About This Episode
Chris Barron calls Fred Black, who grows rice, corn, cotton, and soybeans about 100 miles southeast of Little Rock, days after Hurricane Laura moved through Arkansas. Black picked up about 4.5 inches of rain, roughly two of it ahead of the wind, so the soil was already fully saturated when about an hour of 40 to 50 mile-an-hour winds arrived with the eye. He never lost power and had minimal damage to buildings and houses, which he counts as fortunate.
The crops took the hit instead. Black was about 50 percent finished with corn harvest when the storm came through, and he expects real loss on the remaining half, which will now be harvested down, with adjusters coming out Monday to look at it. Cotton appears to have suffered the most because it was loading up and cutting out, leaving it top-heavy. He describes plants ranging from flat on the ground to leaning crossways in the road.
Soybeans close to harvest stood up well, but the heavier R5.5 and R6 fields that were loading up got weighed down, and Black may irrigate again if no more rain arrives. On yields, his corn has averaged 200 bushels or below the last two years and he fully expects to clear 200 this year, though not by much with down corn ahead of him. He is about a week from knowing what soybeans will do, with Labor Day the likely first bean harvest day.
“You know, everybody down here saw the tragedy with all the wind y'all had in Iowa and Illinois and those surrounding states. And we feel for everybody up there and hope everybody has a safe harvest and we catch a break with this weather.”
— Fred Black
Key Takeaways
About 4.5 inches of rain fell, two of it before the wind, leaving saturated soils ahead of roughly an hour of 40 to 50 mph winds.
Corn harvest was about 50 percent complete when Laura hit; the rest will be harvested down, with insurance adjusters scheduled for the following Monday.
Cotton took the worst of it. It was loading up and top-heavy, and plants went from flat on the ground to leaning crossways in the road.
Soybeans near harvest stood well, but R5.5 and R6 fields carrying heavy pod loads went down, and another irrigation pass is still a live decision.
Black's corn has run 200 bushels or below the last two years; he expects to beat 200 this year but not by much given the down corn.
Labor Day is his likely first soybean harvest day, and he is about a week from knowing what the bean crop will actually do.
Full Transcript
Narrator: And it all comes down to this. Two on, two out, bottom of the ninth. The Farmers lead by one. Full count. Here comes the play at the plate, and it's the Ag View Pitch.
Chris
Barron: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag View Pitch, and today we're going to get a little bit of a crop report from Arkansas, and we've got Fred Black with us who farms just southeast of Little Rock, about 100 miles. How's it going, Fred?
Fred
Black: It's going good.
Chris
Barron: Good.
Fred
Black: Well, you're out here. It's pretty hot back down here in the Delta.
Chris
Barron: Yeah. A little toasty down there. And actually you're out in the woods, so hopefully we can, we can hear you. Okay. Um, getting ready for hunting season. That, that's about as important as any kind of harvest season or anything, isn't it?
Fred
Black: That's right. Yeah. That's what we, we try to say we work all year for, but, uh, Oh yeah, we had a little interruption from Laura. So we got a lot of crops that aren't so pretty to look at right now. So I chose to break away from that and come out in the woods and do a little work, have a little change of pace.
Chris
Barron: You bet. So it sounded like Laura did come up and give you a little visit. Talk just briefly about what you saw for damage in your area.
Fred
Black: Where we are, we saw quite a bit of rainfall. We actually had about 4.5 inches, and about 2 inches of that actually fell before the wind got here. So the soils were fully saturated. And once that last— once that eye kind of approached, we had probably an hour of 40, 50-mile-an-hour hurricane winds. So that, that right there is what really kind of threw everything for a loop. But, you know, we're fortunate. We never lost power. We had minimum damage to buildings and houses. So it could have been a lot worse.
Chris
Barron: Mm-hmm. So you guys grow rice, corn, cotton, and soybeans in your area. And we've worked with you for a while here now. And Talk a little bit about the crops and where you're at. I know the listeners that are going to be to the north are thinking about harvest, but you've already been in some corn, haven't you?
Fred
Black: That's right. We're about 50% finished with the corn, and we were able to get in there and plant for a few days at the end of March, and that's kind of where we were hoping at first. Second round of planting.
Chris
Barron: How's, how's the yields looking and what's moisture run when you guys are harvesting now?
Fred
Black: The corn crop's good. We had hopes that, you know, we were going to hit a home run this year. We had quite a bit of rainfall this summer, but, you know, that early corn, it was good. It, you know, it's well, well grown. So. We think that that may have set it back a little bit, but so far we've been happy with the corn crop. The second half after Laura, you know, we expect to see quite a bit of loss there. But, you know, hopefully we can slow things down and pick quite a bit of that back up.
Chris
Barron: Mm-hmm. So it basically knocked a lot of it down then.
Fred
Black: Yes, quite a bit. We— I haven't looked at it from the air yet, but Monday, uh, once the adjusters get here, we'll start looking at that.
Chris
Barron: How about on the other crops with, uh, rice or cotton or soybeans? Any, any damage there?
Fred
Black: Yeah, the cotton really, you know, what we've seen so far, it appears that it suffered the most damage. It was, you know, right here loading up, cutting out, and it was quite, quite top-heavy, so We have gotten anywhere from flat on the ground to just kind of crossways in the road.
Chris
Barron: What about soybeans?
Fred
Black: Soybeans are, you know, what was, you know, right here getting close to harvest, they actually stood up pretty well. But those beans that are R6 and R5.5 that were really loading up and real heavy, they They've weighed down on us pretty good, so we'll have to make a call here pretty quick if we don't get any more rainfall, whether or not we irrigate again.
Chris
Barron: Gotcha, gotcha. So you've had a pretty good season. I know you had a lot of water early too. What were your expectations on the crops? You know, talk specifically, you know, for our northern listeners a little bit on the corn and soybeans. You think, you know, you're going to be quite a bit above average or right around average, or what's your thought?
Fred
Black: You know, the last couple years for our operation, we've been below average on corn. You know, uh, 200 or below has been our last 2 years average. I fully expect us to be over 200 this year. How much, especially now that we're going to be harvesting quite a bit of down corn I don't expect it to be much over 200, but, you know, looking at the last couple of years, it's certainly better. The soybean crop, you know, I'm pretty optimistic about it. It had a good growing season. And so we're about a week away from actually finding out what the soybeans will end up doing.
Chris
Barron: Wow. So your early, early harvest soybeans will be rolling on those and You know, probably right at the end of August then, basically, or first part of September.
Fred
Black: Yeah. Well, you know, Labor Day is probably going to be pretty close to the first harvest day on soybeans. Okay.
Chris
Barron: Awesome. Anything else you want to, you want to let us know about what's going on in Arkansas after you had a visit from Laura? Any other, any other topics or?
Fred
Black: You know, we're just, uh, You know, everybody down here saw the tragedy with all the wind y'all had in Iowa and Illinois and those surrounding states. And we feel for everybody up there and hope everybody has a safe harvest and we catch a break with this weather.
Chris
Barron: Yeah, I think we're all in this boat together, it seems like, aren't we?
Fred
Black: That's right. Absolutely.
Chris
Barron: That's right. So, hey, Fred, thanks a lot. We will probably check back with you at some point here as things cruise along, but really appreciate you giving us kind of an update on your date with Laura. And I'm happy that, you know, you didn't have too extensive of damage, and hopefully you guys will be able to dry out here now and get back at the corn harvest. So good luck with fall and be safe the rest of the way along here.
Fred
Black: All right, well, thank you, Chris. Appreciate the call, appreciate you checking in, and, uh, hope everyone stays safe out there.
Chris
Barron: Yeah, yeah, appreciate it. And thanks a lot, Fred, and thanks a lot for everybody listening. And we'll be back with some more updates as we move toward harvest. Thanks for joining us on the Ag View Pitch.