Help Support Phillip Powell, Arkansas Times’ Agri & Environment Reporter

Dear Reader:

Back in the last century when I was at the Gazette , both the Democrat and the Gazette had staff and editors covering agriculture. After all, ag was and still is the biggest industry in the state. But then as local news coverage contracted and collapsed in 2007, agriculture reporters disappeared. That is until last year, when Arkansas Times hired Jonesboro native Phillip Powell out of the master’s program at Northwestern University with the sole task to cover Arkansas’s agriculture and the environment.

Today we are announcing an expansion of Phillip’s coverage to include The Arkansas Times Climate Watch , a twice monthly newsletter covering climate issues that affect our farm economy, outdoor recreation, energy, transportation…the list is long. It will be available free to our readers, in fact, you can get on the list now by clicking this link.

But of course, it’s not really free and neither is Phillips coverage of the Lithium industry, the energy-devouring AI data centers moving into Arkansas or the tariff-inspired financial Armageddon coming for many of our best Delta farmers. No, Phillip wants to live indoors so we have to pay him.
And that is where I need you.

Phillip came to me last month with his idea for the Arkansas Times Climate Watch newsletter to expand the scope of his reporting. I loved it. The Trump administration is gutting every federal climate reporting agency in the country, blinding local governments and industry alike. Now is a critical time for this kind of reporting and with your help, the Arkansas Times is volunteering.

We must raise $35,000 in donations to sustain our agriculture and climate reporting for the next year. We have gone from four to 13 reporters in the past three years thanks to advertising and online subscription revenue. But philanthropic giving is the third leg of that stool and for that we need your help.

If you believe that Arkansas deserves smart, relentless coverage of the issues shaping our land, economy, and future, now is the time to act. Your donation doesn’t just fund journalism—it fuels accountability, transparency, and the kind of watchdog reporting our state needs. Help us keep Phillip on the beat. Help us keep Climate Watch alive. Help us keep telling the stories that matter.

Thank you for your consideration.

Alan Leveritt | Publisher, Arkansas Times