By Mary Hightower
Dry weather is keeping the combines rolling in Arkansas corn, rice and soybeans, and the high heat is driving cotton toward the beginning of its harvest.
Meanwhile, farmers are coping with higher costs to harvest.
This week’s Crop Progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service shows the state’s corn at 65 percent harvested, up from 42 percent last week and well ahead of 2025’s 54 percent and the 35 percent five-year average.
The Little Rock National Weather Service forecast through Labor Day shows no rain, and the heat isn’t expected to dissipate soon either. The National Weather Service published a six-day heat risk map that showed large swaths of extreme heat across the Arkansas Delta and Arkansas River Valley through Saturday.
Rice jumped to 33 percent harvested, up from last week’s 16 percent. Rice was 24 percent harvested at this time last year. The five-year average is 18 percent.
“With the forecast for hot, dry weather over the next week, corn harvest should continue to progress rapidly,” said Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Source : uada.edu