yields and disrupt pest cy- cles. Year to year fluctua- tions in planted acres for each crop are due to spring weather, domestic and in- ternational market de- mand, and government programs. Loamy fine sand soils are important soils for growing
corn near
Charleston, Missouri. On sandy soils, center pivots are used to apply irrigation water. New corn hybrids tolerate more plants per acre. Most of the corn is sold as cash grain crop and processed for com- mercial animal feed. Soybean emerged
as an important crop in the Delta around 1950. Before then it was mainly grown for hay. It is a versatile crop and can be grown on most Delta soils. Soybean can tolerate waterlogged soils better than cotton and corn. It is often rotated with rice and double cropped with wheat. In New Madrid County the acreage in- creased from 14,972 in 1940 to 82,946 in 1950, 146,425 in 1960, and 210,000 in 2018. The great- est increase was on the clay soils and on the light-col- ored soils in the Western Lowland. The soybean cyst nematode is a major pest which reduces yields. The soybean Breeding Program at the Fisher Delta Re- search Center has released many new varieties with improved disease and soy- bean cyst nematode resist- ance. Rice was not listed as a
crop grown in the Missouri Delta in the first edition of
this bulletin written in 1966.
In 1973, the US
Congress lifted acre allot- ment limits on Missouri rice. Today, Missouri’s an- nual rice production is usu- ally around 200,000 acres. Rice soils contain enough clay to retain water during flood irrigation. Most of the
Figure 22. Residues from winter cover crops are a food source for soil microorganisms and earthworms in Delta fields.
Irrigation Irrigation is sustainable in
the Delta because of groundwater recharge from rainfall on sandy ridges in the Delta. Water penetra- tion through sandy soil is
was adopted for the pro- duction of rice, mainly on soils with high clay content. Furrow irrigation on other crops became important. Farmers first constructed supply ditches, but these often interfered with normal surface drainage of the field. Then, gated alu- minum pipes were used to supply water from wells to furrows. Later, in the early 1990’s, aluminum pipes were replaced by disposable lay-flat plastic tubing (Fig- ure 23). Less labor is re- quired to install plastic tubing and it can be rolled up at the end of the growing season for recycling. To as- sure uniform distribution of water with furrow irrigation, most fields have been graded. Center pivot irrigation
Figure 23. Holes are punched in lay-flat plastic pipe to supply water to row furrows.
rice is grown west of Crow- ley’s Ridge, but production is expanding in fields with Sharkey clay soil using fur- row irrigation in other areas. Overcup silt loam and Calhoun silt loam soil types are major rice soils in the Qulin, Missouri, area. These soils have silt loam in the top 8 to 24 inches with silty clay in the subsoil. During tillage, soils with silt loam surface horizons do not form large clods as much as Sharkey clay. Other important crops in
the Delta are watermelons, peaches, potatoes, and pur- ple hull peas. Potatoes are grown on sandy soils and are processed for making potato chips. Peanuts and sweet potatoes are also grown in the Delta.
high in the Kennett Ridge, Charleston and East Prairie areas. The general direction of water movement in the alluvial aquifer is north to south in the Delta region. Groundwater recharge in the Advance and Western Lowlands occurs from the Ozark Highlands where karst topography with sink- holes are prevalent. In a los- ing stream, water infiltrates into the groundwater as it flows downstream. A tracer study showed that dye in- troduced into a losing stream was detected 16 days later at Big Spring 40 miles away near Mountain View, Missouri.
The
amount of groundwater recharge in the Morehouse and Eastern Lowlands from the Ozark Highlands is not known. Deep substratum layers below Crowley’s Ridge may slow west to east water movement in the aquifer. Irrigation water is applied
Figure 24. Center pivot irrigation systems use an end gun to apply water beyond the circle.
to corn, cotton, soybean, and rice based on daily crop water use. The method of ir- rigation depends on the crop planted and the soil properties. Flood irrigation
systems are common espe- cially on sandy soils. The machinery cost for a pivot is more than a furrow system, but, depending on the field, farmers could save money by not land leveling (Figure 24). Most center pivots are programable to turn on and off and can be used with in- jection pumps for chemiga- tion. Systems have been developed to vary irrigation rates based on different soils in a field. In the Delta region, water
tables are usually below the depth of root penetration. The water table is highest at the Mingo Swamp in the Advance Lowland. Here the underground water from the Ozark Highlands tends to rise in the alluvial mate- rial by hydrostatic pressure. A shallow water table, nor- mally more than three feet below the surface, exists in the swales bordering Ken- nett and Sikeston Ridges, and in the Blodgett sand area. Climate The summers in South-
east Missouri are hot and humid, and the winters are usually moderate. Annual average temperature and rainfall are higher than for other parts of the state. Precipitation averages 49
inches but varies 5 to 10 inches from year to year. Heavy rains in the spring sometimes cause runoff be- yond the capacity of drainage ditches. At such times, low lying land may be inundated for several days. Planting is often de- layed in wet springs. Dry periods of two to four weeks in duration occur in late summer or early fall, reduc- ing yields, unless irrigation is applied. The very sandy and the gray soils are af- fected the most by dry weather. Low rainfall is de- sirable in the fall during harvest. Snow may occur during the three winter months, but usually it is light and does not remain for more than three to five days. Days with below zero degrees Fahrenheit are rare. The prevailing wind in the summer is from the southwest. Hailstorms and tornadoes do occur, but are no more frequent than in any other part of Missouri. The average date of the
last killing freeze in the spring is the last week in March or the first few days in April. The average date of first killing freeze in the fall is about the first of Novem- ber. The average growing season is more than 200 days, which is adequate for the maturing of cotton and rice. The variation in frost- free days because of late spring frosts from north to south within the Delta is about 10 days. This seem- ingly small difference is re- sponsible for the smaller cotton acreage north of Sikeston. The generally long growing season permits the maturing of double-crop soybean planted after wheat, and the sowing of winter wheat after cotton harvest. Transportation The Delta region of South-
east Missouri has a good in- frastructure for moving agricultural freight. Rail- roads, river barges, and trucks supply bulk inputs such as fertilizer to the area and transport harvested
grain and cotton to mar- kets. The Mississippi River has been a means of trans- portation from pioneer times to the present. Boats from New Orleans traveled the river as far north as St. Louis and beyond. Port harbors on the Mis-
sissippi River provide farm- ers access to buyers with elevators to load grain on barges. Barges carry grain to the Gulf of Mexico where it is loaded on ships for in- ternational markets. Cape Girardeau, Commerce, Cairo, New Madrid and Caruthersville are impor- tant river ports where large quantities of agricultural products are shipped to Memphis and New Orleans. The St. Louis Iron Moun-
tain was the first railroad built, starting about 1858 and completed in 1870. It extended from Bismarck, Missouri in St. Francois County to Belmont, Mis- souri (this town no longer exists) on the Mississippi River. The Missouri Pacific railroad between Cairo, Illi- nois and Poplar Bluff, Mis- souri was completed in 1867. A rapid extension of rail-
roads occurred after the Civil War. From 1880 to 1920, Louis Houck built 500 miles of railroad tracks networking the Delta re- gion. Over time, small rail- road companies in the United States merged and consolidated into seven major railways. Today, Burlington
Northern
Santa Fe Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad provide freight services in Southeast Missouri. New Orleans and Memphis are the principal markets for cotton, soybeans, oil, corn and wheat. County, state, and inter-
state highways help farm- ers move harvested grain and fiber to markets. In- terstate 55 and 57 cross the Delta region and pro- vide truck routes to St, Louis, Memphis, Chicago, and New Orleans.
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July 17, 2020
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