calsfoundation@cals.org
August 28, 2007
After observing the cultivation of rice in Louisiana, William H. Fuller was convinced that similar soil conditions in Arkansas would make the crop successful in the state. After four years of study, he convinced Lonoke County farmers to give him $1,000 if he could successfully produce thirty-five bushels per acre off a seventy-acre farm. His success in 1904 is considered by many to be the advent of commercial rice production in Arkansas, resulting in some calling Fuller the “Father of Arkansas Rice.”