By Mary Hightower
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised estimated yields for Arkansas corn, soybeans and peanuts downward, but was still expecting record state yields for corn and soybeans.
Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, said USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on Monday revised Arkansas corn down three bushels per acre from its October estimate of 193 bushels to 190 bushels.
Soybean yield was also adjusted three bushels per acre downward from 59 bushels in October to 56 bushels in its November estimate.
NASS said, “the November objective yield data for the 11 major soybean-producing states indicate a lower pod count compared with the previous year.
“Compared with final counts for 2025, pod counts are down in six of the 11 published States. Kansas showed the greatest decrease, down 358 pods per 18 square feet from the previous year,” NASS said. The 11 states are Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota.
NASS did not have any Arkansas-specific comment for any of the crops it adjusted.
However, Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for UADA, said he’s “still not sure where NASS is finding all of these soybean bushels in Arkansas.
“Many of the soybean farmers I have talked to have ‘average at best’ soybean yields for 2026,” he said. “If you look at the ‘Soybean Pods with Beans per 18 Square Feet’ table from the NASS report, the November 2026 pod count for Arkansas — at 1,552 pods — is 323 less pods than was counted in 2025, which was 1,875 pods.
Source : uada.edu