Meet The Speaker: Laudies Brantley

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 first crop. Until he started college, he helped his father with the family farm. He was able to farm with his father for nearly 20-years before his death and operate about 1,200 acres in the 90’s. Since that time, Brantley Farms has roughly doubled in size every decade. Today, they manage about 13,000 acres, approximately half Brantley owned and feel they run a very efficient operation, especially through the use of technology.

In 1980, he and the region became concerned about irrigation, specifically water use. Water concerns are still a concern in the region and beyond. During the Obama administration, the region received approximately $50 million to get started on a large-scale irrigation project, named the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project. The overall project is projected to provide continued irrigated production on 245,357 acres of cropland. The concept is to better distribute water from rivers as well as rain water usage in the area.

Over the decades, Mr. Brantley has been steadfast in getting this project completed and everyone anticipates the final few miles of canal will be completed in 2026/2027.

Come see his presentation, Surface Water Diversion Projects—History and Status in Arkansas, at the Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference and Irrigation EXPO at the Arkansas State University Student Union on January 14.