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Arkansas farmer says crops have benefited from timely rains

A northeast Arkansas farmer says the growing season has been almost perfect. Derek Haigwood tells Brownfield, “We’ve gotten two rains this summer, which is great. We got a 4th of July rain and then we got a rain last week.” 

Haigwood says a recent system dropped about 13 inches of rain north of where he’s located – and he’ll lose about 100 acres of both cotton and soybeans to flooding.

Haigwood says those recent rains have made a huge difference. “We’re looking at a really high-quality rice crop is what we’re hoping as far as the milling yields are concerned and it’s working out pretty good,” he says.  “We’re excited about it. The cotton looks amazing, the rice looks amazing, and soybeans, the early soybeans are going to be great.”

The corn crop in Arkansas is rated 75% good to excellent with 55% dented and 6% mature.  Soybeans are called 69% good to excellent with 78% setting pods and 1% coloring.  Cotton is rated 79% good to excellent with 70% setting bolls and 1% of the bolls opening.  Rice is 80% good to excellent and 62% headed. 

Hay is rated 61% good to excellent statewide, with the second cutting is 46% complete.  Peanuts are 88% pegging and 91% good to excellent.

Topsoil moisture is 56% adequate to surplus and subsoil moisture is 66% adequate to surplus. 

Haigwood says he hasn’t seen a lot of disease pressure in crops this year, but the insects are another story. “We’ve sprayed the cotton, the rice, and the beans so many times for stink bugs and plant bugs,” he says.  “It seems like we can’t turn around without having to fight the bugs this year.”

He expects harvest for rice and corn to start in mid-August and cotton and soybean harvest to start September 1.