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2022 Farm Family section is in this week’s edition. (See inside.)
Volume 121 Number 31 - USPS 225-680
Community Calendar of Events
Serving all of Prairie County and the Grand Prairie
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
WRID first road crossing to be completed soon
Prairie County Libraries continue Summer Reading Program through August 31 Hazen Senior Center is open from 9:00 a.m.1:00 p.m. daily. Lunch is 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. All Seniors are welcome. Covid shots available at Medskers in Carlisle every Thursday 2:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m and at the Prescription Shop in Hazen on Mondays. Wednesday August 3 American Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary meeting 6:00 p.m. DVB Legion Hut Tuesday August 9 PC Quorum Court meeting Courthouse Annex 6:00 p.m. Thursday August 11 Hazen and Des Arc Schools’ Open Houses Hazen schedule: High School 5:30-7:30 p.m. Elementary 5:00-7:00 p.m Community events brought to you by Hazen Chamber of Commerce and the
Please call F&M Bank (255-3042) or The Grand Prairie Herald (255-4538) to list events.
By Leigh VanHouten Traffic has been rerouted over the first road crossing of the White River Irrigation District’s (WRID) canal system. “We have some seeding and mulching left to do later this week, probably Thursday and Friday and the final clean-up next week, but traffic has been going over for about two or three weeks now,” Tony Stevenson, WRID water management engineer, explained. It took crews just six days to install 65 concrete box culverts at the crossing located in Prairie County. Traffic was rerouted while the necessary dirt work was completed. Crews with Capital Paving and
Construction, of Jefferson City, Missouri, did the installation of the concrete box culverts. The first was delivered on Monday, April 4. The Downs Road crossing is located just north of Highway 70 near DeValls Bluff. This work was done in what WRID describes as the Canal 1000 portion of the project. The project, once complete, will bring water to area farmers in portions of Prairie, Arkansas, Lonoke and Monroe Counties. There are five rows of the concrete culverts with 13 boxes per row. Forterra Pipe and Precast, LLC, of West Memphis, supplied the boxes. “We believe changing from the current bridge
concept to box culverts will be easier to maintain and save significant money,” WRID Director and Chief Engineer Dennis Carman said. WRID is currently doing dirt work on segment No. 2 of the Canal 2000 portion. The next road crossing will be located under a portion of Old Highway 70 Road, which is a county gravel road located south of Highway 70 in Prairie County. WRID is storing the concrete boxes for this work at their storage yard off Old Highway 70 Road. These boxes have an opening of 10-foot by 10foot, are six-foot in length and weigh almost 20 tons each, Carman explained. They will be laid side by side to cre-
ate the needed flow. The box ends are formed such that the joints nest and become watertight. Five boxes are required for the current canal size and will be reduced as construction continues downstream with less water flow required. A typical county road crossing requires 65 to 80 boxes. The project is now fully funded for the first 12 miles of construction after a recent vote of approval from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC). The ANRC commission members voted in favor of the $26 million loan through the Arkansas Natural Resources Division of t h e A r k a n s a s Department of Agriculture.
“This funding is a loan and will be used to match $48 million of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funding already approved. This means we are fully funded for the first 12 miles of canal started just west of DeValls Bluff and ending at the Hazen airport,” Carman said. Prior work includes a pump station, 7,500 feet of twin 10-foot diameter pipelines and the regulating reservoir constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Continue to keep up with construction, public meetings and other information by following the White River Irrigation District on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Whit eRiverIrrigationDistrict.
Riceland Foods Leadership Class travels to Washington D.C. Riceland farmer members and team members traveled to Washington D.C. as part of Riceland’s In-Depth Leadership Class curriculum this week. Farmer members Bo Mason of Brinkley, Ark., Charles Churchwell of Des Arc, Ark., and Zane Clark of Broseley, Mo. and Riceland team members Jack Morris, District Manager for Corning, Dudley, Madrid and Poplar Bluff, Austin Brown, Sustainability Manager, Adam Shea, Director of Sustainability, Bill Free, Director of Member Relations, and Kevin McGilton, Vice President of Government Affairs, met with various government agencies, agriculture industry leaders and policy makers over the two-day trip. The In-Depth Leadership Class started its final session on Monday, June 25 at the United States Department of Agriculture, and the group heard agency briefings from the National Ag Statistics Service, the Foreign Ag Service, the Farm Service Agency, and the Economic Research Service. The class learned about what the U.S. International Trade Commission does and discussed rice industry related topics, such as India’s impact on USA
rice in the domestic and international markets. Sarah Moran, USA Rice Federation’s vice president of international promotion, gave an update on international promotion activities. Peter Bachmann, USA Rice Federation’s vice president of policy and government affairs, discussed trade policy and potential new farm bill policy with the In-Depth class. The second day of meeting kicked off with a discussion on the 199A tax reform impact on cooperatives and farm families and the H2A program with Chuck Conner, the chief executive officer of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. Duck Unlimited’s Director of Public Policy Kellis Moss gave the group an update on conservation efforts. The In-Depth class made their way to Capitol Hill where they
met with Senator John Boozman and his staff. The group discussed the current state of the rice industry, how high input costs are affecting farmers and the need for AdHoc assistance. They
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also met with Congressman Rick Crawford’s staff and the House Ag Committee to discuss farm bill policy and issues with the railroad. The Riceland In-Depth
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program is a farmer member and staff leadership development program designed to teach new farmer members and employees about the cooperative. (Continued on page 5.)
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