Rice Planting Begins In Nation’s Top Rice State • Rice planters began rolling mid-


March • Hardke: Cautiously optimistic about


early start • Efficiency necessary for profit in time of tight margins


state seed their fields beneath dark skies and intermittent rains. Jarrod Hardke, rice agronomist for


R


the University of Arkansas System Di- vision of Agriculture, said that despite weather forecasts that have contained much rain over the past two weeks, the prep work completed by many growers over the winter months allowed pro- ducers to move into the fields in mid- March. “We made a surprising amount of


progress the last two weeks,” Hardke said. The U.S. Department of Agricul- ture’s March 26 report on crop progress in the state estimated that about 2 percent of the projected rice acreage had been planted, just shy of the five-year average of 3 percent planted at this point in the season. “While a lot of the Delta did get 1-2


inches of rain the weekend of March 25, it wasn’t everywhere,” Hardke said. “I was surprised by how much it dried up. We did have progress starting up again Monday afternoon, moving into Tuesday.” In 2016, heavy rains in March kept


the planting rate to zero for several weeks into the traditional planting win-


LITTLE ROCK, ARK.


ice planting in Arkansas has begun in earnest, as growers in the nation’s top rice-producing


In 2016, heavy rains in March kept the planting rate to zero for several weeks


into the traditional planting window.


dow. Early planting, cautious optimism Hardke said there is some concern


that producers inclined to invest heav- ily in the earliest phase of the recom- mended planting window may suffer negative consequences if 2017 does in- deed turn out to be similar to 2016, al- though he was cautiously optimistic. “We’re just now knocking on the door


of what we consider to be the truly op- timum time for planting in the north- ern part of the state,” he said. “But at this point, we’re still staying pretty warm, continuing to get some rice in the ground and make some progress. We’re right in line with where we need to be.” In the second Arkansas Rice Update,


a weekly newsletter published by Hardke and Division of Agriculture Weed Scientist Bob Scott, the authors reiterated several important staples of sound farming, including the impor- tance of planting conventional rice va- rieties ahead of hybrids, in order to leverage the best yield potential from the available seeds as the planting win-


dow proceeds through the summer, and the importance of reevaluating seeding rates each year. “Every year’s a little different, and it


does affect the amount of seed in a pound,” Hardke said. “The weather did seem to change the grain size last year, enough to where we needed to adjust our seeding rates.” While federal law requires that any


seed sold must guarantee a germina- tion rate of at least 80 percent, growers may have come to expect considerably higher actual germination rates, Hardke said. Growers should check the


actual estimated germination rate on new bags of seed, in order to calculate the optimum seeding rate for the cur- rent season. Tight margins Although 2017 hasn’t yet presented


any unusual natural obstacles for growers, Hardke noted that the gap be- tween inputs and market sales have become exceedingly thin. “The margins seem to be even tighter


than they have been the last couple of years, and that’s really saying some- thing,” he said. “Just like 2016, timeli- ness and efficiency are really going to be crucial to making a profit in 2017.”


Hardke said that input costs for rice,


not including rent, are ranging between $600-$750 an acre across the state, while market prices hover at about $4.50 per bushel. In 2016, the average Arkansas rice yield was 153.7 bu/ac, producing about $690 per acre. “When you start doing the yield cal-


culations on that – what you need to hit in order to cover those costs – it gets very concerning,” he said.


∆


USDA Crop Progress Report CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8


May/Jul and May/Nov future spreads were 11 cents and 7 cents, respectively. July 2017 soybean futures closed at $9.53 down 4 cents since last Friday. In Tennessee, October / November


2017 soybean cash contracts average $9.34 with a range of $9.09 to $9.54. November/December 2017 soybean-to- corn price ratio was 2.47 at the end of the week. November 2017 soybean fu- tures closed at $9.49 down 5 cents since last Friday. Downside price pro- tection could be achieved by purchas- ing a $9.60 November 2017 Put Option which would cost 58 cents and set a $9.02 futures floor. Cotton May 2017 cotton futures closed at


73.46 down 3.87 cents since last Fri- day. For the week, May 2017 cotton fu- tures traded between 73.38 and 78.07 cents. Delta upland cotton spot price quotes for April 6 were 72.01 cents/lb (41-4-34) and 73.26 cents/lb (31-3-35). Adjusted world price (AWP) decreased 0.62 cents to 67.41 cents per pound. Net sales reported by exporters were down from last week with net sales of 270,000 bales for the 2016/17 mar- keting year and 121,000 bales for the 2017/18 marketing year. Exports for the same period were up from last week at 447,300 bales. Upland cotton export sales were 103 percent of the USDA estimated total annual exports for the 2016/17 marketing year (Au- gust 1 to July 31), compared to a 5- year average of 94 percent. July 2017 cotton futures closed at 75.47 down 3.12 cents since last Friday. May/Jul and May/Dec cotton futures spreads were 2.01 cents and -1.17 cents, re- spectively. The Crop Progress report estimated


cotton planted at 4 percent compared to 3 percent last year and a 5-year av- erage of 4 percent. December 2017 cot- ton futures closed at 72.29 down 1.8 cents since last Friday. Downside price


14• MidAmerica Farmer Grower / April 14, 2017


protection could be obtained by pur- chasing a 73 cent December 2017 Put Option costing 4.27 cents establishing a 68.73 cent futures floor. Wheat May 2017 wheat futures closed at


$4.24 down 2 cents since last Friday. May 2017 wheat futures traded be- tween $4.19 and $4.34 this week. May wheat-to-corn price


ratio was


1.18.Wheat net sales reported by ex- porters were above expectations with net sales of 20.9 million bushels for the 2016/17 marketing year and 3.2 mil- lion bushels for the 2017/18 marketing year. Exports for the week were up from last week at 20.8 million bushels. Wheat export sales were 97 percent of the USDA estimated total annual ex- ports for the 2016/17 marketing year (June 1 to May 31), compared to a 5- year average of 99 percent. In Mem- phis, old crop cash wheat ranged from $4.38 to $4.44. May/Jul and May/Sep future spreads were 12 cents and 25 cents, respectively. The Crop Progress report estimated


winter wheat condition at 51 percent good-to-excellent and 14 percent poor- to-very-poor. In Tennessee, winter wheat condition was reported at 48 percent good-to-excellent and 18 per- cent poor-to-very poor and winter wheat jointed at 54 percent compared to 26 percent last year. In Tennessee, June/July 2017 cash wheat ranged from $4.10 to $4.67. July 2017 wheat futures closed at $4.36 down 3 cents from last Friday. Downside price pro- tection could be obtained by purchas- ing a $4.40 July 2017 Put Option costing 20 cents establishing a $4.20 futures floor. July 2017 wheat-to-corn price ratio was 1.19. September 2017 wheat futures closed at $4.49 down 4 cents since last Friday.


∆ DR. AARON SMITH: Assistant Profes-


sor, Crop Marketing Specialist, Univer- sity of Tennessee


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