullworms. Pest that farmers are all too familiar with are back with the vengeance this year. As a matter of fact, surveillance done by the Cooperative Extension Service County agents around the state has found bullworm numbers up compared to this time in 2021. Each year, the agents post traps and each month they count those trapped insects as an indicator of what pests local farmers might expect to see in their fields. Bullworms can inflict damage on soybeans, corn and cotton. According to information provided by the U of A system division of agriculture, bullworms have multiplied in the past few weeks, specifically to Shade County Extension Agent John David Faribault says he normally sees one to 200 moths per trap per week. Right now, he's seeing five to 800 per week. He said those numbers aren't typical usually until the end of July or early August when corn is drying out and moths are moving into soybeans. He mentioned, I didn't put it here to be read, but he mentioned in some traps they were seeing up to 2,000 bugs a week. Anyway, just a note to growers, if you aren't already aware or aren't already keeping an eye on this, just know please watch out for signs of bullworms and susceptible crops, continue to monitor for the foreseeable future, get that net out, get to sweeping, call your local county agent if you suspect it, and get on top of that. Speaking of insects, pests, pestilence, all the bad stuff, Arkansas cattle producers need to be on the lookout as well. The UA system division of agriculture is urging producers to check their herds for unusual ticks and take measures to prevent transmission of, and I didn't check the pronunciation on any of this, so this is going to be a brutal segment. I'm just looking at this word. Theleriosis and other tick-related diseases. This morning comes after Asian longhorn ticks were recently found in northwest Arkansas by division scientists. The invasive tick can transmit the Theleria orientalis, say that five times fast, please. Theleria orientalis parasite, which attacks blood cells. The organism has a genotype that can be fatal to cattle and there's no treatment for the Theleriosis. This organism can cause these ticks are very small with the adult female being only about the size of a pea, is what that's supposed to be in my script. It's only about the size of a pea, but that's when it's full of blood. So we're talking very small here. This makes them hard to detect. Some of other recommendations to fend off these parasites, keep your pastures clipped and fence off wooded areas. Also, you can use insecticidal ear tags, which is something that the division said they use on some of their lifestyle. And address this issue. Yeah. So again, a lot of things for growers of all types to look out for in the bug department. That's right. Well, I've got kind of an interesting story on how goats are playing a role in reducing emissions here in the state. Arkansas, Oklahoma gas is partnering with a company called goats on the go to reduce carbon and methane emissions. Goodness, I can't talk to them. Oh, that's all right. I had a heliorosis. Yeah, no doubt to reduce carbon and methane emissions while promoting sustainable and efficient energy use. Goats on the go. That's my script. I tell you what, it's just one of those days. We've got goats and machines everywhere. Goats on the goats on the go. Fort Smith is helping AOG clear weeds and brush from its service territories using a method called targeted grazing. Targeted grazing is the application of livestock. In this case, goats to accomplish defined vegetation and landscape goals. The process controls problem vegetation without erosion, chemicals, or fossil fuels. So you might imagine how goats are well suited for this job. Goats on the go. Fort Smith is operated by Andrew Goldsmith, and it serves Crawford, Franklin, Sebastian, Scott and Western Logan County, in addition to a few Oklahoma counties as well. And the reason I really wanted to include this story this week, number one, I just think it's kind of cool, you know? But also, goats are awesome. And because it really ties into some interested targeted grazing success in the Western U.S. that I recently read about, where they're using cattle to create fire breaks as an effective way to contain wildfires, USDA has been conducting a study to evaluate the effectiveness of targeted grazing with cattle and have seen success. I can tell you, one of the articles I read had noted at least three wildfires in the Western U.S. that have been prevented due to this grazing. So cattle go out, they graze grass that would be normally flammable, or considered tender, graze that down to the ground, sort of creates a fire break. So it'll be interesting to see how targeted grazing applications could grow in popularity in Arkansas, possibly even creating a revenue stream. I can imagine you have to pay for these types of services. So anyone? That's interesting. And you get to say goats on the go. Yeah, I did get to say goats on the go. Well, how about a break from the news to learn how you can be a champion for your community? Your Arkansas Farm Bureau membership supports our work on behalf of Arkansas farmers, ranchers, and rural communities around the state. From youth leadership programs and academic scholarships, to hunger relief and disaster support, and much more. You can make a difference and be a champion for your community. Join today at ARFB.com. Well, did you know that the $40 annual ARFB membership contributes to the work being done in your local community, and also the agriculture advocacy work we do at the state and national level? Your membership truly matters for farmers and communities across the state. And as we head back, the next story we have is an ice story about a contest that, you know, the membership supports this kind of thing. It's the Arkansas Dairy Foods Contest. This is the one that we wanted to compete in. And we realized that we weren't qualified. And the thing about this contest is it always ends up with some winners that sound amazingly delicious. And we sometimes we put them in the magazine, front porch, and man, these look so good. I think we discussed taste tests and some of this stuff. I think we should do that. Well, this year, Caitlyn Cooper, 14 of Romance, that's in White County, and Lauren Powell, 15 of Lowell Bent County are the winners of this year's contest. There's two categories, the main dish and party ideas competitions. Caitlyn Cooper's three cheese spinach Alfredo pasta recipe, one in the main dish category. While Lauren Powell's mini cinnamon roll cheesecakes recipe took first place in the party ideas category for that one. Each contestant was required to send in a copy of their recipe, a summary of why they chose it, and a video of them making the dish. Judges then reviewed each contestant submission, made their decisions. Cooper and Powell were selected over three other finalists in their categories and each received prepaid gift cards as a prize. Nice. The annual Arkansas Dairy Foods contest is sponsored by Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Dairy Cooperative Association and held during the National Dairy Month in June. And again, the results are delicious. Excellent. Congrats to Caitlyn and Lauren on on their recognition. And it's awesome. I look forward to seeing those recipes. And I look forward to tasting them. Well, that's yeah. All right. Well, following up on our report that Rob shared last week, we now have a realistic look based on ground truth for acres planted in Arkansas. This is the first real update since the planning forecast published in March. So let's just dig into the numbers. Planted acres in the state is down for all commodity crops in reality versus the USDA planting intentions report from March. The 150,000 plus acre drop came as a surprise to industry experts and farmers across the state, especially given the favorable spring weather pattern. It's important to note that while crop acres are down overall, soybean and cotton acres are up over the 2021 growing season. We talked to our economists here at Farm Bureau and they attributed that decrease in acres to input costs. The margins are already thin and the record fertilizer prices probably pushed corner rice farmers away a bit. We're hearing that all over the place. Yeah. Dr. Harky mentioned that we were down about 400,000 acres in rice this year. Anyway, according to the report, peanuts suffered the biggest drop at more than 14% with just around 30,000 acres actually planted. If you're interested in reading more, you can visit the USDA's website at USDA.gov. Look for this report. There's all kinds of numbers, facts and figures in there, but we just kind of want to keep it light for the show today. Well, it's not quite, this show hasn't been quite as much of a bummer as last week's show. Yeah. That wasn't just because you guys were gone. We just had a lot of... And that wasn't a knock on Matthew. No, not at all. Just a lot of bummer news. And again, we had some negative stuff there and some things for farmers to watch out for on the parasite front. Yeah. But that one was a very good one. You had a special guest last week. Yeah. It was good to see Matthew. You know, we talk about him every show, but he actually actually made the... Gets to make an appearance. Made the appearance. One thing I want to mention before we get out of here, this is coming across today. We're going through, I mentioned earlier, the front porch magazine and how we use the recipe sometimes on there. Well, the next front porch is going to be hitting soon. I was looking at through some of the stuff we've got for people who are watching our podcast today. I have a picture here of a front porch playground. It's a new kids section. Oh, nice. That is going to be in the publication. It's got some educational material and where your food comes from. It's a little family fun. Okay. And you know, it's a magazine that hits a lot of families out there. So we thought this would be a good, good thing for the kids to have a little fun during the summer with the latest issue. Yeah. It's a great idea. So it's called front porch playground. That's right. All right. I dig it. I like working on that one. Got to bring out my inner child. Now we know the star of the show here. Ryan has graphic skills as well. Third wheel on the podcast. Speaking of star of the show, got up today in history. I do. Before I give you that, I had my six month cleaning at the dentist today. I got A plus. Oh, okay. Yes. Congratulations. And they had a new dentist in there that hadn't met yet since I was there. And she goes, you look like somebody. Okay. Nice. You really do look like somebody. Yeah. I'll think of it. Yeah. She never did. She never thought of it. I was a little nervous what she was, who she was going to say. I look, you know, I think it's the hair. But you don't have the hair of a common man. I'll say you have an excellent head of hair. Thank you. Yes. This day in history. Yeah. Since it is the vacation season, I thought it was cool. The Hawaiian Islands in 1898, the Hawaiian Islands were annexed by the United States. Oh, nice. Congress annexed Hawaii through a joint resolution signed by President William McKinley on this day in 1898, paving the way paving the way for the islands to become a territory in 1900 and then later a U.S. state 1959. Boom. You're completing the cycle. My dad was born in that year. And you remember those cards that you used to get with like the facts, like the tidbits for the year, that year, that was always like on the top of that when we were getting that one of those birthday cards. So that's how I, that's how I knew that 1959. Well, let's see if you can guess the year on this one then. My dad right now is probably anger texting. Given his age. This one is sports trivia, but Czech born tennis player Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Everett to win her first of nine Wimbledon singles titles. What year? 78. Look at him go. Right on the money. Man. Oh my goodness. I thought I was going to stump somebody, but thank you. Okay. I know my tennis fan. Yeah. You know, I used to play tennis when I was growing up and my parents are diehard tennis watchers and they watch Wimbledon. They had Wimbledon really all the time I was growing up. Yeah. So there you go. We watch a little Wimbledon over the weekend. Yeah, that's me. I was always for Bjorn Borg. Yeah, he was my guy. So there you go. I like to watch him macro get mad, but you know, that is really impressive. I didn't tell you. All right. Well, I do what I can. That's let's leave them wanting more. Yeah, exactly. Well, I guess we better wrap up the news and the, you know, all of all the silliness for this week. And just, you know, if you are watching or listening, thanks for following along with the Arkansas adcast. We're grateful for you taking the time to watch and listen. Remember, you can catch the live stream every Thursday, 2pm on Facebook and usually YouTube. I think we might have had an issue today, but it will be on YouTube. Make sure you turn on notifications to get alerts when we go live. Listen to the audio version later on iTunes, Spotify, or whatever service you use to get your podcast. Yeah. The Arkansas adcast is brought to you by the Arkansas Farm Bureau, hosted by me, Jason Brown and me, Rob Anderson. Our show is produced by Brian Pistole, Matthew Magdefrow, and this week, the ever so talented, Ashley Allison Wallace. Thank you for helping us. All right, we'll see you next week. Thank you very much.