Tropical Storm Francine slows harvest, impacts quality for Arkansas crops

By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — “It’s going to be a long fall.”

That’s how Cross County Extension Staff Chair Jenna Martin described the agricultural aftermath of Tropical Storm Francine. The storm hit Arkansas last Wednesday, dropping up to 9 inches of rain and crop-damaging gusts of up to 35 miles per hour.

The wind and rain mean that Arkansas row crop growers are facing a longer harvest and lowered quality for rice, cotton, soybeans and corn.

SPROUTED — Many soybean growers in eastern Arkansas are faced with beans sprouted in pods after extensive rainfall from Tropical Storm Francine. (Photo by Christopher Cato.)

“While we’re fairly fortunate compared to some who got a lot more wind, we have some rice and corn leaning and other fields look like you took a flat roller to them,” Martin said. “Impact on yields and quality are major concerns.”

"We received 6 to 7 inches over four days,” said Matthew Davis, Jackson County extension staff chair. “Our largest concerns are the sprouting of crops in the field, loss of quality, and poor field conditions.”

Rice

“There was not as much rice damage as I had feared when I made my way across counties in the northeast yesterday,” said Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “There are fields with heavily lodged areas, but the majority of rice is still standing.”

Lodged, or flattened rice takes longer to harvest. This, paired with the yield loss associated with sprouted rice, means rice growers are facing their already thin profit margins shrinking even more.

Hardke said parts of Poinsett, Cross and St. Francis counties seem to have taken the hardest hit.

“In some particular hotspots there is more significant lodging and rice sprouting on heads in the lodged rice,” Hardke said. “To a limited degree there is even some rice sprouting on standing rice.”

Doubling harvest time

“There’s a lot of economic impact to having downed rice,” said Nick Newberry, program associate for the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center in Harrisburg. “Your harvest time in some situations doubles. The combine’s still rolling and you’re still burning diesel, but the acres you cut in that time is cut in half. If you even had a positive margin to start with, it’s now a break-even or a negative.”

Newberry said they were fortunate to get almost all rice at NERREC cut before the storm.

“Most of what we’ve got left is pretty much flat. It’s not very pretty,” Newberry said. “If this had just come two weeks later it would’ve been better, but that’s the risk you run in this industry.”

Cotton

“The hardest hit areas seem to be around Jackson and Poinsett counties,” said Zachary Treadway, extension cotton and peanut agronomist for the Division of Agriculture. “In these areas it was pretty common to see plants on the ends of rows laying over or at least leaning.”

Treadway said leaning plants should straighten up with time, but for plants completely blown over, those bolls can be expected to rot. As for open cotton bolls, Treadway said most of it is still pickable.

“Of the cotton that is open, I saw a fair amount of fiber drooping out of the bolls, but not a lot on the ground, surprisingly,” he said. “We can still pick that cotton as long as it is hanging on to the bolls.”

However, harvest may be further away than initially anticipated due to field conditions after the rain.

“I expect harvest to be a little delayed now,” Treadway said. “For producers who are ready to pick, they’ll have to wait for the ground to get dry enough to get pickers out in the field. For producers who are defoliating, they’ll either have to wait for the ground to dry enough to get a ground rig across it or hire a pilot to apply defoliants. I think this is going to push everything back.”

However, Treadway said the forecast sunshine will “do us a world of good if it shows up.”

Soybeans

Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said the majority of the damage came in the form of sprouted soybeans.

“I was on the phone with county agents, farmers and crop consultants from the southeast to the northeast corners of the state about soybean seed sprouting in pods,” said Ross said. “Most of these calls are in fields that were ready to harvest prior to Francine, but I had a few calls about pods that are still green having sprouted seeds.”

Fortunately, Ross said this is isolated to just a small portion of pods on the soybean plants.

“Some fields with taller plants that haven’t reached maturity have lodged to some degree,” Ross said. “These fields could have some quality issues due to matted foliage and lack of air movement.”

Ross said the main focus now is to get these fields harvested, but harvesting in wet conditions brings issues of its own.

“We need to get these fields harvested as quickly as possible to avoid additional sprouting and dockage due to moldy seeds. To do this, some fields will need to be harvested before they are dry enough to avoid rutting the fields,” Ross said. “Fields that will be rutted will cost more once they dry out to get back into shape for planting next spring. Some will stay rutted until next spring, delaying planting.”

Corn and grain sorghum

Jason Kelley, extension feed grains agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said that although corn fields fared better than expected, there was substantial lodging in some areas and grain quality is a concern.

“We’re at the tail end of harvest so the corn that was left had been mature for three to four weeks, with the stalks getting more brittle every day. Every field had some plants blown over,” he said. “Some sprouting of grain in the shuck has occurred and those plants that are laying on the ground will likely see substantial sprouting and loss.”

Kelley said fortunately 84 percent of the state’s corn acres were harvested prior to Francine according to Monday’s crop progress report.  

Although the majority of the state’s few grain sorghum acres had already been harvested, Kelley said there was substantial sprouting of the grain in heads.

“I think the full extent of the damage is still to be seen, especially in terms of grain quality. The level of discounts our growers will receive for reduced-quality grain is the big unknown right now,” Kelley said. “The forecast now looks warm and dry, so harvest will likely start up again in a few days.”

Kelley said wet field conditions and rutting of fields will cause an added expense for this crop.

Forage

There is a bright side to things, as Francine brought much needed rain for livestock and forage producers.

“Much of the state was at least abnormally dry. The rain this past weekend helped to green up fields and provide additional grazing days,” said Kenny Simon, forages instructor for the Division of Agriculture. “Some producers had already started feeding hay, which is about 45 to 60 days ahead of the normal hay feeding period.”

Simon said the rain is especially beneficial for producers that are stockpiling forages or have planted an annual forage.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center hosts inaugural Rice Field Day

By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture

HARRISBURG, Ark. — The new Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center in Harrisburg welcomed more than 250 attendees to its inaugural rice field day to hear region-specific updates from researchers and extension specialists.

SITTIN' PRETTY — The new Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center was freshly manicured and ready to welcome guests to the inaugural NERREC Rice Field Day on August 8. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo.) 

Arkansas is the nation’s top rice producer, with the top four rice producing counties in the state located in the northeast corner. With two-thirds of Arkansas rice planted each year in the northern half of the state, the new Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station location has given researchers with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture an opportunity to generate data specific to a large portion of Arkansas growers.

“This farm is unique,” said Rich Hillman, chairman of the Riceland Foods Board of Directors. “Studying this soil, studying the dirt in this part of the state that so many farmers raise their crops in, this farm and the work on it will definitely pay dividends for generations to come. This is something to be very proud of for the folks that are in this area.”

Hillman added that the educational facilities at NERREC, created for school-aged children to learn about rice and agriculture production in Arkansas, will impact thousands of students who are surrounded by agriculture but may not know much about what’s grown around them.

“What’s inside this building is just as important as the research plots outside,” Hillman said. “The educational component of this facility is unlike anything else in the state.”

NERREC Director Tim Burcham emphasized the effort required to get the research and extension center off the ground and thanked the many contributors, saying the station is for producers.

“Everything you saw today got started with one truck, a pair of boots and a shovel,” Burcham said. “I think it’s miraculous how far we’ve come and I’m thankful for our leadership team, our industry collaborators and the Rice Research and Promotion Board for all the hard work and long hours it took to get here. And this isn’t our station – it’s yours.”

During field tours, attendees saw firsthand how research conducted on the station is planned with Northeast Arkansas growers in mind.

“This has been a long time coming and we’re excited to be here and show off our plot work at this location,” said Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the Division of Agriculture. “We’ve been able to add a planting date study here in the heart of Northeast Arkansas to give us planting date information, where we’ve historically relied on the Stuttgart location.”

In response to poor milling yields that many Arkansas growers faced last year, Hardke said he is using some of his plots at NERREC to look at causes and potential solutions.

“Given the issues with milling last year, we are trying to look at things we can throw at the wall to improve our milling,” Hardke said. “We don’t know if they’ll be cost effective, but the question is can we get any response from late fertilizer applications to hold on to that milling yield? Hopefully this will give us some direction on what we can tease out to help improve milling yields in years, like this one, where everything is planted quickly and early but harvest drags out.”

Breeding updates

Division of Agriculture rice breeders Xueyan Sha and Christian De Guzman showcased varieties that are currently available with tolerance to Provisia and Clearfield, herbicides that are popular in Arkansas rice production.

“We are latecomers to Provisia rice breeding, but we’re catching up,” Sha said. “We started this program in 2019 and fast tracked – really fast tracked – the PVL04 which, from crossing to commercial production, only took four years. I don’t know anyone who can beat that.”

Sha said the PVL04 matures about three days later than PVL03, but with good yield potential in Northeastern Arkansas. More exciting varieties could be on the market soon.

“In the pipeline we have a number of very exciting Provisia lines,” Sha said, highlighting two potential varieties with increased yield potential and Provisia herbicide tolerance. “So we’ll probably see some changes in our Provisia line up coming soon.”

Rice season recap

Hardke’s biggest surprise this rice growing season was how quickly growers were able to get started.

“I got an incredible number of calls from this area of the state around April 7, April 10 saying ‘Hey, we’re done,’” Hardke said. “Following that tremendous start, we had a lot of rain and the wind would not quit blowing. So, weed control was an interesting effort. I’m flat out amazed at the job growers were able to do to keep fields clean.”

Although wet conditions delayed herbicide applications and some nitrogen applications, Hardke said the overall crop looks really good. However, he warns that early and quick planting can cause headaches at harvest.

“Just remember that all of this is getting ready faster than you think it is,” he said. “These first fields coming out are at 17 to 19 percent moisture and normally they’re 19 to 22 percent, so they’re starting to run away. I guess that’s my way of saying get out there and get on a combine.”

Hardke noted that current cooler conditions should help milling quality post-harvest.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

Major Arkansas row crops seeing rapid planting across state

By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture 

LITTLE ROCK — You could be forgiven for wondering who fired the starting pistol so early.

WITH A QUICKNESS — Row crop planting in Arkansas is racing ahead at a rate not seen in the last five years, with more than 83 percent of rice acres already planted — nearly double the five-year average for this point in the season. (Division of Agriculture photo.)

Row crop planting in Arkansas is racing ahead at a rate not seen in the last five years. According to an April 29 U.S. Department of Agriculture report, 83 percent of the state’s planned rice acreage had been planted — nearly double the five-year average for this point in the season.

Arkansas soybeans are even further ahead of expectations, with 56 percent of planned acreage already planted, compared with the five-year average of 23 percent normally planted in the last week of April. The state’s corn crop, too, is racing ahead of its five-year average, with 81 percent of planned acreage already in the ground.

Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the roots of the 2024 season’s rapid pace lay in the relatively dry winter that preceded it.

“We’re on a sort of parallel to last year’s planting season,” Hardke said. “Growers were able to complete an enormous amount of field preparation over the winter months, and as soon as the early planting window opened up, they hit the ground running.”

Of course, that parallel carries a certain burden. While Arkansas growers enjoyed near-record rice yields last year, a region-wide “traffic jam” between harvesters and mills caused much of that yield to suffer in quality, as high heat and humidity took their toll on grain kernels as they languished in the fields.

Hardke said that while the weather, regardless of the season, is beyond human control, growers almost always benefit from early planting.

“Early planting gives you the best chance of maximizing yields,” he said. “If you have an opportunity to plant and you choose not to, it’s a gamble. For all we know, it’s going to start raining and never really let up for the rest of the spring. Take advantage of the windows you’re given.

“Northeast counties have received low rainfall this spring and an elongated planting window, while as you move southward, rain amounts have been increasingly higher and planting windows fewer and further between,” Hardke said.

With so many different crops going into the ground at once, producers may find themselves with serious time management challenges come harvest time.

“As we break the traditional mold of planting corn, then rice, then beans, we’re going to have to be flexible and responsive in terms of our stages of management,” Hardke said. “My best advice is to start harvest on the early side so that more of the overall harvest is within the optimal timing.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.

Arkansas planned acreage falls slightly overall; corn and wheat see deepest cuts

By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture

LITTLE ROCK — While overall intended crop acreage fell just 2.5 percent in Arkansas in 2024 to about 7 million acres, some crops saw significant shifts in acreage, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Thursday.

SHIFTING ACRES — The 2024 Prospective Plantings Report, compiled by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, found that acreage for most of the country’s principal row crops will likely only shift a few percentage points one way or the other this year. The report is based on self-reported planting intentions from growers across the United States. Nationally, projected crop acreage fell about 2 percent in 2024, to about 313.3 million acres. (Graphic courtesy USDA.)

The 2024 Prospective Plantings Report, compiled by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, found that acreage for most of the country’s principal row crops will likely only shift a few percentage points one way or the other this year. The report is based on self-reported planting intentions from growers across the United States. Nationally, projected crop acreage fell about 2 percent in 2024, to about 313.3 million acres.

Arkansas corn and wheat acreage take a nosedive

Arkansas intended corn acreage fell sharply, down 27 percent, from 850,000 acres to 620,000 acres. Wheat acreage also fell significantly in the state, down 41 percent from 230,000 acres to 135,000 acres. Nationally, corn acreage fell 5 percent to about 90 million acres, while producers said they planned to plant nearly 47.5 million acres of wheat, about 96 percent of what was planted in 2023.

Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said that the significant drop in corn acreage was no surprise, given that the state was coming off a near-record-high year for acreage.

“Our acreage goes up and down every year,” Kelley said. “Last year, 2023, was the second-highest acreage we’d had since the early 1950s.”

He said profitability was likely the main driver for growers moving away from corn throughout the region.

“It looks like the whole Southeast was off quite a bit — 15 to 27 percent,” Kelley said. “The Mid-South was down 20-27 percent. So, it looks like most of our surrounding states had the same mindset.”

Similarly, wheat acreage was down in the East, falling in all but seven states.

Hunter Biram, extension agricultural economist for the Division of Agriculture, also said the drop in Arkansas corn acres, paired with a rise in soybean acres, was expected.

“Two factors that typically influence this shift are crop rotations and expected margins, with expected margins likely the driving force behind any acreage shifts beyond normal,” Biram said. “Last year, corn margins were far more favorable compared to soybeans, and that showed up in not only the Prospective Plantings report but also in the Crop Acreage Report released last June.

Over the past 20 years, soybean and corn acreage have both grown in the United States, with corn typically leading by as much as 50 percent some years. Over that span, however, soybean acreage has tightened the gap, actually tying the national acreage in 2017 at about 90 million acres each.

“This year, soybean margins appear more favorable, albeit not by much compared to corn,” Biram said. “Last year, the favorable margins were mostly driven by a relatively high corn-to-soybean price ratio, meaning corn prices were much higher relative to soybean prices. This year, there isn’t a crop price to get too excited about, but prices for key fertilizers have fallen to levels similar to the period prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Projected Arkansas hay harvests appear to be keeping pace with the previous year, with growers expecting to harvest about 1.15 million acres, 99 percent of 2023’s total.

Arkansas long grain rice surges, medium grain falls back

Arkansas intended rice acreage shifted only slightly, growing 1 percent over 2023 acreage to 1.45 million acres. However, grower sentiment appeared bullish on long grain rice, jumping 11 percent from 2023 acreage to a projected 1.36 million acres, while pulling back on medium grain, falling by 58 percent to just 90,000 acres.

Nationally, planned rice acreage grew 1 percent to more than 2.93 million acres.

Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said the report’s outlook for rice was in line with spring estimates.

“Long grain rice appears to be a profitable option, but seed supply issues are hindering further increases in acres,” Hardke said. “Medium grain is in lower demand for this year with few contracts or pricing premiums available in the wake of high acres and production last year.”

Biram added that the ambiguity of global markets is likely affecting acreage decisions.

“Among many drivers in rice acreage, one could be the possibility that India reverses their export ban on non-basmati rice, which was put in place in July 2023,” Biram said. “While that proved to be favorable for rice prices in the short run, with some cash prices reported at over $8 a bushel in the post-harvest window of January and February, the new crop futures contracts for rice are already indicating prices could land around $6.75 per bushel or lower. This is because when export supply is reduced in the global market, prices increases.

“Conversely, when export supply increases due to a lift on an export ban, for example, prices fall,” he said. “Perhaps producers were able to lock in price guarantees through area crop insurance, such as Enhanced Coverage Option or Margin Protection, trying to capture the tail end of a months-long price rally driven by the export ban. Otherwise, I suspect crop rotations and less-favorable corn margins are driving the increase in long grain rice acres.”

Arkansas soybeans rise steadily

Arkansas soybean acreage grew slightly, rising 4 percent over 2023 to 3,100 acres. This puts the state’s growers slightly ahead of the national soybean acreage outlook, which rose 3 percent to about 86.5 million acres.

Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said it was no surprise to see Arkansas soybeans return to the “plus side” of 3 million acres.

“Historically, we’ve been above 3 million acres for the last several years, other than 2018-2019,” Ross said. “That’s when we had a lot of rainfall — the fall of 2018 and progressing into 2019. We had a lot of flooding issues, and 2019 was the lowest soybean acreage we’ve had since 1960.

“I think all of it points to China,” Ross said of the high acreage numbers. “China is our No. 1 destination for soybean exports. As their population increases, the demand for soybeans increases.”

He said much of 2023’s outstanding soybean yield was due to growers taking advantage of the early planting window, and that he foresees a similar fortune this year.

“Beans have been planted for almost a solid month in Arkansas,” Ross said. “Some of them look good, some not so good, mainly due to cooler weather. We had pretty much the earliest start ever last year, and we had record yields. I think some guys proved that when your beans are planted earlier, the yield potential is a lot better than delayed planting.

“Over the next seven days or so, it looks to be warm and dry, so I think there’s going to be a lot of land prep, and maybe some more beans planted,” Ross said Thursday. “I’m anticipating another good year.”

Peanuts hold, cotton grows

Arkansas producers appear to be holding steady, again planning to plant 35,000 acres of the legume, the same acreage as 2023.

Travis Faske, extension plant pathologist and acting peanut agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said that peanut acreage throughout the state will likely be higher than the reported intentions.

“I still think we will be a few thousand acres north of 35,000 acres by the end of planting season, as the two primary peanut buying points in the state have indicated an increase in acreage,” Faske said.

Planned Arkansas cotton acreage grew 6 percent over 2023 numbers to 540,000 acres. This exceeded the national outlook, which grew 4 percent to more than 10.6 million planned acres.

“I suspect the reason cotton acreage increased by 6 percent is because cotton lint prices are more favorable compared to last year, but nothing like what we saw in 2021-2022,” Biram said.

“While crop rotations can explain most of the corn-soybean rotation, cotton acreage can likely be explained by the fact that a cotton farmer is going to farm cotton regardless of the price, due to the lack of versatility in equipment used to produce cotton,” he said. “The cotton lint price may shift acreage, but the degree of that shift will depend on what the cotton lint price is.”

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. 

Periodic rainfall, saturated soils lead to planting delays for Arkansas growers

KUAR | By Tracy Courage / UA Division of Agriculture, Ryan McGeeney/ UA Divison of Agriculture

After a rainy April, spring planting in Arkansas is off to a slow start, with three of the state’s major crops lagging far behind their typical progress.

Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said it could be May 1 before some areas of the state are dry enough to resume planting — or even later, with additional rainfall in the forecast.

Without a little cooperation from Mother Nature, he said, 2022 could be the first year that the state’s rice acreage falls below 1 million acres in nearly 40 years.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2022-04-29/periodic-rainfall-saturated-soils-lead-to-planting-delays-for-arkansas-growers

Randy Chlapecka/University Of Arkansas Division Of Agriculture

Equipment standing in water after a rain deluge April 20, 2022, near Tuckerman, Arkansas.