Agriculture

Rice:

More than 50 percent of the world's population is dependent upon rice for 80 percent of its diet. This is good news for the state since Arkansas leads the nation in rice production. The Grand Prairie and Delta regions of Eastern Arkansas provide the perfect soil and other conditions to grow the crop in abundance.

Two of the largest manufacturers of rice include Producers Rice Mill and Riceland Foods, both of which have corporate headquarters in Stuttgart. Stuttgart is known as the "duck and rice capital of the world."

Learn more about towns in the Delta region.

Poultry:

Arkansas also leads the nation in poultry production and Tyson, Inc., headquartered in Springdale, is the largest poultry producing company in the world. Though not based here, Pilgrim's Pride Poultry has a major plant in the state as well. Other such businesses located in Arkansas include George's and Cargill in Springdale; OK Industries and Twin Rivers Foods, Fort Smith; North Arkansas Poultry, Rogers; Simmons in Siloam Springs; Butterball, Huntsville; Honeysuckle White (a division of Cargill) in Ozark; and Peterson Farms in Decatur. For more information on Northwest Arkansas, click here.

Cotton:

Arkansas is one of the leaders on the country when it comes to cotton production, especially in the Delta area. Mississippi County is home to what many industry experts consider to be the largest gin in the world, a 10-stand cotton gin that was built in 1992 by Adams Land Co. in Leachville, in the northwest corner of the state. Ronnie Kennett, vice president of land management for Adams, said the new gin, in combination with the company's old three-stand gin, produced a record 186,000 bales of cotton one year. More recently, production from the 10-stand gin has averaged 110,000 to 140,000 running bales per year.

Learn more about towns in the Delta region.