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Laudies Brantley (right) We are excited to introduce Laudies Brantley as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. He graduated from England High School in 1965. Following graduation, he attended Arkansas State University (A-State) and completed his Bachelor of Science degree. Laudies received his college diploma from Carl Reng in the Spring of 1969. Laudies was born in 1947 and the first year his parents made their fir

We are excited to introduce Dan Hooks as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Dan Hooks, current President of the White River Irrigation District, is a semi-retired American farmer managing approximately 1,200 acres of irrigated farmland in Prairie County near Slovak, Arkansas, alongside his brother and son. Their family operation primarily produces rice and soybeans, with some wheat cultivation, and has successful

We are excited to introduce Dr. Michele L. Reba as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Dr. Reba is a research hydrologist, lead scientist, and research leader (acting) at the USDA-ARS-Delta Water Management Research Unit in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The mission of the unit is to execute research related to agricultural water resources management at the multiple scales to further our knowledge base, evaluate technologic

We are excited to introduce Deborah Leslie as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Deborah Leslie is an Assistant Professor at the University of Memphis in the Department of Earth Sciences. She grew up in the Arkansas Delta and graduated with her PhD in Earth Sciences from the Ohio State University. She completed a postdoctoral research position with the USDA-ARS Delta Water Management Research before becoming an a

We are excited to introduce Dr. Gerson Drescher as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Dr. Drescher is an Assistant Professor of Applied Soil Fertility at the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas. His research is focused on developing best crop and nutrient management strategies to enhance crop production and environmental sustainability. Dr. Drescher’s research emphasizes s

We are excited to introduce Edward Swaim as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Edward Swaim has served as Executive Director of the Bayou Meto Water Management District since April 2019, overseeing a project that will provide irrigation water, flood reduction, and wildlife habitat in five Arkansas counties. Prior to this position, he served as chief of the Water Management Division at the Arkansas Natural Resourc

We are excited to introduce Dennis K. Carman as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. He retired from NRCS in 2007 and is currently the Chief Engineer and Director for the White River Irrigation District charged with delivering Affordable Surface Water to the Grand Prairie Region. Dennis is lifetime member of the American Society of Biological and Agriculture Engineers. He gained experience with NRCS in Kentucky, P

We are excited to introduce Tate Wentz as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Tate is a native Arkansawyer. He received a Bachelor of Science from Arkansas Tech University in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology and a Master of Science from Arkansas State University in Aquatic Ecology. Tate has spent the last two decades studying Arkansas aquatic ecology and water quality. This included time at the Arkansas Department o

We are excited to introduce Dr. Ayush Joshi Gyawali as one of our speakers for the 2026 Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO. Dr. Gyawali is a Research Soil Scientist specializing in quantifying and assessing soil health through proximal sensing and field-scale measurement. He has focused his research on answering questions ranging from field sampling design to developing novel, inexpensive devices to quantify soil health indicators. Specifically,