About This Episode
Fred Black farms cotton, corn, rice and soybeans just south of Dumas in southeast Arkansas, off Highway 65, and started grazing cattle on cover crops the previous year. When Shay Foulk calls in late April 2021 he is in the middle of planting and in the middle of figuring out where he actually has a stand. Cooler temperatures and repeated rains have him circling back to spot plant and replant rather than moving forward cleanly.
Corn across his area is roughly 90 percent complete, and Black notes that most growers treat about April 20 as the date to move on to other crops, though corn planters are still running. His own early corn caught a frost in its first week of emergence, but the growth point was still below ground and the crop greened back up without a further setback. Rice is about halfway planted. Cotton seed is still in the bag, waiting on warmer soil, probably another week.
Acreage is shifting underneath the progress numbers. Rice acres in his area will be down close to half of the prior year as growers move to corn and soybeans on the market run-up, so rice looks on pace only because the base is smaller. Soybean emergence is behind, with very few beans up after April 20 and replanting starting the day of the call. Black contrasts the mood with 2020, when average yields would not pencil a profit on almost any crop.
“You got to get it planted. You got to get it grown. You got to get it harvested. You got to get it sold. So there's, there's a lot still for us to do.”
— Fred Black
Key Takeaways
Corn planting in southeast Arkansas is about 90 percent complete, with April 20 the usual point where growers move on to other crops.
Rice is roughly halfway planted, but area rice acres will be down close to half from the prior year as growers shift to corn and soybeans.
Cotton seed is still in the bag and will likely wait another week for warmer soil.
Early corn took a frost in its first week of emergence but recovered because the growth point was still below ground.
Soybean emergence is behind and Black started replanting the day of the call after repeated rains on early-planted beans.
Sentiment is far better than the previous spring, when average yields would not pencil a profit on nearly any crop.
Full Transcript
Shay
Foulk: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. Today you have Shea Polk with Fred Black. And Fred, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us here this morning, and I was wondering if you could tell the listeners kind of where you're at, where you're located, and how things are coming along this spring.
Fred
Black: All right, Shea, I appreciate you calling, checking in. My name is Fred Black from Southeast Arkansas, just south of Dumas, Arkansas, off Highway 65. We farm cotton, corn, rice, soybeans. And we also this past year started grazing cattle on cover crops. So we're right in the middle of planting. We hope in the middle of planting. We've had some cooler temps and quite a bit of rainfall. So we're trying to analyze and figure out where we're going to have a stand. Where we need to start focusing on replanting spot plant.
Shay
Foulk: Yeah, those cooler temperatures, I don't know if the cattle like it any more than the crops do out there. We were mid-20s here overnight up in north central Illinois on the 21st of April here. I know you guys had some cooler temps there as well, but it sounds like you've been able to, you know, get the planters rolling, get the drills going. How's progress on your farm operation here?
Fred
Black: Well, we had some cooler temps, but fortunately we didn't see any frosts. We actually did have a frost on our early corn about the first week it was emerged, but the growth point was still beneath the ground, so it came on and greened back up and ain't checked up since. But corn, And for the area, it's, I'm going to say, about 90% complete. Folks are, you know, with this market run-up, you know, most people around the 20th of April, they kind of— that's kind of their date to move on to something else. But there's still corn planters in the field today. And here on our farm, we're actually having to circle back to and replant a little bit. Do some spot planting. We've just been the bullseye on the rain here the last few weeks. Seems like every time we plant, we get followed up by a couple inches of rain. So it's made it challenging. But that's kind of where we are with corn.
But rice planting, we're about halfway, which our rice acres are going to be down quite a bit from last year due to run up some corn and soybeans, but cotton seed is still in the bag. We're probably going to put off any cotton planting until next week.
Shay
Foulk: Yeah, you want some pretty good warm temperatures for that, I know. And, you know, overall sounds like progress is pretty good. You mentioned some moisture there. You guys may have been the bullseye on some of that, but how is it looking, you know, ground conditions compared to last year? And how would you say in a quote unquote normal year planning progress is coming along in your area?
Fred
Black: Well, I will say we're pretty well on track. I don't know what a normal year looks like anymore, or normal spring. It seems like every one of them has its new set of challenges and stuff. But I will say we're actually behind on the soybean planting. Or soybean emergence, anyway. It's been after the 20th of April, and see very few soybeans that are up, especially here. We've had some tough luck on those early soybeans we planted. We're actually going to start replanting some today. But rice planting, this area, rice acres are going to be down I'm going to say close to half of what they were last year. So as far as progress percentage-wise goes, it's probably on pace, even though it's going to be significantly less acres.
Shay
Foulk: Now, that sounds like a pretty good overview there. And how, you know, just kind of last comment here, farmer sentiment in the area, you know, depends on the part of the country that you're in. Overall, we've seen some pretty optimistic outlooks, though, as you mentioned, with crop prices and how field conditions are here. In spring, you know, would you say that's kind of the same sentiment that you're seeing in your area, that optimism, or what's it look like?
Fred
Black: Yeah, I mean, there's— I mean, it's night and day difference between what we're planning into as far as market conditions and stuff goes. You know, we couldn't, couldn't pencil a profit this time last year on hardly any crop with average yields. So there's a lot more optimism. But, you know, it's, it's farming. You got to get it planted. You got to get it grown. You got to get it harvested. You got to get it sold. So there's, there's a lot still for us to do. And so, but planting optimism is a lot better than it was last year.
Shay
Foulk: Good. Yeah. A lot of room here between now and the finish line. But Fred, I really appreciate you taking the time to give us a little bit of a planting update there and just hope for your guys' operation. Stay safe and continue on and good luck with the replant and everything else you got going down there.
Fred
Black: I appreciate the call. Good luck to everything y'all have going on and look forward to hearing y'all before too long.
Shay
Foulk: Sounds great. We'll keep in touch. And thank you everyone for listening to another episode of the Ag View Pitch, and we will catch you next time.