According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s acreage report released in June, Arkansas’ cotton acreage has risen to a ten-year high, while corn acreage has declined dramatically.‘s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
According to NASS, Arkansas’s acreage for major crops declined 0.8 percent to 7.15 million acres, while the U.S. total acreage is 315 billion, down 1.4 percent from a year ago.
Soybean acreage in the Natural State increased slightly from last year, but is slightly below previous spring projections. Rice acreage also decreased slightly, while peanut acreage was unchanged from 2023.
“The acreage in June is more or less a reality check for the acreage in March ‘Planting intentions‘ “The report is a tribute to Scott Stiles, program associate in agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas’s Department of Agriculture.
Corn plantings fell 27.1% to 620,000 acres, unchanged from March planting intentions.
““Corn prices have been on a downward trend for most of the past year,” Stiles said. ““Futures prices for new crop corn were about 20 percent below last year’s level when NASS conducted a survey of growers in early March.”
Jason Kelley, a wheat and feed grain agronomist for the Department of Agriculture, said he was not‘The area report did not surprise me.
“Lower grain prices and less than ideal growing conditions for some countries led to the decline in Arkansas’ acreage. “The spring was too wet, especially in the southern half of the state. Northeast Arkansas had better growing conditions overall than the rest of the state, with dry weather in late March and early April,” Kelley said.
Cotton acreage in Arkansas increased 31.4% to 670,000 acres, while total acreage in the U.S. also increased 14.1%.‘These are the largest cotton fields in Arkansas since the 680,000-acre harvest in 2011.
“The big surprise in this report was NASS‘ “The number of cotton acreage,” Stiles said. “In March, growers announced they would increase their acreage by a modest 30,000 acres to 540,000 acres.
“Cotton prices began declining in early April and lost about 13 cents by mid-June. Prices fell from the low 80 cents to 70 cents. But cotton yields in the state continue to rise and growers ended 2023 with record yields. And the crop insurance price of 82 cents this year may have played a role in increasing acreage. There was also some switching from corn to cotton.”
NASS has set the peanut acreage at 35,000 acres, the same as in 2023.
“The peanut crop is in pretty good shape. Some farmers have had to re-plant and replant after heavy rains. Some farmers are reporting crop failures,” said Zachary Treadway, cotton and peanut agronomist.
Overall, rice cultivation area in NASS decreased by 15,000 acres compared to the previous year.‘ The results show that the area planted with long grain rice decreased by 40,000 acres compared to March.
““The June survey results are somewhat puzzling considering the planting progress this year and the rice market recovery that began in early April,” he said. “In years when planting progresses faster than usual, June acreage is generally higher. The USDA has increased medium grain acreage by 10,000 over the March figure.”
Jarrod Hardke, rice consultant and agronomist for the Agriculture Department, said he too was surprised by the decline, but said it was within his expectations of between 1.4 and 1.5 million acres. A shortage of long-grain seed contributed to the acreage shift to medium grain, he said.
“One of the hardest things to estimate every year is the expected acreage for long and medium grains. And then right at the beginning there was a seed shortage that changed the mix. And it got very, very strange,” he said.
There were also some missed planting opportunities during fair weather periods as farmers couldn’t get the seed they wanted and rushed to find varieties to plant. NASS lowered Arkansas soybean acreage by 50,000 from March intentions to 3.05 million, but that was still 2.3% higher than 2023. Total U.S. acreage increased 3% to 86.1 billion acres.
“This is still an increase of 2% or 70,000 acres over the previous year,” Stiles said. “Given the sharp decline in corn acreage, the resulting increase in soybeans is no surprise. Similar to corn, soybean prices have been trending downward over the past year. When planting began in the state, soybean prices were about 13 to 14 percent lower than the previous year. November ‘24 Soybeans traded at $11.04 today. A year ago, the November contract was at $12.66, just before a summer rally that pushed prices above $14 last July. There is a very bearish mood in the soybean and corn markets this year.”
“The estimates were in line with my expectations. We had another really good start with early plantings, similar to the 2023 season,” said Jeremy Ross, soybean agronomist. “This year‘The soybean crop ranges from early planted fields where the pods are beginning to fill to fields where only the last two days of planting have been done. Given the decline in soybean prices compared to last year‘I’m getting a few more calls from farmers and consultants asking about different ways to maintain or increase soybean yields.”
Winter wheat acreage declined 39.1% to 140,000 acres from 2024. This followed the larger national trend in which U.S. winter wheat declined 7.9% to 33.8 billion acres. Kelley said the decline was likely due to “lower prices for grain and lower relative profitability compared to other crops.”
