Drought has laid Old Man River low, strangling Mississippi barge traffic and raising the potential for storage problems for Arkansas grain whose harvest has begun early.

“The main issue over here is the low river,” said Robert Goodson, an Extension agent for both Phillips and Lee counties. “Barges are only being loaded 70 to 75 percent.

“As long as the Mississippi River stays low, storage may be an issue,” he said Tuesday(August 14). In some cases where the storage bins are filled because outgoing grain is slowed, elevators are having to pile the grain on the ground.

“There’s a potential that some 1 to 1.2 million bushels will be stored on the ground” if the slow outflow of grain continues, Goodson said.

Irrigated bounty

Compared to the rain-dependent grain-growing states in the Midwest, Arkansas’ crops have fared well, thanks to the state’s ability to irrigate from rivers and underground water sources.

With Arkansas’ corn acreage having increased 18 percent, or 100,000 acres, between 2011-12, plus higher yields, “it’s taxing the storage capacity of the elevators,” said Scott Stiles, Extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The National Agricultural Statistics Service was expecting corn yields this year to be up 13 percent, or 18 bushels an acre, over last year.

“Grain sorghum harvest is going strong as well and also competing for storage space,” said Stiles. “Sorghum acreage increased this year too; and the yields are good. NASS pegged the state sorghum yield to be up 8 bushels, or 11 percent.”

More than a third of Arkansas’ corn crop has been harvested, and a fifth of the sorghum, but the big surprise this week is the early start to the rice and soybean harvest, according to the Arkansas Crop Progress and Condition report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The report, issued Monday (August 13), indicated 2 percent of rice and 1 percent of soybean acres had been harvested, compared to five-year average of zero.

Some of those harvested soybeans are in Phillips County. “Yields are better than expected with some dryland fields yielding 45 bushels per acre,” Goodson said. “Harvest on irrigated fields has been limited, but I know one field that has been yielding in the high 70s.”

Bonus for August delivery

While this isn’t the earliest harvest ever for Phillips County soybeans, Goodson said there is a good premium for August delivery.

“If growers can deliver soybeans this month to Helena, their basis is 40 cents over the November futures contract at some locations,” Stiles said. “September delivery is 30 cents over November. In other words, the grower picks up an additional 10 cents per bushel for delivery this month.”

Rice is showing strong yields --180-200 bushels an acre in his counties, Goodson said.

However, “the big crop is corn. There are many saying they’re harvesting more than 220 bushels per acre. It’s too early to have a good estimate of a county average, but I’m starting to think the number will be 180-185 bushels an acre. That’s 20 to 25 bushels above the five-year average.”

There’s an additional bonus for early harvest: Labor Day weekend off.

“Several producers will have corn and soybeans and their fields worked up by the end of August,” said Gus Wilson, Chicot County Extension staff chair. “It’s just unreal.”

Wilson said that by the end of the week, he expected corn to be 80-90 percent and soybeans to be 15 percent harvested in his county.  

Fertilizer on slow track

The slowed barge traffic is becoming a factor in the fertilizer markets, Stiles said. “There is no shortage of urea, it’s just in the wrong place. Low river levels have caused problems getting fertilizer moved upriver from the Gulf.

“If river levels remain low, this will certainly add transportation cost as rail or truck will be the only alternatives. This will be an issue to watch, particularly for growers wanting to make fall nitrogen applications or top dress wheat this winter.”

For more information about crop production, contact your county Extension office or visit www.uaex.edu. For drought information, see here.