Amanda Mathis leads Arkansas conservation efforts

Amanda Mathis recently became the Arkansas state conservationist after serving as the first Arkansas assistant state conservationist for partnerships.

In her previous role, she collaborated with a broad conservation network to achieve conservation goals of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mathis oversaw a $93 million portfolio of conservation partner-focused grants and agreements and led the state’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program and the Mississippi River Basin Initiative.

She worked in the role from 2015 until she was named to her new role at the end of 2024.

“I wanted to have an impact on the conservation community and the agricultural community in Arkansas,” Mathis said. “When this position came open, I felt like I could serve the agricultural community the best and felt like I had built the relationships to help carry on the forward momentum that we’ve been building in Arkansas in NRCS for several years.”

In her new role, she aims to continue advancing the adoption of conservation practices, focusing on the most pressing conservation concerns in the state, including water quantity and quality, and plant health. She guides all NRCS programs throughout the state. Her office is in Little Rock.

“In Arkansas, NRCS, we’re in demand,” Mathis said. “We’ve got a lot of producers that seek our services. … We’ve got so many different agricultural types, so many different types of landscape, that it really makes it interesting because one day we might be working on forestry operations. One day we might be working on irrigated agriculture. … There’s just so much variety to what we do.”

For over 90 years, the NRCS has assisted producers with conservation planning in their operations and local communities. The agency’s mission is to “deliver conservation solutions so that the producers can help protect natural resources and continue to feed a growing world,” Mathis said.

NRCS staff work with producers voluntarily. Staff don’t work on their operations unless they want them to, she said.

“We do work on private lands, which is a little unique for a federal agency,” she said. “Through a voluntary approach, we work one-on-one with them to customize a conservation plan that meets their goals and objectives.”

She said each plan is site-specific to each producer’s operation. Agency staff advise and recommend the best conservation practices, but producers ultimately decide which practices to apply to their operations.

The agency also provides producers with financial assistance to offset the cost of implementing the conservation practices. The money comes from the farm bill.

NRCS has 62 field offices that serve all 75 counties in Arkansas, and every county has a district conservationist. Other staff includes soil scientists, engineers, agronomists, foresters and biologists. She oversees the staff throughout the state.

CHANGES, GROWTH
Mathis began volunteering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in 2004 and soon discovered that it aligned with her passions for agriculture and conservation.
Since then, she said the state’s agriculture industry has grown to understand that conservation is “an integral part of their business plan. Finding ways to reduce inputs, increase productivity and ensure sustainability is paramount to a lot of operations.

Things like good nutrient management, good rotational grazing practices are becoming more commonplace than they used to be because of the economic impact to the operations.”

She said new technologies, innovations and automation have also helped the industry. Technology has also helped to obtain “good-quality data to inform decisions and then automating different features.”

In the Delta, agency staff work with producers on irrigation water management activities. Sensors and probes are used to measure the moisture content in the soil, helping producers to determine when and whether to irrigate. Technology is also used to support pump automation, allowing producers to activate a pump for irrigation with a single click, rather than manually turning it on.

She said new fertilizers incorporating herbicides and pesticides allow producers to make one trip through their pastures instead of multiple trips. Producers also use drones to spot-spray specific areas of their fields.

REGIONAL ROOTS
Mathis was raised on a purebred Beefmaster cattle operation in Little Arkansaw, a small community about 10 miles west of Harrison. Growing up on a farm, she developed a passion for agriculture at a young age.

“Lots of hours out in the hayfield, watching my dad and my grandpa work on equipment, trips to the feed store — so many different trips and things where we would go throughout not only Arkansas but Oklahoma and Missouri for cattle sales and stuff.”

She said outside of farming, her family would spend time in outdoor recreation at Beaver Lake and camp there.

After high school, she attended Oklahoma State University, initially planning to become a veterinarian. She quickly found it wasn’t for her and transferred to the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo. She was part of the first class to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in conservation and wildlife management in 2005.

She took a summer course on soils at North Arkansas College in Harrison, and the district conservationist with NRCS spoke to the class. She said when the conservationist described the agency’s mission, she wanted to volunteer for the organization and landed an internship.

In 2005, she joined the agency full time and served as a soil conservationist in Logan and Washington counties. While stationed in the Fayetteville office, she earned her master’s degree in crop, soil and environmental science from the University of Arkansas in 2010.

Then, she was promoted to district conservationist in Berryville, overseeing NRCS operations in Carroll County. She was also the district conservationist in Searcy, serving White County, before becoming the assistant state conservationist for partnerships. She was acting state conservationist in Louisiana in 2019 and in Oklahoma in 2023.

“I’ve been very blessed,” she said. “It’s such a rewarding career. For me, I think the highlight is that I’m so passionate about helping the agricultural community and making sure that we have sustainability of our natural resources. I get to be a part of conservation efforts all over the state, but it is special to be part of projects in Northwest Arkansas where I grew up — working with our partners like the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, Beaver Watershed Alliance and so many others up in that region.”

COW-CALF OPERATION
Mathis and her husband, Kevin Cochran, run a cow-calf operation in White County, where they reside. In 2010, Mathis and her father established the commercial herd while she was working at the NRCS in Carroll County.

After her father died in 2014, she and her husband relocated the herd from Boone County to their 60-acre farm in White County. Excluding the two years she spent in Logan County, she lived in northwestern Arkansas until 2012 and has resided in central Arkansas ever since.

As a producer, she said she doesn’t only talk about conservation practices.

“My husband and I live them every day,” she said. “We utilize rotational grazing, nutrient management and different habitat practices on our own operation. I think that helps me be able to relate more closely to the ag community, the struggles that are out there. … I understand whenever we have market swings and increased production costs.”