Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
e. 2. An assessment of the agricultural activity in the State means: 1) Identifying the top five labor-intensive crops, the months of heavy activity, and the geographic area of prime activity; 2) Summarize the agricultural employers’ needs in the State (i.e. are they predominantly hiring local or foreign workers, are they expressing that there is a scarcity in the agricultural workforce); and 3) Identifying any economic, natural, or other factors that are affecting agriculture in the State or any projected factors that will affect agriculture in the State
Current Narrative:
The main agricultural crops in Arkansas are soybeans, rice, corn, cotton, and sweet potatoes, with an estimated projected harvest of five and a half million acres that were harvested in program year 2020. Most of these main agricultural crops are concentrated in Central, Eastern, and Northeastern Arkansas.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, most of these main agricultural crops are concentrated in the following regions:
• District 60 (East Central Arkansas) — Arkansas, Cross, Crittenden, Lee, Lonoke, Monroe, Prairie, Phillips, St. Francis, and Woodruff counties.
• District 30 (Northeastern Arkansas) — Clay, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Jackson, Lawrence, Mississippi, Randolph, and White counties.
• District 90 (Southeast Arkansas) — Ashley, Chicot, Desha, Drew, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties.
These are seasonal jobs requiring over two thousand migrant and seasonal workers to cultivate and plant, till and harvest these crops. Agricultural employers are increasingly faced with the lack of domestic labor willing and able to do these long and hard jobs outdoors in all kinds of weather. The majority of these seasonal workers are foreign born workers entering the country on H2-A Visas (temporary agriculture) and most of the returning workers are coming from Mexico and the next highest percentage of workers are traveling from South Africa. Free housing is included for these workers and any domestic worker than is unable to return to his/her home each day.
The effects of increased rainfall, flooding, and extreme temperatures have impacted and will continue to impact Arkansas' economy and agriculture production. The COVID-19 pandemic and pursuing variants continue to impact the agriculture community including MSFW’s and Agricultural Employers. The tightened labor market has created job opportunities with increased pay rates and additional incentives that lure farmworkers from seasonal and temporary farm labor. Fears and uncertainties tied to COVID-19 have also had an impact on migrant farmworker populations who travel to Arkansas to harvest a variety of crops. Agricultural employers had began increasing their utilization of the H-2A program annually in Arkansas and that has increase has grown constant during the pandemic.
There are estimated to be approximately 4,500 migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs) in the state at any time, the overall majority of H2-A workers enter from Mexico and Spanish is the native language spoken. Over the past few years, the number of new agricultural jobs entered into the Arkansas JobLink system has more than tripled.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture - National Agricultural Statistics Services, the top five (5) labor-intensive crops, months of heavy activity, and geographic area of prime activity are detailed in the chart below.
Agricultural Activity in Arkansas – Calendar 2020
| CROPS | ACRES HARVESTED Harvested 2020 | PRODUCTION | DURATION OF HARVEST | GEOGRAPHIC AREA/CNTY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOYBEANS | 2,820,000 | 144,200,000 BU | July 15 Thru November 15 | Lee, Phillips, St. Francis, Cross |
| RICE | 1,461,000 | 108,107,000 CWT | August 10 Thru October 1 | Arkansas, Monroe, Prairie |
| CORN | 620,000 | 111,320 BU | June 25 Thru August 31 | Lee, Phillips, Cross |
| COTTON | 525,000 | 1,277,000 BALES | August 15 Thru October 21 | Mississippi, Craighead, Crittenden |
| WINTER WHEAT | 145,000 | 4,125,000 BU | November 30 Thru March 1 | Lonoke, Prairie, Lee, St. Francis |