The Annual Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference to be held Friday, January 31, 2014 at the Arkansas State University Convocation Center in Jonesboro.

The conference comes at a time when the state is facing increasing pressure on its water resources.

A new thing for the conference: 2014 will be the first year for the Conservation Award.

“It’s being sponsored by the Judd Hill Foundation and is going to Wayne Wiggins,” says Michele Reba, USDA-ARS research hydrologist. “He was early advocate of soil and water conservation practices in eastern Arkansas.”

Wiggins, a producer and landowner, is also very involved in the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board.

The conference, set to begin at 8 a.m. with registration and end at 3 p.m., “flips between soil and water topics every year,” says Reba. “This year, the focus of the conference will largely be water.”

The agenda includes:

Czarnecki, says Reba, will “give an overview of what he’s seen over his career. It’ll be a sort of ‘what I’ve come to understand’ review. That will be very interesting.”

George H. Dunklin, Jr., Grand Prairie producer and President of Ducks Unlimited, will provide the luncheon address.

“We’re trying to bring in a balance between natural resources management and water,” says Reba. “Mr. Dunklin does a great job explaining those two things.”

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For the afternoon sessions, “a researcher will be paired with a producer for presentations.”

The artificial recharge practice, says Reba, “is in its early stages. But there’s a lot of interest in it and the ways we can solve the problems such efforts have run into in the past.”

The conference registration fee is $20, which includes the cost of lunch. Registration form and more information.