YEAREND: Lower prices, more inputs put corn in the corner
Dec. 16, 2024
By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
Fast facts
- Solid corn yield, but low prices keep acreage down
- Winter wheat prices fair, 2023-2024 crop down 43 percent from prior season
- Grain sorghum steady at 12,000 acres, 80 bushels per acre
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For Arkansas farmers who grew corn this year, it was a good year with near-record yields but there was a lot less corn grown in the state.
The two other feed grains in Arkansas, winter wheat and grain sorghum, have less to brag about.
Although many Arkansas farmers like to grow grain sorghum as a rotation crop, and because it grows well without much water, there are few buyers in the state and lower profit potential compared to other crops. Grain sorghum acres in Arkansas have remained at about 12,000 acres over the past two years, averaging 80 bushels per acre.
“Both wheat and sorghum have a similar marketing problem in Arkansas,” said Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “You don’t have local markets to sell to. You can haul grain to the Mississippi River, and there’s some other inland places a little closer taking it, but overall, there are only a limited number of grain terminals that are buying wheat or grain sorghum in Arkansas.”
Prices are not too low for winter wheat at about $5.50 per bushel but “essentially everyone planted less wheat this fall,” Kelley said. Winter wheat in Arkansas is planted in the fall and harvested the following spring. The 2023 numbers were down 43 percent from 2022 with 130,000 acres planted and 85,000 acres harvested and a routine state average yield of 56 bushels per acre.
This year’s acreage report for Arkansas winter wheat will be available in January.
‘Corn’ered by the market
Due to market prices earlier this year, the state saw a 41 percent drop in corn acres planted. The latest National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS, report showed 485,000 acres of corn were harvested with an expected state average yield of 186 bushels per acre. It was one bushel per acre less than the record set in 2014 and expected to bring in 90.2 million bushels.
“Corn takes quite a bit of money to tie up and grow, so a lot of input costs with fertilizer and seed, compared to soybeans,” Kelley said. “With the lower prices, soybeans or other crops looked more attractive in 2024.”
Seed and fertilizer are the top two inputs for a corn crop, accounting for about 40 percent of costs, Kelley said. Herbicides, irrigation, fuel for trucks and tractors, and electricity for feed bins are among the other input costs.
Corn prices were running at about $4.40 a bushel in April when farmers usually plant in Arkansas. It was a full $2.30 less than prices the previous April, according to the NASS. Corn prices reached their peak in June 2022 at $7.38 a bushel.
The September 2024 harvest price for corn was $4.16 a bushel. In comparison, the harvest price for soybeans this year was $10 per bushel.
Eleven states, including Arkansas, saw corn acreage decrease more than 10 percent this year. Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico also saw decreases of more than 30 percent in corn acreage this year. Oklahoma and California, on the other hand, increased corn acreage by 15 and 10 percent, respectively.
Good timing
Kelley attributed timely rains this summer to helping reduce irrigation needs and maintain the near-record yield. Corn was mostly harvested by the end of September when Tropical Storm Helene swooped through and drenched east Arkansas.
Farmers in northeastern Arkansas appeared to have the highest yields, Kelley said, because they were able to plant in early April and spared heavy rains experienced in other parts of the state during the planting window of mid-March to mid-April.
“It was a combination of three things,” Kelley said. “There were good stands — how many plants you get to emerge — early planting and timely rainfalls.”
Over the past 25 years, Kelley said, corn yields in Arkansas have improved in part through research by the Division of Agriculture on plant population rates, nitrogen application and irrigation practices, to name a few.
The research has been supported by the Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Checkoff Program, which was approved by a referendum of producers in 1998 and collects 1 cent per bushel of all corn and grain sorghum grown in Arkansas.
To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media Contact: John Lovett
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 763-5929
jlovett@uada.edu