Arkansas Cotton Surges, Corn Tumbles

⋅ BY MARY HIGHTOWER ⋅
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS SYSTEM DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE

The June acreage report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed cotton with its highest acreage in more than a decade and soybeans on the rise, while corn tumbled and rice shuffled between long- and medium-grain acres in Arkansas.

“June acreage is more or less a reality check for the March Planting Intentions report,” said Scott Stiles, Extension agricultural economics program associate for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

With the principle crops planted, acreage is down 0.8% to 7.156 million acres in Arkansas; total planted in the United States is 315 billion acres, down 1.4% from the previous year, NASS said.

Corn

Corn acres dropped 27.1% to 620,000 acres, unchanged from the March planting intentions.

“Corn prices have been on a downward slide for much of the past year,” Stiles said. “Futures prices for new crop corn were about 20% below the previous year when NASS surveyed growers in early March.”

Jason Kelley, Extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said he wasn’t surprised by the acreage report.

“Lower grain prices, combined with less-than-ideal planting conditions for some, led to the drop in Arkansas acres,” he said. “The spring was too wet, especially in the southern half of the state. Northeast Arkansas, overall, had better planting conditions than the rest of the state, with dry weather in late March and early April.”

Cotton

Cotton acres were up 31.4% to 670,000 acres in Arkansas, while total U.S. acres were also up 14.1%.

“The huge surprise in today’s report was NASS’ cotton acreage number,” Stiles said. “In March, growers indicated they would increase acres by a modest 30,000 acres to 540,000.However, in June, acres are expected to be 670,000; up 160,000 from last year. This would be the highest cotton acreage for the state since 2011, which saw 680,000 acres.”

He said that while there were solid indications we have 610,000 to 620,000 acres in the state, “the 670,000 acres was  surprisingly high.

“Cotton prices started a nosedive in early April, losing about 13 cents by mid-June. Prices fell from the low 80-cent level to 70 cents,” Stiles said. “But, cotton yields in the state continued to climb, and growers exited 2023 with record yields. Also, the crop insurance price of 82 cents this year may have played a role in adding acres. There was some shifting from corn to cotton going on as well.”

“In terms of cotton, we’re in good shape,” said Zachary Treadway, Extension cotton and peanut agronomist for the Division of Agriculture. “Some guys are in the first week of bloom and some are into the second week of bloom, but what’s really important is water. It’s getting hot and dry, and we want to keep putting moisture on the crop so we’re not stressing it.”

Peanuts

“Peanuts remained the same, which is what I was expecting based on what growers were saying,” Treadway said.

NASS pinned peanuts at 35,000 acres, same as in 2023.

Rice

Overall, total rice acres were down 15,000 acres from last year in NASS’ findings to 1.42 million acres, compared to just under 1.44 million acres in 2023. Stiles said he was a little surprised by the 40,000-acre decline in long-grain rice acres from March.

“The June survey results are a little puzzling considering the planting progress this year and the rice market rally that kicked off in early April,” he said. “Generally, in years when planting progresses at a faster-than-average pace, we tend to see a higher acreage number in June. USDA did increase medium grain acres by 10,000 above their March number.”

Jarrod Hardke, rice Extension agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said he too was a little  surprised by the dip, but it was within his range of expectations between 1.4 million and 1.5 million acres. A shortage of long-grain seed played into the shuffling of acres over to medium grain, he said.

Soybeans

NASS reduced Arkansas soybean acres by 50,000 from the March intentions to 3.05 million. However, that was still up 2.3% from 2023. The U.S. total was up 3% to 86.1 billion acres.

“This is still an increase of 2% or 70,000 acres over last year,” Stiles said. “Considering the sharp drop in corn acres, some resulting increase in soybeans is not a surprise. Similar to corn, soybean prices have trended lower over the past year. There is a very bearish feel to the soybean and corn markets this year.”

Jeremy Ross, Extension soybean agronomist, said, “The estimates were in line with what I was expecting. With the drop in soybean prices compared to last year, I’m getting a few more calls with farmers and consultants asking about different inputs for preserving or increasing soybean yields.” 

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