About Us
Our Legacy
Ragsdell Farming Company began in 1911 when our great-grandparents homesteaded in northeast Arkansas, starting with humble row crops on flood-prone land. Through the Great Depression, World Wars, and modern market swings, each generation has added their mark: My grandparents introduced irrigation for rice in the 1950s; my parents pioneered no-till soybeans in the '80s; and now, as the fourth generation, I'm blending tradition with tech to sustain our soils for the future.
We're not just farmers—we're stewards of the Cache River Basin, rotating rice with soybeans and corn to conserve water and build resilience against Arkansas' unpredictable weather. A favorite family memory? Gathering for harvest suppers where stories of past yields mix with plans for the next planting. We're committed to quality grains that feed families far beyond our three counties.
Our Story
Roots in the Cache River Bottoms: The Founding of Ragsdell Farming Company
In 1911, as Arkansas rice farming was just beginning its rise to national prominence, my great-grandparents staked their claim on a wild tract of land deep in the Cache River bottoms of northeast Arkansas. The Cache River, with its slow-moving waters and vast swamps of towering bottomland hardwoods—oaks, gums, and cypresses—had long been a challenging frontier. Flood-prone and thick with virgin timber, it wasn't easy land to tame, but its rich alluvial soil promised fertility like no other once cleared.
They acquired that first piece through sheer determination—likely a mix of purchase from early land sales or drainage district opportunities common in the Delta around that time. The bottoms were still largely forested wetlands, home to abundant wildlife but tough for settlement. With axes, crosscut saws, and mule teams, they set to work clearing the dense underbrush and felling massive trees. It was backbreaking labor: snaking logs through the mud, burning brush piles that smoked for days, and gradually revealing the dark, productive earth beneath.
To turn the hardship into opportunity, my grandfather built a sawmill right on the property. The abundant hardwood timber became their first cash crop. They hewed sturdy cross ties (railroad ties) from the oaks—essential for the expanding rail lines crisscrossing Arkansas in the early 1900s. Teams of mules or oxen hauled the heavy ties over rough trails to the nearby town of O'Kean in Randolph County, a bustling "tie town" where the railroad (part of the old St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern lines, later Missouri Pacific) eagerly bought them to support the growing network connecting the Delta to markets beyond.
Those early years funded the transformation: timber sales paid for drainage ditches, levees, and the first rice crops. What started as a swampy wilderness became fertile fields, and the family put down roots that have endured for four generations.
Today, at Ragsdell Farming Company, we honor that pioneering spirit. Farming across Randolph, Lawrence, and Greene counties, we grow premium long- and medium-grain RiceTec hybrid rice, soybeans, and corn—blending the resilience of 1911 with modern innovation. The Cache River bottoms that once challenged our ancestors now sustain us, a testament to hard work, family, and the enduring land.
