About This Episode
Chris Barron checks in with Russell French in Amarillo for a look across the whole state. Corn in the Rio Grande Valley is already at V7, the Corpus Christi coastal bend is around V4, and the upper Gulf Coast is mostly V1 to V2. Central Texas planting is essentially complete up to the Red River. Conditions are very dry in the Valley and coastal bend, which need rain quickly, while Dallas north to the Red River is in good shape.
In the High Plains, elevation runs 3,000 to almost 5,000 feet and it is cooler, so planting has only started south of Lubbock and the northern Panhandle around Amarillo is still one to two weeks out. The dividing line is Interstate 40. South of I-40 came off a severe drought with almost no winter precipitation, and growers there are rewriting plans weekly around how much pre-watering they can finish. North of Amarillo got snow and rain and is in better shape.
The acreage story is grain sorghum. Corn acres are flat because irrigated corn is set by irrigation capacity, but sorghum is pricing above corn per bushel, pulling acres off limited-irrigation corn and, more sharply, off cotton on dryland. Soybeans barely factor because West Texas basis is poor. Dryland wheat is very poor, irrigated wheat only average, and most of it will be cut for silage to feed the region's dairies. French says a good May rain would push sorghum acres off the chart.
“We're a grain deficit area. So we use up everything we raise.”
— Russell French
Key Takeaways
Corn stage by region: V7 in the Rio Grande Valley, V4 near Corpus Christi, V1 to V2 on the upper Gulf Coast, and planting complete through central Texas to the Red River.
The High Plains sits at 3,000 to almost 5,000 feet, so planting starts south of Lubbock while the northern Panhandle runs one to two weeks behind.
I-40 is the dividing line: south of it followed a severe drought with almost no winter moisture, while north of Amarillo picked up snow and rain.
Grain sorghum is bringing more per bushel than corn, shifting acres off limited-irrigation corn and off dryland cotton.
West Texas is a grain deficit area that uses everything it raises, and silage acres are growing over grain acres on the strength of the dairy industry.
Dryland wheat is very poor and irrigated wheat is average at best, with most irrigated wheat headed for silage.
Full Transcript
Chris: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag U-Pitch and the spring crop update series. We've got Russell French from Amarillo, Texas, I guess, where you're at. Isn't that right, Russell?
Russel
French: That's correct, yes.
Chris: So in the panhandle. Yeah, so hey, just wanted to touch base. You work with Pioneer and a lot of growers in that area. We've been fortunate enough to work with you and Shay's had you on a number of times, and so we thought we'd check in and kind of see how things are going in Texas and in the South. It sounds like last week's report here kind of stated that maybe 50% of the— or a little better, 55% of the planting is in the ground on corn. So give us a little report on kind of what you're seeing across the state.
Russel
French: Well, sure. I appreciate that, Chris. You know, Texas is a really big state, so we got a A lot of variation across the state, but down in the Rio Grande Valley, corn is already up to the V7 stage. And up there in the coastal bend area, Corpus Christi, would be about V4. And then the upper Gulf Coast, the corn is probably mostly in the V1 to V2 stage. And then as you progress north across the central Texas, planting's pretty well complete. Up to the Red River on the Oklahoma-Texas line. And conditions are very dry in the Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Bend area. They're gonna need a rain pretty quick or it's gonna be over for them. And the conditions have been very good in the northern part of Texas there, from Dallas north to the Red River. So they've got pretty good conditions, but like I said, they're wrapping up on corn out here in West Texas.
Here in the High Plains, you know, at our elevation, you know, we're anywhere from 3,000 to almost 5,000 feet elevation. It's a lot cooler in this part of the state. Planting has started south of Lubbock. And then you get up here in the Amarillo area, in the northern Texas Panhandle, we're still probably about a week or two away from really cranking it up. So that's kind of where we're at. We're very dry here in the West Texas area, especially south of Amarillo, extremely dry. North of Amarillo in the Panhandle is not too bad a shape. We've got some snow and rain this winter, and we're in a little better shape. But out here in the irrigated country, people are still pre-irrigating, building up that soil profile so we'll be able to handle some deficit irrigation later on in the summer when it gets hot.
Chris: Yeah. What kind of crop rotation changes have you seen this year? Anything different than normal? I know that what the market's watching is— you know, really close, obviously soybeans really short, but you know, with the corn in your area, are you seeing, you know, more acres or less acres, or what's that looking like?
Russel
French: Well, we're— our corn in West Texas in the irrigated country is kind of based on, you know, your irrigation capacity, how much irrigation you got. You know, our corn acres are probably flat. But the big increase has been in grain sorghum. Grain sorghum has really come on strong. There's been some— it's very rare that happens, but grain sorghum is— we're getting more per bushel for sorghum than we are for corn right now. And so that's really shifted the acres from on some limited irrigation corn acres, you know, maybe to grain sorghum. Definitely we're seeing a switch from less cotton to more grain sorghum because of this pricing structure. And so that's been the big thing. And soybeans are just— our basis is so poor in West Texas for soybeans, it's not usually much of a factor.
But the big decision is between cotton and grain sorghum for most growers on dry land and very limited irrigation.
Chris: Interesting. So as far as the— things getting started up too, you know, we're entering the week of April 12th now, you know, which, you know, you said a lot of planters in North Texas kind of maybe this next week here, this week of the 12th through the 16th, that week there's kind of when we're starting to see, you know, and a lot of people are saying we want to get rolling in the southern Illinois and kind of in that Corn Belt, southern part of the Corn Belt, but But it sounds like you're heading out to do some planning even yet today, as we kind of spoke offline. Is that right?
Russel
French: Yes, I'm out here in northwest New Mexico at Farmington and working with the— on the Navajo Indian Reservation Irrigation Farm, NAPI. We're getting planting underway. We're planning some test plots today and some NCGA contest fields. So we're kind of getting everything tuned up out here and getting started, and they'll be rolling next week pretty hard.
Chris: Gotcha. Has there been any issues with too much— it sounds like, you know, you guys, you guys are always in a dry area. Is there any big agronomic concerns or weather concerns that you guys have yet at this point?
Russel
French: Well, like I said, there's a There's kind of a dividing line here in West Texas, north of I-40 or south of I-40. And the area south of I-40 has been extremely dry. They were in a severe drought last summer, didn't get hardly any winter precipitation. So growers there are having to weekly change their plans depending on how much pre-watering they can get done. We're sharing water between winter forages like triticale and wheat and trying to pre-water corn ground and cotton ground. And we need a little help, you know, kind of on the southern high plains. On the northern high plains, we're in better shape, and I don't think we're going to see much difference in what we usually do there. But on the southern high plains, it's going to be a little bit different. You know, it's extremely dry. You know, our dryland wheat is very poor.
Irrigated wheat only looks good where they've been watering for, you know, 4 to 6 weeks. But, you know, we have a strong livestock industry here in West Texas, a lot of dairies, so they're dependent on— most of our irrigated wheat will be cut for silage and for our livestock market. But the wheat crop is average at best on irrigated And it's below average on dryland.
Chris: Yeah, most of your feed grains and those crops all go through livestock in your area, right? Pretty much is—
Russel
French: Oh, yeah.
Chris: Completely your demand.
Russel
French: Yeah, we're a grain deficit area. So we use up everything we raise. And we're definitely seeing a bigger increase in silage acres over grain acres because of our strong dairy presence.
Chris: That's interesting. So any other last things here before we wrap up here that I didn't ask?
Russel
French: Well, we're just— send us some rain, we would certainly take it. And like I said, things are still in some fluctuation, but if we get some good rains in the High Plains here in May and early June, you'll see a big big increase in— we're already seeing a big increase in grain sorghum acres, but it'll be off the chart if we get some moisture.
Chris: Right, sounds good. Well, hey, I really appreciate your time today, Russell. This was a great update from Texas, and I appreciate you giving us kind of a broad spectrum look at a larger area as well. So really appreciate that. You guys be safe down there, and good luck getting the rest of the crop in the ground.
Russel
French: Well, thank you so much, appreciate the call.
Chris: Yeah, you bet. And again, Russell French, from Amarillo, Texas, giving us the, the southern report here. And again, we will catch you next time on the Ag View Pitch.