The 2014 Arkansas row-crop harvest was a historic one in more ways than one.
The state’s farmers planted more rice acres than ever, and the rice, corn, cotton and soybean yields were the highest on record.
Farmers planted 1.48 million acres of rice, 38 percent more than the previous year. The estimated yield was 7,560 pounds per acre, tied with 2013 for the highest yield ever. Total production was 112 million hundredweight.
“The yield was excellent. We believe the quality was there,” said Andrew Grobmyer, executive vice president of the Agricultural Council of Arkansas. “We have had some periods where the quality was not as high as we’d like to see it, but we think the quality of this crop was good,”
The corn crop was significantly smaller in acreage, but yielded well. Total acres were 530,000, down 39 percent from the previous year. However, the average yield was 187 bushels per acre, the highest on record. Total production was 99.1 million pounds.
Grobmyer said corn acreage shrank because of market prices, a factor that has also contributed to recent declines in cotton acreage.
In recent years, mandated ethanol requirements had propped up corn prices. However, some in Congress, including Arkansas’s senior senator, John Boozman, are pushing to axe those guidelines.
“I support waiving the renewable fuel standard, especially for corn-based ethanol,” Boozman said. “The RFS [renewable fuel standard] for corn-based ethanol drives up the cost of living for Arkansans, making it more expensive to feed a family and harder for farmers who use feed for their livestock and poultry. We need more renewable fuels that do not compete against our food supply.”
Soybean acres were within 1 percent from 2013, at 3.21 million acres. The average yield was 50 bushels, up more than 10 percent from the previous year and the highest ever in the state. Total production was 161 million bushels, again the highest ever in the state.
Dr. Lanny Ashlock, one of the state’s row-crop experts, said soybean yields were exceptional.
“I’ve been around a long time, but I never in my wildest dream envisioned that we’d have a state average of 50 bushels [per acre],” he said. “If we hadn’t had too much rain around the Brinkley area, we might have had more, because those farmers got hurt. It was a phenomenal year for most people but not all.”
Ashlock, who serves as project manager with the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board, said high-yield contests have resulted in 100-bushel-per-acre yields for two consecutive crop years.
“Southeast Arkansas has had such record yields — people making 100 bushels per acre,” he said.
More than two dozen producers reached 90-plus bushels per acre this past year, Ashlock said.
Ashlock said two factors heavily contributed to three consecutive soybean harvests.
First, he said, farmers have put more of the state’s most fertile ground in soybeans.
“A lot of the best ground in Arkansas used to go into cotton but has shifted out of cotton. In some ways, that’s unfortunate. Now, soybeans are getting put on some of the very best ground,” he said. “If they get a cool, wet year, they are going to knock the socks off.”
Second, shorter-season varieties, commonly called “Group 4” soybeans, have become more prevalent. The shorter growing season reduces input costs, such as irrigation, and reduces the impact of environmental concerns.
“Some of the most recent research of taking Group 4s and planting early and late in regional projects shows that they are consistently outperforming the Group 5s, no matter when you plant them,” Ashlock said. “There are risks associated with loading up on Group 4s. If you have a big rice crop and can’t pull out and you planted them early, they won’t stay out there forever.”
Cotton acres actually grew 8 percent to 330,000 acres. The average yield was 1,193 pounds per acre, up about 5 percent from 2013 and another record yield. Total production was up 14 percent from 2013.
Market prices for cotton have dropped in recent years partially because of increasing Chinese stocks. Grobmyer said those reserves are likely not high quality.
“We believe that the quality is not great, that it’s been in warehouses for a long time and what we are producing here in the United States is a better quality product,” he said.
Other crops of note:
- Hay — 1,225,000 acres, down 8 percent from 2013. Average yield was 2.01 tons per acre, virtually the same as the previous year. Production was down 13 percent.
- Sorghum — 165,000 acres, up 32 percent. Average yield was 97 bushels per acre, down about 6 percent. Production totaled 16 million bushels, up 26 percent.
- Winter wheat — area seeded for 2015 harvest is down about 15 percent at about 390,000 acres.
Grobmyer noted that prices are not likely to rebound significantly this year and that is forcing producers to proceed cautiously.
“They are going back to their budgets and will have to be more thoughtful of how they market their crops,” he said.
(Statistical information provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agriculture Statistics Service. Read more from the latest digital issue of Arkansas AgBusiness.)
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