Cristina LaRue

BAY -- Zipping over a 97-acre field in Craighead County, a drone scans the corn below with a high-definition video camera. Its mission: collect evidence of bugs, weeds and overall crop health.

BAY -- Zipping over a 97-acre field in Craighead County, a drone scans the corn below with a high-definition video camera. Its mission: collect evidence of bugs, weeds and overall crop health.

Mirroring a nationwide decline, peanut acres in Arkansas fell by 17% while the state's cotton crop exceeded previous expectations from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday.

Farmers planted 760,000 acres of corn in Arkansas this year, an 8% decline from the 830,000-acre forecast posted in June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The state Department of Agriculture has created a new online wildfire dashboard to provide up-to-date information about wildfires in Arkansas.

The state Department of Agriculture has created a new online wildfire dashboard to provide up-to-date information about wildfires in Arkansas.

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Mississippi County officials are working to attract a yarn production facility and eventually a textile mill that would process local cotton into luxury bath towels.

Rising production costs, workforce availability, infrastructure in Arkansas and concerns about the long-term outlook for U.S. rice were on the agenda last week in a meeting in Stuttgart that included Riceland Foods and Producers Rice Mill representatives and Republican Rep. Rick Crawford.

The corn and rice harvests are well underway in Arkansas with agronomists reporting strong rice yields and good corn crop prices.