Mark Isbell, North Little Rock, Arkansas , has been named the 2016 Rice Farmer of the Year at the 19th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference, Southern Corn & Soybean Conference, Southern Precision Ag Conference and the Delta States Irrigation Conference.
Isbell holds a Master of Arts from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Professional and Technical Writing.
Isbell farms about 3,500 acres of continuous rice in Lonoke County in central Arkansas. His operation is 100 percent zero grade. One field dates back to 55 years of continuous rice. Always open to new and in¬ novative practices, Isbell is open to researchers and others who want to try new things on his farm.
lsbell’s farm is almost exclusively heavy buckshot clay. He believes his ground wants to grow rice. The decision to grow rice exclusively was made years ago and is a reflection of his concept to ‘farm with the land instead of just on it”.
Isbell continues his grandfather’s and father’s tradition of increasing produc¬tivity, increasing labor efficiency and reducing costs. Today, Mark Isbell continues this spirit of re¬sourcefulness with a focus on making things better for the next generation.
Do not miss Mark Isbell presenting: “The Evolution of Sustainable Agriculture” at RMTC 2016. 
