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The Arkansas Times and KUARFM 89.

Hi everybody, I'm Donna Terrell for Arkansas week.

Over the past two weeks Arkansas led the nation in COVID cases, giving rise to a new Omicron sub variant BA5.

Joining me to talk about the health risks that it brings is director of health doctor Jennifer Dillehay.

Dr dillehay.

Thank you so much for for being with me.

You know, we've been talking about COVID for way too long.

I think a lot of people are what was that term?

COVID fatigue?

They're getting tired of hearing about it, but now with this new sub variant, we really need to discuss this.

So I guess my first question is, after talking with someone the other day, they said, oh, I thought the sub variant was BA 4 now it's BA 5.

What's the difference?

Well they have different mutations and it appears that the BA .5 is much more transmissible than the BA .4 so it has become the dominant variant in Arkansas as well as around the nation.

What's causing it to spread so quickly?

Because that's the other thing I'm hearing this one compared to some of the other sub variants.

Just seems to spread a lot easier.

Well, you know, as the variant emerge, the ones that are going to spread the most are the ones that are going to be more transmissible than the ones before.

So each new variant is going to be more transmissible than what we just had, and that is the case with BA .5.

It has some mutations that give it an advantage.

Part of it has to do with the fact that it multiplies in a person's upper respiratory tract.

Their nose, sinuses and upper part of their breathing Airways and not so much in the lower part of the lungs, which some of the earlier variants did.

This gives the virus an advantage of creating a high load of viruses, as well as putting it in respiratory secretions that people can give off when they call or laugh or sneeze or sing or talk so.

Why do we keep getting so many different sub variants?

Because it seems after one there's another one.

So I mean we're talking about the BA .5.

I'm sure there's another one out there that's forming as we speak.

Well, this virus that causes COVID-19 is what we call an RNA virus and RNA viruses mutate a lot.

So whenever someone gets infected and the virus multiplies itself, it mutates or makes mistakes as it replicates, and those mistakes may or may not, giving it advantage if it gives it an advantage, then those particular viruses with those mistakes or mutations in them.

Are going to be able to multiply more rapidly than others and spread more rapidly.

So as those infections occur, the more there is an opportunity for the virus to.

Multiply and then make mistakes so the more transmission there is, the more mistakes and mutations and the more likely we are to have new variants that will become dominant.

You know it.

It's interesting as we're having this discussion.

I remember specifically people talking about the the more people who would get COVID.

Eventually you could eradicate it.

It could go away.

It doesn't appear to me that this is going away and quite a few people have.

Either had the disease, or they've gotten the vaccine.

We were told that the more people who would get this virus COVID-19 it would start to disappear.

Doctor Dillehay, it doesn't seem like it's disappearing and I think many of us are at a point where we're wondering if it will ever disappear.

Well, this virus is not going to disappear and it's because humans do not develop lasting immunity to coronaviruses.

There's about four different coronaviruses that cause the common cold.

People can get them again and again they get infected.

They have some immunity for a while and then it wanes.

And that's exactly what the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 does.

So we aren't going to develop.

Life long lasting immunity for this virus like we do for some other viruses, like for example the measles virus.

And then on top of that, people get vaccinated people who are get their primary doses, and they're recommended.

Booster doses do much better than people who don't get vaccinated.

But the protection from the vaccines also wanes, you know.

And and that's another thing, I think that frustrates many, many Arkansans is the fact that you know, we waited and waited for a vaccine.

We finally got it.

There were people who were skeptical in the very beginning.

There are people who wanted that vaccine more than they wanted to breathe air.

And now with the vaccine, you can still get this virus I. I think that's that's disconcerting to a lot of our Kansans who were hoping that that would be the key to, you know, to changing things.

Well, there are no vaccines that are 100% and protecting people against infection.

And these vaccines are similar to that, but the important thing to know is if people get fully vaccinated and they're up to date with their booster doses, they are much less likely to get infected, and they are much less likely to have severe illness and go into the hospital.

So there is an advantage.

In fact, a great advantage to getting up to date with vaccines, but it's not 100%.

And if people have their expectation, it will be 100% then that will set them up for disappointment.

OK, so as it stands right now, how does how does.

Or do our current vaccines protect us from the BA .5 and how many boosters do we need?

And doctor dillehay?

Is there a new vaccine on the horizon that may be stronger for the BA .5?

Yes, well we have good data that shows us during the Omicron surge that we had recently in January and February that the people who have were up to date on their vaccines, including the recommended boosters, did a lot better than the people who did not have the full vaccination regimen, including the booster.

And now we have the BA .5.

There is some immune escape.

But still what we are seeing is the people who receive the primary doses and the recommended booster doses do better than the people who don't.

In the fall, the FDA is looking at having booster doses that contain the formula for the original spike protein that's been in the vaccines, but also adding a coverage for the.

DA .5 in those booster doses so that it's likely they will be helpful to us as that be a .5 circulates may not be soon enough.

We'll have to wait and see, but in the meantime it's important for people to get those recommended booster doses that are available now.

OK, we're under 2 minutes in terms of time.

I have two more questions.

Symptoms I'm hearing that the BA .5 the symptoms.

Can be more painful.

What should people look for?

Well, a lot of times people will have mild symptoms if they have partial immunity, either from previous infection or from the vaccines, and most of it is the upper respiratory sinus, cough, cold congestion.

But then people may have more severe symptoms and that ranges from.

Fever, fatigue, brain fog, and so forth, and some people will have lasting symptoms that will last for weeks and months.

OK, you know, we've run out of time here, but I bet your recommendation.

Even though there is no mandate, is to wear masks.

Yes, the COVID community levels are now high.

In 44 of our 75 counties and the recommendation is for everyone to wear a mask when they're indoors in public places OK, and with that we're going to have to wrap it up.

Doctor Dillehay as always, pleasure speaking with you.

Thank you.

Thank you, we'll be right back.

Well, life on a farm can be unpredictable when it comes to the outcome of your harvest.

After experiencing a rainy April causing delays in planting crops, farmers are now dealing with this severe heat and how to manage and save their crops here to provide us with an update on our rowcrop says Doctor Victor Ford, Associate Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

For the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Dr Ford.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me OK. 100 degree plus temperatures.

This has been going on for several days.

High humidity even when the temperature is in the 90s.

How are farmers managing very?

With a lot of difficulty, and that's probably the best way to say that we are have a capacity.

Most of our Rd crops are irrigated.

And that's an insurance policy that we get a crop.

We're right now in such a water demand.

That we're at capacity.

In other words, we are irrigating as much as we can irrigate.

We're having to make decisions whether we which field does not get irrigated at this time and suboptimal time.

So when when when you talk about a field not getting irrigated now is that crop left a chance?

No, we will try to come back and make and irrigate it when we can, but they're just continually switching pumps on and off, moving water.

You know, these different fields.

The thing that confuses me and not to minimize the problem because I recognize there's a problem.

But Arkansas has always been a state that gets really hot.

It gets hot and and we deal with droughts.

This is not our first go around.

So why is this different?

The difference is the light planting season.

We had the rainfall up into May.

If you look at our research studies, we show that crop yields drop after certain periods, and usually that's April may window.

So if we start planning in May and in June then our yields drop but we got to have water to get that crop up and keep going.

So we had started to Lily plant the field and start watering.

In fact we were talking to farmers this week and they were watering their beans right after planting.

So the beans will germinate and can come out of the soil so.

Our crops doing and and I guess when we talk about we're talking rice cotton.

You mentioned soybeans, corn.

How are these crops doing right now in general?

In general I am seeing corn crops that are look good.

But there's still.

This is reaching the peak water demand, so we've got these hot dry temperatures.

Peak water demand that we compound that factor with the high temperatures and we will not get pollination.

Or low pollination amount.

So in other words, the kernels will feel, so we're we're facing A2 edged swords.

Yeah, we can maybe get the water, but the temperatures are going to affect us.

So when you talk to farmers and we just had this this discussion that you know the vast majority of farmers there, these are families we're talking about.

We're not talking about big business, we're talking families that rule this is their income.

So when you talk to these farmers, what are they telling you?

What kind of frustration are you hearing from them?

What I'm hearing is, is the frustration of getting all the water that the plants need.

Because we're in a high demand, we're hearing high commodity prices.

Which is a good thing, but we're also hearing record high input costs.

For example, we're looking at the gas pump and how it's affecting our own family, family budgets.

Farmers budgets have the, for example, urea fertilizer, which is a common nitrogen fertilizer, has gone from around $400.00 a ton to $1200 a ton and it's up and down.

And just like our gas prices are up and down, but it's it's it's really difficult to make.

Ian's meat with those kind of high input costs.

$5 diesel.

These irrigation pumps run on diesel, most of them.

There's some that run on electricity, most of them run on diesel, so these are the kinds of things that farmers are looking at in terms of, well, I got to get a crop out, but it's going to cost me more than ever to get that unit of of of crop out.

And you know, and and it helps consumers to better understand why when they go into the grocery store, things are costing us more.

Produce is costing more cattle.

You said that cattle farmers are really struggling too.

Cattle, you know, used to be able to go all day.

Arkansas and buy a a big round Bale of hay.

Everybody seen those out for $45.00, roughly.

We looked at our budgets in terms of what the increasing fuel costs, increasing, fertilizer cost and it cost us $75 to make a roll around Vail.

So I was sort of throwing out $100 a barrel back in May and everybody was kind of giving me a hard time about it, but we were actually looking at $125 A roll for roll hay and it's not only because of drought and Arkansas, but there's no hay in Texas.

There's no hay in Oklahoma.

There's no high further West Tennessees and is in a drought just like we are.

There's no heat coming from the east, so we're in dire straits in terms of being able to to feed our cattle this winter.

We're actually looking at.

Record sales of people selling off their cattle because there's no way they're going to be able to feed them this winter.

OK, you know, we can talk about this in the abstract when, when when we're referring it in in this way, referring to it in this way.

But these are people.

These are people.

These are families.

How are they handling this?

And when I think about it, I think about mental health.

You know, you've done this all your life and now you're dealing with some extreme extreme problems that.

Affects your livelihood.

It is a family.

Problem.

Just think about having your own budgets and getting your budgets cut.

A lot of our beef cattle farmers are part-time farmers, but they're still under that budget restraint in terms of trying to make that enterprise cash flow.

And it's a it's a stress.

I mean you're and in fact I was talking to a farmer this morning and he was trying to figure out.

OK, you know, do I fertilize or not?

You know, they're they're.

They're they're.

Those kinds of questions out there it's it's just like when when we refer to people who have to take a lot of medication should I go out and buy this medication because I can't afford it?

And they're dealing with similar issues.

So how are you helping them mentally?

OK, mental health.

We have a program and had this program for several years and farmer mental health and our family consumer science colleagues.

They have pulled things together and have been doing these mental health programs.

And and giving that information out to people for a long time, what we're doing right now is creating web pages and webinars.

We're trying to react very quickly to this and what we're doing is offering mental health.

Information.

All of us need help sometimes with the stress and farmers mostly being proud folks do not want it.

But I'm also concerned about the families and it's the stress on those families.

I work a lot with environmental sustainability.

But I'm also concerned with farm sustainability.

Keeping things in the family farm.

I'm also worried about the farmer sustainability.

Yeah, and that that's as extreme stress factor in terms of looking at an enterprise that you spend your time working on that you really love doing and and it's just that stress of trying to make the make ends meet.

And that's a difficult time.

Right now.

I am so sorry to hear that, and doctor Ford, we have run out of time, but I know you're going to make sure that these farmers are OK where you are working on it.

Thank you.

So much and thank you for being here.

We will pray for our farmers.

We will pray for our entire state for that matter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Stay tuned for this month's Good roots as we feature a ranch family using solar energy to sustain their farm.

Major funding for good routes is provided by Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Farm Bureau advocating the interests of Arkansas's largest industry for more than 80 years.

Arkansas counts on agriculture, agriculture counts on Farm Bureau additional funding for good routes provided by the Union Pacific Foundation.

OK, there you go.

This is Infinity ranch.

The name kind of comes from the fact that this ranch has been here for fairness.

8th generation alright and our kids are 9th generation and I think just the never ending.

You know making it a place to come back to a place that's sustaining so it's infinite.

We won the farm family Environmental Excellence Award and it kind of shows how you know we work hard on the farm we try to do the best we can.

And we try to advocate for you know Farm, and to do things correct and for the sustainability aspect of it.

So it means a lot because there's a lot of work that goes into it.

It's very important to me to be an advocate of agriculture.

I think in just the industry today there's a lot of misconceptions.

And so it's important to tell your story.

And if you're not telling your story, somebody elses, that's probably not accurate.

Definitely through my work with our own children and then with the 4H program and 4H youth, I tried to raise up little.

Advocates of agriculture.

You can get it back to the family farm aspect of it and see how farms are produced and how.

It's just most of them are a family farm just like us husband and wife and some kids raising cattle or turkeys or broilers or any other types of animals out there do.

Your food is grown by people just like us all over the country and there's not that many of them anymore, so it's a very important job.

Ever since I was little I've been involved in the day-to-day operations, been around broiler houses.

And been around the cows.

Parents raised me on the farm and that's just all I've known my entire life.

I'll wake up in the morning and I'll go through the turkeys and make sure everything's going alright and there's no problem.

Take a look at the cattle as well and then I'll go to work and then I'll come back and kind of repeat the process, then finally get home.

See the kids.

Relax with them.

To be sustainable farm you have to make investments for the future.

You can't be so much worried about the short term.

You gotta say hey, 10 years from now.

This is where I want to be.

So you gotta make those key investments.

And we thought maybe solar was a part of it.

After we had the houses for about a year and we looked at the cost of the electricity cost and thought, well, you know, let's look into solar and so we started looking at different vendors and got some quotes and they gave us a production number.

How many solar panels we would need to in order to offset the cost for the farm?

In in farming, a lot of times you know there's a lot of things that you have to invest in, and so it it's kind of looking at it to the long term.

You know it maybe that upfront cost, but it's eventually going to pay for itself.

I think we just kind of felt that it was the best decision.

I wasn't that nervous, and I think I always kind of look at it a different perspective.

You know?

We hope these kids come back here and run this farm someday.

And just that it's sustainable and that it's it could help them down the road.

I think that's more important than probably makes you a little less.

Nervous, so the solar panels, you know only make power when the when the sun shining.

If it's cloudy, they'll produce some power.

It won't be as much as if it's a bright sunny day, and generally they produce the Max power from around 10:00 AM to 2:00 to 3:00 PM.

You can see it and that'll be the Max power that there is.

It first goes to the poultry houses, the Turkey houses, and then if we're making more power, then we're using that.

Just goes back to the grid and we get a credit into the month into your billing period.

Those credits get deducted from the amount of kilowatt hours that you've used to lower your electric bill.

The solar panels.

They'll last a long time, they're warrantied for basically 25 years to produce a certain amount of power.

Nothing says they're going to stop working at 25 years.

They'll keep making power as long as they stay in working condition and at 25 years they're still supposed to be ready to put out 80% of the ready capacity that there was when they were new, and if they failed during that time frame, they'll install new ones for you.

I think any people who.

Are kind of uncertain or unsure about solar panel.

I think it's that upfront.

Cost is usually what scares them off and so I think you have to look at it more as an investment in a long term thing and and that kind of helps the the mindset of saying well can we really you know go take out a loan and get this or whatever you're doing.

I think that's usually where people are kind of nervous and unsure about solar, particularly in farming as years go on cost of electricity is going to go up.

I think everybody.

Agrees with that they've seen their if you lived in a house for 10 years, price a year, electric bills gone up.

If you're electric, cost now is $2000 a month and in 10 years that electric cost could be $4000 a month, but your price is locked in at that $2000 a month, and then once you get it paid for that, solar solar cost has gone away and electric cost is basically pretty well free at that point.

So it then that allows your farm to be more economically viable.

I definitely think it was a good decision for us and I would definitely encourage others to look into it and see if it's a good decision for you.

We always want to make this a sustainable farm, a family farm that's here for multiple generations.

We don't want it to stop at eight or nine.

You know we'd like for it to be 1516.

Keep it going.

Talking about a tree that we have planted in the in the bottoms there that I didn't know it was planted.

But Dad told me about it.

There was playing at the same time.

One of his brothers was born and you'll now that tree is, you know 80 years old and it's a big tree and I've always wanted to do that for my kids.

And you know, times passing by, but I'd like to get find a good spot, put a tree out.

That way you know 40 years, 80 years down the road you get to see that it's still here.

Like I said, we're 8th 9th generation.

You know you get down to 10th 11th generation that trees 200 years old.

Well.

You still get that tree there and that same spot that you've had for that length of time.

A big thank you to the Robotham family and Infinity Ranch for sharing their story.

Now as we close, we want to reflect on a political pioneer, Jimmy Lou Fisher.

She began her career as a public servant in 1971 when she served for eight years as the Green County Treasurer.

In February 1979, she was appointed by then governor.

Bill Clinton as state auditor, where she would serve until 1981.

She was then elected to state treasurer, the second woman in Arkansas to be elected to a state constitutional office.

She would serve from 1981 until term limited in 2002.

Miss Fisher was the first female nominee of a major party to run for governor in 2002 against incumbent Mike Huckabee, the Democratic Party.

Of Arkansas called her a true legend and said her grace, kindness and passion made our state a better place to call home.

That concludes our program.

I'm Donna Terrell.

We'll see you next week.

Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The Arkansas Times and K UAR FM 89.