Delta Farm Press is following four farmers around the Midsouth this year to see how their crops are coming along. In part one of this series, we asked them four questions on June 12: 

Each farmer took a moment from his busy schedule to share answers. They took calls from their pickups, doing anything from moving equipment to leaving a board meeting and heading back to the field. 

Louisiana  

Paul Johnson farms continuous rice in southwest Louisiana. His rotation is rice and waterfowl, and he has water seeded his rice crop for the past four years. 

This year Johnson planted 1,835 acres of rice which includes over 1,000 acres of a jasmine variety, Clearfield CL J01; about 650 acres of Avant; 100 acres of Cheniere; and 75 acres of Dyna-Gro 245. 

Planting started Feb. 27. “It was some of the earliest rice I have ever planted,” Johnson said. 

He discussed why water seeding works better for their program. “We do minimal fall prep work, then over the course of the winter we hold water for waterfowl. Every acre is managed for waterfowl in some form or fashion. Then we plant right into it with an airplane in the spring,” he said. 

Johnson’s rice crop has already headed, with some of the rice turning down and getting a little color to it. He anticipates harvest somewhere between July 4 through July 10. “It is not just us. There is a lot of rice headed out in southwest Louisiana right now,” he said. 

This puts them a week ahead compared to last year’s harvest. Johnson said much of that is due to earlier planting in 2024, in addition to early maturing varieties planted in the area like Avant and Clearfield CL19. 

One thing Johnson did differently this year was plant the Avant and Dyna-Gro 245 varieties – two he has never grown before. 

Arkansas 

Jay Coker farms south of Stuttgart, with most of his farm located at Lodge’s Corner. Of his 7,000 total acres, Coker planted around 5,000 acres of rice, 2,000 acres of beans, and 200 acres of corn. 

Coker started planting March 28. From April through mid-May, he said the area was relatively dry. Any rainfall at the time did not stall planting progress. That is, until mid-May when rains came at three to five inches, lasting through early June. 

“If you track the planting progress for rice, we were well ahead statewide. Then for three weeks there was not a lot of field work that went on,” Coker reported. 

For him, those timely rains were beneficial and coincided with his rice going to flood. The rain helped establish the flood, incorporate fertilizer, and activate herbicides. 

Coker has finished planting. However, many of his neighbors in northern Arkansas County and southern Prairie County are not as fortunate, with many acres unplanted by early June. 

“We have not gotten near the rainfall some of those guys got. There is a lot of variability with the weather patterns. The erratic rainfall varies in duration and intensity across all locations,” he said. 

Coker’s earlier planted rice was at green-ring stage. His later planted rice was tillering, and most all the rice had gone to flood. 

Soybean growth stages were all over the board – from fields planted in April to others planted in the third week of May. As for corn, it was planted in late April and at the V9 to V10 growth stage. He expected tasseling within a week. 

April planted beans are the biggest thing Coker and others have done differently. “In our area, we are starting to trend toward more beans planted in April, whether it is through equipment upgrades or concerted efforts to shift resources from planting rice to planting soybeans,” he explained. 

Missouri 

Eric Hover farms rice and soybeans near Neelyville, Mo., in southern Butler and Ripley counties. For him, planting season started dry. Southeast Missouri had received few rains in 2024, with only one significant rain event of four inches during the end of January.  

Planting started April 2. Three weeks later, rain came and slowed progress. “Until April 25, we were extremely dry and starting to flush rice. Since then, we have been getting rain every three or four days. Any opportunity to plant, spray, or get any rice to flood has been a window of hours, not days,” he said. 

His earliest planted rice was at mid-season, while some replanted rice was around three-leaf. “We still lack about 40% to go to flood,” he said. 

As for soybeans, Hover reported some at the R2 and R3 growth stages, while a good bit of seed remained in the bag, yet to be planted. 

Hover said the early crops look phenomenal. However, those early crops mixed in with unplanted acres will be a challenge this year. “Any bean ground that has not been planted, if you have not been able to keep that clean, it is definitely going to be a hurdle,” he said, noting instances of paraquat drift in the area. 

Tweaking his herbicide and fertility programs are the only things Hover is doing differently this year. “That is pretty normal for every year,” he said. “If you are not trying something new, then you are not learning anything.” 

Mississippi 

Coley Bailey’s farm is headquartered in Grenada, Miss., growing solely cotton, no-tilled behind cover crops. Most of his fields are in the hills of the north central part of the state, along with a farm in the Delta region. 

This year, Bailey said it took eight and a half days to plant all 6,200 acres. At first, Bailey thought it was going to be an early planted year, but the weather had a different plan.  

The first planting date was April 30, and Bailey got in a three-day-run. Then rain delayed planting by a week. Bailey returned to the field for four more planting days before another rain delay. He finished planting on May 21 after another day and half of field work. 

“Pretty much the whole season up until now has been that way,” Bailey said. “We have been wet, but not overly wet. It has been just enough to stop us for a few days, then get right back started.” 

Make no mistake, Bailey is not complaining about the rain. His cotton is mostly dryland, except for 1,500 irrigated acres. “The rains suit me just fine. That means less irrigating and more water holding capacity in the soil,” he said. 

Bailey’s earliest cotton was squaring well, and the cotton planted in late May had pinhead squares. Nitrogen applications had been made, and he had even applied PIX on the earliest cotton. 

Bailey is trying a few new things in 2024. Cover crops, either wheat or cereal rye, have been planted on his farm since 1999 to help capture soil moisture from the rainfall. This year he is set to determine which of the two cover crops captures the most moisture by placing soil moisture sensors to compare the data.   

“We want the scientific evidence to prove which one is better and why,” Bailey said. 

Another change was his planting method. Bailey moved from four regular planters to three high-speed planters to precisely dial in planting with seed singulation. 

Finally, Bailey is focused on fertility efficiency. Until this year, he used a self-propelled John Deere fertilizer spreader. To gain precision, Bailey traded it in for two Amazone fertilizer spreaders. Then he used the planting maps to make prescriptions and set field boundaries. 

“The Amazone fertilizer rig will only put fertilizer where the cotton is. It is section controlled, all automatic, and it cuts on and off, so I do not over-fertilize where I have already spread. We will not waste any fertilizer at all,” he said, noting things seem to be working very well. 

Bailey plans to use the same prescriptions for all chemical applications across the farm, to further prevent over-spraying any insecticides or growth regulators.