Race For 100 Winners Field Questions: McClendon Earns Leadership Award

JONESBORO, ARK.

The soybean producers who became the first to break the 100-bushel per acre yield mark in Arkansas kept no secrets at Tuesday’s Arkansas Soybean Research Summit.

The annual event, held this year at the 80,000-square foot exposition hall at the Northeast Arkansas District Fairgrounds, drew about 230 people.

“This event provides the opportunity for Arkansas’ soybean growers to hear the results of the research they fund through the Soybean Checkoff program,” said Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Research is funded by grants from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board, which was a co-sponsor of the event with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

This year’s presenters included Ross, Travis Faske, extension plant pathologist; Bob Scott, extension weed scientist; U of Arkansas Professor Larry Purcell, his PhD student Ryan VanRoekel and Lanny Ashlock, former extension soybean specialist and now project manager for the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board.

The highlights of the day included the recognition of John R. McClendon of Marianna with the Arkansas Soybean Leadership Award for his contributions to the soybean industry in our state and around the world.  Over the course of his career McClendon served on the American Soybean Association, first as vice president, then as president and eventually chairman of the board. McClendon also co-founded the Board of American Soybean Industry Council and was honored in 1996 by the Board of FFA Hall of Achievement Award, and later was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Soybean Association.  

The event was closed with in informal Q & A panel discussion with the state’s record-breaking, 100-bushel-per-acre growers: Eddie Tackett of Pope County and Matt Miles of Desha County. The third 100-bushel MVP, Nelson Crow, was unable to attend.

   Among the questions they fielded were:
   • “At what growth stages did you water?”
   • “Did you water every middle or every other middle?”
   • “What kind of land prep did you do before planting?”
   • “What was the year average for your entire farm?”
   • “What is the price of poultry litter?”

See their answers in an upcoming video of the panel discussion to be uploaded to the Arkansas Extension YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-586Mc8hxk&feature=youtu.be.∆