diff --git a/dev/tasks/tasks.yml b/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
index 32e4d1f4d2434..235057efed3bd 100644
--- a/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
+++ b/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
@@ -1258,6 +1258,7 @@ tasks:
     params:
       env:
         CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE: MinSizeRel
+        ARROW_R_DEV: TRUE
 
 {% for r_org, r_image, r_tag in [("rhub", "ubuntu-gcc-release", "latest"),
                                  ("rocker", "r-base", "latest"),