Arkansas

History

Arkansas is the nation’s leader in rice production with 1.2 million acres harvested in 2021/22. While there is evidence of experimentation with the cultivation rice in Arkansas in the mid to late 1800s, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that rice was grown in earnest: “William H. Fuller of Carlisle (Lonoke County) has become the legendary father of the Arkansas rice industry. Fuller, who had come to Arkansas from Nebraska to farm, was on a hunting trip with friends in Louisiana in 1896 when he first saw rice being cultivated. Noting similarities between the Louisiana soil conditions and those of the Grand Prairie, he resolved to experiment with rice on his own land. Investing $400 in pumps and other equipment, Fuller planted three acres with rice in 1897. Not encouraged by his initial results, Fuller moved to Louisiana and worked on rice farms there for several years, learning the techniques that had proven successful. Returning to Arkansas in 1903, Fuller met with several businessmen in Hazen (Prairie County) who offered to pay him $1,000 if he could raise thirty-five bushels of rice per acre on his farm in either 1904 or 1905. Purchasing a well rig and other material in Louisiana as well as seed rice, Fuller planted seventy acres with rice in 1904 and produced a crop of 5,225 bushels of rice, more than double the output required to claim the $1,000 bonus. His example, coupled with other successful plantings, prompted a growing number of Arkansas farmers to begin cultivating rice.” Source

State Associate Members

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