Despite all of the struggles to get corn planted last spring, the June 28 USDA crop acreage report indicated Arkansas farmers planted approximately 810,000 acres of corn in 2019. That is the second highest acreage in recent history, only slightly behind the record year of 2013.
“The corn crop, like every other crop, has had some real challenges this year from delays in planting due to wet weather and flooding to just a struggle to get a good stand,” says Jason Kelley, extension wheat and feed grains agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“Mother Nature has thrown a lot at this corn crop and, unfortunately, that’s resulted in more acres being replanted due to poor stands than in any given year since 2007. It isn’t just a field here and there, either, every corn of the state has been affected to some degree.”
As far as summer temperatures, the corn crop hasn’t faced anything “super-hot,” says Kelley.
“There’s still a long way to go before harvest, of course, especially on late planted corn.”
Read the full report here.
