By Mary Hightower
Soggy weather is slowing cotton growers in Arkansas as the planting window closes, but strong prices may push farmers to finish the job, extension specialists said.
Cotton was 88 percent planted, ahead of last year’s 83 percent, but behind the 91 percent five-year average, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
In the Prospective Plantings survey that came out in March, Arkansas cotton acres were expected to be down 50,000, or 10 percent, to 470,000 acres. It would be the lowest since 2017.
“Cotton growers saw a surprisingly strong rally this spring that pushed prices above 80 cents per pound and to two-year highs,” said Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“With prices still below 70 cents during the March Prospective Plantings survey, many believed 470,000 acres was too optimistic,” he said. “With December cotton futures still clinging to 80 cents, that may be incentive enough to get these last few acres planted — even in early June.”
Zachary Treadway, extension cotton agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, said that “newer cotton varieties have shown to handle super-late planting better.
“I have a feeling that with producers that are near the end of cotton planting, they will roll on and finish, calendar be danged,” Treadway said. “I do not think we will reach 100 percent.”
Arkansas jumping beans
Soybeans are even closer to complete. NASS reported 95 percent of soybeans are in the ground, versus 83 percent last year and the 85 percent five-year average.
The Prospective Plantings report indicated that Arkansas growers would plant 3.1 million acres of soybeans. That would be an increase of 510,000 acres or 20 percent over last year.
Even with a stormy weekend forecast, Extension Soybean Agronomist Jeremy Ross said that “once fields dry up from the rain over the weekend, most will finish planting soybean in the next seven to 10 days.”
Stiles said that over the next two weeks, “NASS will be conducting surveys for the June 30 Acreage report.
“Industry observers are looking for a further increase in soybean acres in the June report,” he said. “Sharp increases in fuel and fertilizer costs following the Iran conflict may have shifted some rice acres over to soybeans.”
Source : uada.edu