Planting of crops racing forecast

The wet spring has made planting time a hit-or-miss proposition for farmers. In this file photo, early planted soybeans are shown popping up in a Jefferson County field. (Courtesy of UA Cooperative Extension/Kurt Beaty)
The wet spring has made planting time a hit-or-miss proposition for farmers. In this file photo, early planted soybeans are shown popping up in a Jefferson County field. (Courtesy of UA Cooperative Extension/Kurt Beaty)

May's dark parade of rain has provided frustration aplenty for Arkansas farmers trying to get a crop in the ground, however, "this past week could've been much worse," said Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System's Agriculture Division

"The rain we received back on [May 11], combined with the then forecast for this past weekend and this week, looked dire," he said Monday. "However, [that] rain event was not as heavy as thought, and it brought a constant north wind that dried up areas that haven't been dry since early last fall.

"Progress started back on [May 13] and ran hard all the way into Sunday night, with a few still working ahead of rains this morning," he said. "Tremendous progress was made on rice in some areas given this opportunity."

Scott Stiles, extension economist, said those herculean efforts were reflected in Monday's National Agricultural Statistics Service weekly crop report.

"A lot of headway had been made in a short amount of time before today's rain," he said Monday. "[The statistics service] says we slammed 26% of the cotton crop in the ground since the last report. That was mainly done from Friday to Sunday with some long hours reported."

"It was 'can till can't' as they say," Stiles said.

As of Monday, corn was 95% planted, same as the five-year average. Rice was ahead of the five-year average at 87% versus 84%. Soybeans, at 60% planted, were well ahead of the 54% five-year average. Peanuts were close to par with 59% in the ground versus 62%. Cotton lagged at 45% planted versus the 60% five-year average. Both cotton and peanuts were a point or two ahead of last year's planting rate.

The National Weather Service at North Little Rock had at least a 40% chance of rain in the forecast for its warning area through this week. Rain that fell Sunday and Monday brought flooding to parts of Perry, Faulkner and Saline counties.

The Fourche La Fave River in Perry County was up, thanks to rains over the past few weeks.

The river was expected to crest at 25.3 feet on Tuesday, "meaning more agricultural ground will go under. This river backs up due to the Arkansas River swelling which causes backflow onto these producers' crop land," said Zach Gardner, Perry County extension staff chairman for the Agriculture Division.

"About half of my rice has been planted and this rain is going to further delay rice planting, more than likely resulting in water seeded rice and late bean plantings like the past couple years," he said. "My row crop producers are working as much ground between the rain showers. The bad thing that hit us was the river flood claiming about 400 acres of soybeans."

So many questions

Kevin Lawson, Faulkner County extension staff chairman, said the forecast had his phone lighting up with questions from farmers.

"Friday, Saturday and Sunday I received several calls from producers asking recommendations on herbicides for grain sorghum that was just planted, seeding rates for broadcasting rice, herbicides for broadcast rice, preemerge herbicides on corn and corn fertility," he said Monday. "I could tell they were really working hard this weekend to get as much planted as possible."

"When Cadron Creek flooded, it backed up into these rice fields, so the producer held the water and flew in the seed," Lawson said. "It was a good thing he did, because with this current rain it would have never gotten dry enough to dry seed."

"I had a few producers that were thinking about planting soybeans but decide to hold off until after the rain," he said. "We still have some acres of silage corn to be planted but this will probably do it for corn that is planted for grain."

Peanuts

Andy Vangilder, extension agriculture and natural resources educator for the Agriculture Division, said "we had some peanuts planted early but a lot of peanuts went in the ground this past week under some better conditions.

"We still have a few acres to plant depending on where you are and how much rain you got but we definitely got a good amount of acres planted during that good weather period," he said.

Rice

Hardke said "with things tapering off through Wednesday, it looks as though we'll get another run into the weekend and the early part of next week.

"Believe it or not, things were drying out so much over the weekend that some rice actually needed a rain, and other ground that was worked was dried out to the point to need a rain before planting," he said. "Low lying fields and areas still may not get in soon or at all, but jumps were made in places that had little progress to date. And still others are now making major crop plan changes with their remaining acres to get as much planted as possible at the next opportunity, with whatever commodity they may have a chance to roll with."

Soybeans

"This planting season has been a series of hurry-and-wait events," said Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the division. "The times when we have had good field conditions, our producers have worked day and night to get things done. I think the forecast for the remainder of this week is much better than what the meteorologists were predicting during the weekend."

Soybean growers are beginning to see the end of their planting window and risk yield reductions the later the seed hits the ground.

"Every day we delay planting, we are losing soybean yield," Ross said. "For soybean planted on May 15, we have lost 6% of the maximum yield in southern Arkansas and 1% in northern Arkansas."

For soybean planted on June 1, the yield decline from the maximum yield will be 13 % for southern Arkansas and 7% for northern Arkansas.

"If we can get some favorable weather in the next two weeks, we can still have very good yield potential," Ross said.

Corn

Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the division, said corn was moving in the same directions as the other commodities.

"It's hurry up while it is dry enough to plant before the next rain comes," he said. "We are 95% planted and finally caught up with the five-year average pace.

"Planting is likely finished as most corn acres that did not get planted will likely switch over to soybeans at this point," he said. "Overall, we are looking good, and most were wanting a little rain on corn this week to activate fertilizer and herbicide that had been applied ahead of the forecasted rain."

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact a local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. To learn more about division research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. To learn more about the division, visit https://uada.edu/

Follow the agency on Twitter at @AgInArk, @uaex_edu or @ArkAgResearch.

-- Mary Hightower is with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

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