I'm Logan Duvall and this is good roots.

Long identified as pickle capital.

Atkins AR has always been a crossroads of sorts.

A city that grew up along a railroad served as a hub for River traffic and currently sits right off Interstate 40.

And just on the outskirts of town, in the shadow of Petitjean Mountain, a ten generation family farm is paving a new way of farming.

I'm standing in a soon to be planted rice field at Ralston family farms.

May be wondering Rice field in the spring?

What is there to see?

Well, I'm not here today to harvest Rust, but rather talk about farming practices, specifically regenerative farming.

Whether it's labeled as regenerative, sustainable or organic, they describe farming and grazing practices that reverse climate change by rebuilding organic matter in the soil and restoring degraded soil biodiversity resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.

In this rich soil is just one of the many beneficial results.

Tim Ralston, my wife.

Robin and I own and operate Ralston family.

Farms were located in Arkansas River Valley.

Here near Atkins we farmed out 5800 acres little over half that's dedicated to rice production.

We also grow soybeans and corn and we've got a cow herd of about 120 Mama cows.

We practice regenerative agriculture and this is important because it helps us to give back to the land and make sure that it's going to be there for future generations.

We have two little girls and we're getting to raise them on the farm and I'm super excited about that and just the the opportunities that they have to interact with farm life and writing and tractors all the time and it's just going to be a great learning opportunity for them.

Sustainable practices the Ralston's are using help prevent erosion and water pollution.

These practices include no till planting with equipment outfitted with tracks instead of tires to minimize running using renewable surface water irrigation and precision level fields.

We utilized 100% surface water and all of that water comes out of the Arkansas River by using surface water, and we're not depleting the aquifer and it allows us to take advantage of the opportunity to use that surface water.

It's also a key component of the surface waters.

It's warmer and so when we apply that to the crops the crops don't have any kind of set back or anything from the cold water.

The interesting thing about this project is when you use zero grade farming then you do not have the water run off.

Which when you have water runoff that erodes the soul and the nutrients and also the nutrients that are used to grow, the plants are used completely in the soil instead of eroding into the streams.

So this is the epitome of conserving our resources.

When you use zero grade farming, zero grade fields are designed to give the farmer more efficient control of the water levels required for us to develop.

The zero slope allows water to travel faster and the flood to be more uniform.

Across the field, virtually eliminate ING the need to build levees Antill, saving money and burning less fossil fuel to pump water.

This was the main plume coming from the Arkansas River them right now.

This pump takes care of 250 acres that lays right right down in this area and we typically farm that in rice and across the road here, and we've got another 125 acres that is currently using three pumps, one electric and two diesels.

So what we're going to do is we're going to eliminate those three pumps and tie it into this system.

This pump was put in with the help of the NRC, S5, or six years ago and is capable of pumping 5000 gallons per minute.

When we pump that water into the rice field, we just hold it like kind of putting water in the bathtub, and the crop utilizes it to its full extent an whatever water we do return at the end of the crop, it goes back to the River crystal clear.

To me, I think it all starts with being profitable and being profitable over the long term.

Mike Sullivan is with the USDA National Resource Conservation Services for more than 80 years, that NRCS has worked in close partnership with farmers, ranchers and government agencies to maintain healthy and productive working landscapes.

Or farmers, if they can do things with their cropping systems to build soil organic matter, making sure that you're not losing soil, but you're building the soil, helping it to be productive so that you can continue to grow crops years into the future.

Where can somebody learn to apply it or get more resources?

We have local conservation districts where we have staff and most every County, and it really starts with a conversation.

And the best thing to do is work with your local conservationists.

An ask for conservation plan on how you can continue to be profitable, but at the same time address all of your natural resource concerns.

If you can minimize the amount of fuel you use button crop in, you can minimize the trips across that field.

You know that's good business, but it just so happens that it's good for the environment as well.

You learn through the years when you're farming that if you take care of the soul, the soul will take care of you.

In Atkins AR, I'm Logan Duval and this is good routes.